A Guide to Phrases and Clauses
Phrases
1. Prepositional phrases (over the rainbow)
a. as adjectives
b. as adverbs
2. Adjectival phrases (free from government control)
3. Verbal –ing phrase [present participle] (running five miles each day)
a. as adjective
b. as noun
c. as adverb (sometimes)
4. Verbal –ed phrase [past participle] (written in 2001)
a. as adjective
5. Verbal to phrase [infinitive] (to win the game)
6. Truncated clause [subordinating conjunction + five structures {adj phrase, -ing phrase, -ed
phrase, prepositional phrase, noun} ] (when in Rome)
7. Noun absolute [noun or pronoun + five structures] (his knees shaking)
8. Noun appositive (the reserve catcher)
Clauses
9. Dependent adjectival clause (she slept in the barn)
a. as a restrictive that clause
b. as a nonrestrictive which clause
c. as a restrictive and nonrestrictive who/whom/whose clause
10. Dependent adverbial clause (because he enjoyed the special effects)
11. Dependent noun clause (that he would prevail)
1) PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
“The prepositional phrase consists of two major parts: (1) the preposition and (2) the object
of the preposition. The object is the noun (or pronoun [in objective case]) attached to the
sentence by the preposition. That noun might be a true noun, a noun phrase, or a noun clause.
The entire unit then acts in two major ways: (1) as an adjective or (2) as an adverb.” – pg 169-70
Preposition - used before nouns, pronouns, or other substantives to form phrases functioning
as modifiers of verbs, nouns, or adjectives, and that typically express a spatial (on, off, behind),
temporal (before, after), or less concrete relationship (of, for, to, with).
*aboard
*amid
*behind
*by
*excluding
*like
*opposite
*round
*under
*with
*about
*among
*below
*concerning
*following
*minus
*outside
*save
*underneath
*within
Common Prepositions:
*above
*across
*after
*around
*as
*at
*beneath
*besides
*between
*considering *despite
*down
*for
*from
*in
*near
*of
*off
*over
*past
*per
*since
*than
*through
*unlike
*up
*upon
*without
*against
*atop
*beyond
*during
*inside
*on
*plus
*to
*versus
*along
*before
*but
*except
*into
*onto
*regarding
*toward
*via
Example Sentences: (noun modified; preposition acting as adjective or adverb)
The book under the table belongs to Sam (adjectival phrase describing which book)
He became the model of winning with class (adjectival phrase describing which/what type of model)
The question of whether this case applies is troubling (adjectival phrase describing what question)
Because of his diligence, he won the debate (adverbial phrase describing how/why he won)
He conducted experiments according to scientific principles (adverbial phrase for conducting)
Before class, Josh begged for a pencil (adverbial phrase describing when he begged)
~ REMEMBER: Prepositional phrases will never contain the subject of the sentence ~
ex: Neither of these cookbooks contains the recipe for Manhattan-style chili.
“cookbooks” looks like the subject, but the correct choice of “neither” becomes evident when
disregarding the prepositional phrase.
2) ADJECTIVAL PHRASE
“Adjectival phrases either expand noun phrases or complete the verb (acting as the
complement). The adjective is often modified by an adverb” or succeeded by a preposition. It
can also be composed of several different adjectives.
Adjective - An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun by describing, identifying, or
quantifying words. An adjective usually precedes the noun or the pronoun which it modifies.
Grammarians also consider articles ("the," "a," "an") to be adjectives.
Adverb - Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives (including numbers), and other adverbs.
Adverbs typically answer questions such as how?, why (under what condition)?, when?, where?,
and to what extent?. Adverbs frequently end in -ly; however, many words and phrases not
ending in -ly serve an adverbial function and an -ly ending is not a guarantee that a word is
an adverb.
Adverbs of time (When): She left immediately; It’s starting to get dark now
* yesterday, tomorrow, now, then, later, tonight, right now, already, recently, lately, soon, still, yet
Adverbs of place (Where): She still lives there now; The man has lived everywhere
* here, there, over there, everywhere, anywhere, nowhere, away, out
Adverbs of manner (How): She moved quickly and spoke absolutely; He stood alone
* very, quite, pretty, really, well, hard, slowly, carefully, hardly, barely, mostly, almost, together
Adverbs of frequency (How often): She rarely goes by herself
* always, frequently, usually, sometimes, occasionally, seldom, rarely, never
Adverbs as intensifiers (Emphasizers): They’re [literally/simply] going to be late, for sure
(Amplifiers): I [completely/absolutely/heartily/so] know this city well
(Downtoners): I [kind of/sort of/mildly/almost/all but] like this college to some extent
Preposition - used before nouns, pronouns, or other substantives to form phrases functioning
as modifiers of verbs, nouns, or adjectives, and that typically express a spatial (on, off, behind),
temporal (before, after), or less concrete relationship (of, for, to, with).
Example Adjectival Phrases: (noun modified; adjective; adverb or preposition to make phrase)
The machines available to the weightlifters required a complicated assembly.
We invited the nice, pretty, intelligent girl to the party.
They always have a house full of friends during the summer.
She prepared a wonderfully light meal.
She is really boring.
Today the weather was really sunny and hot, so we decided to go to the beach.
3) VERBAL –ing PHRASE (PRESENT PARTICIPLE)
“The –ing verb forms the present participle phrase, which can then act as 1) an adjective,
2) a noun [gerund], and sometimes 3) an adverb.”
Present Participle – formed by adding –ing to the verb (write writing). When joined to the
verb to be (was, is, be, are, were, am being, been), these form the progressive tense (She is/was/will
be deciding) to show ongoing action. They also form powerful adjectives (smoking gun,
controlling issue) and the gerund (when the –ing verb acts as a noun), which can function as the
subject, direct object, indirect object or subject complement.
Don't confuse participles and verbs. Participles aren't preceded by an auxiliary verb, as these
examples show: Dejected, Alice left the room (participle); Alice was dejected (verb).
Although there is a present and a past participle verb form, the half verbs do not indicate the
tense you are writing in: The first verb word that follows the subject determines the tense of
the clause.
Example Sentences: (noun/verb modified; Participle phrase functioning as adjective, gerund, or adverb)
Guiding the dog around the corner, Jerry was successful (adjective)
The car sliding out of control toward the building will likely hit the window (adjective)
The woman running five miles a day improved her health (adjective)
Running five miles a day, the woman improved her health (adjective…)
Running five miles a day improved the woman’s health (noun, subject of sentence)
The woman improved her health by running five miles a day (noun, object of preposition)
Running five miles a day, the woman improved her health (…or adverb [how?])
The woman improved her health running five miles a day (adverb [how?])
Singing in the rain is fun. (subject of the sentence)
I love singing in the rain. (direct object of the sentence)
He devoted all his time to singing in the rain. (indirect object of the sentence)
My idea of fun is singing in the rain. (subject complement of idea)
4) VERBAL –ed PHRASE (PAST PARTICIPLE)
The -ed verb forms the past participle phrase, which invariably serves as 1) an adjective only.
Past Participle – formed by adding -ed, -d, or –t for regular verbs (jump jumped) and some
other ending for irregular verbs (see seen). When coupled with the primary auxiliary have
(have, has, had, will have), these form the perfect tense (I have/had/will have decided) to show a
completed action. When coupled with the primary auxiliary to be (was, is, be, are, were, am
being, been), these form the past tense (She is decided). They also form powerful adjectives (torn
pocket, twisted face)
Don't confuse participles and verbs. Participles aren't preceded by an auxiliary verb, as these
examples show: Dejected, Alice left the room (participle); Alice was dejected (verb).
Although there is a present and a past participle verb form, the half verbs do not indicate the
tense you are writing in: The first verb word that follows the subject determines the tense of
the clause.
Keep in mind, adjectival phrases can either precede or follow the noun they modify, commas
surround a nonrestrictive phrase but don’t appear with a restrictive phrase, and the participial
phrase is really the remnant of a chopped-down passive-voice clause.
Example Sentences: (noun modified; Participle phrase functioning as adjective)
The woman’s stamina, [which was] improved by her running, enabled her to battle the disease.
The package [that was] delivered by UPS contained the child’s birthday present.
Thus armed, James granted a dispensation to the Curate of Putney.
Hunted by lions, the antelope scattered into the trees.
Asked to be more vocal n’ visible, plantation laborers felt a need to talk about the cane fields.
5) VERBAL to PHRASE (INFINTIVE)
The infinitive phrase gives us the ability to take a verb-like idea and use it as 1) a noun, 2) an
adjective, or 3) an adverb.
Infinitive – the form of the verb you would ordinarily look up in the dictionary. Its bare form
is just the word by itself: write. Its periphrastic form consists of the infinitive preceded by the
preposition to: to write. The bare infinitive appears in conjugations with the modal auxiliaries
(I should write, I must write, I will write).
Auxiliary Verbs – there are a total of 16 auxiliary verbs: 3 primary and 13 modal.
* The three primary auxiliaries are:
1) be, which forms the progressive tense (I am writing) and the passive voice (This was decided)
2) do, which asks (Do you care?) and negates actions (He does not run very well)
3) have, which forms the perfect tenses (I have seen the movie)
* The modals enable us to show various conditions, abilities, and obligations. They are:
can, could, dare, may, might, must, need, ought (to), shall, should, used (to), will, and would
* When you use an auxiliary verb to produce a two-word (or more) verb form (can score, may
go, will profit), your creation is called a compound verb.
Remember, 1when an infinitive phrase introduces a main clause, separate the two sentence
components with a comma; 2when an infinitive phrase breaks the flow of a main clause, use a
comma both before and after the interrupter; and 3when an infinitive phrase concludes a main
clause, you need no punctuation to connect the two sentence parts
Example Sentences: (noun/verb modified; Infinitive phrase functioning as adjective, noun, or adverb)
The best way to survive Dr. Peterson's history lectures is a sharp pencil to stab in your thigh.
Her plan to subsidize child care won wide acceptance among urban politicians
To finish her shift without dropping another pizzas is Michelle's only goal tonight.
Lakesha hopes to win the approval of her motherDO by switching her major.
Kelvin is taking Anatomy this semester to understand the muscles in the human body.
The officer returned to the scene to help the inspectors.
6) ELLIPTICAL CLAUSE aka TRUNCATED CLAUSE
A Truncated/Elliptical clause has an omitted word or words, but the sense of the clause
remains clear. Often the words omitted are relative pronouns and the logically parallel second
parts of comparisons. An elliptical clause functions exactly as a clause would, were all its
words restored.
Relative pronouns – used to join clauses to make a complex sentence. Relative pronouns (that,
which(ever), who(ever), whom(ever), and whose(ever)) are used at the beginning of the subordinate
clause that gives some specific information about the main clause.
Truncated clauses are formed by taking subordinating conjunctions (e.g. after, although, as, as if,
as though, before, if, since, than, though, till, unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever, while) and
adding 1 of the following 5 structures: 1) adjectival phrase, 2) present participle phrase [-ing
phrase], 3) past participle phrase [-ed phrase], 4) prepositional phrase, or a 5) noun
Example Sentences: (subordinating conj; adj. phrase, -ing phrase, -ed phrase, prep. phrase, noun)
Although it is old, the Jones Study supports our conclusion.
Whenever you are deciding these issues, the personnel officer considers three factors.
While it is tortured in its reasoning, this theory does have one advantage.
When you are in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Though he is a fair man, the senator often overworked his staff.
Jason can climb better than Bob can climb.
7) NOUN (NOMINATIVE) ABSOLUTE aka ABSOLUTE PHRASE
Basically, a noun absolute is a phrase. As a phrase it acts as a modifier (quite often a
participle) or a modifier.
Absolute phrases are optional in sentences: i.e., they can be removed without damaging the
grammatical integrity of the sentence. They do not directly connect to or modify any specific
word in the rest of the sentence; instead, they modify the entire sentence, adding information.
They are always treated as parenthetical elements and are set off from the rest of the sentence
with a comma or a pair of commas (sometimes by a dash or pair of dashes). Notice that
absolute phrases contain a subject (which is often modified by a participle) but never contain
a conjugated (finite) verb.
Usually (but not always), an absolute phrase (also called a noun/nominative absolute) is
formed by taking a noun or pronoun and adding 1 of the following 5 structures: 1) adjectival
phrase, 2) present participle phrase [-ing phrase], 3) past participle phrase [-ed phrase], 4)
prepositional phrase, or a 5) noun.
Example Sentences: (noun (or pronoun); adj. phrase, -ing phrase, -ed phrase, prep. phrase, noun)
His research was complete, he began to write his report.
The senator finally found her place in her notes, the crowd uneasy with her discomfort.
The parties raised $5,000, the founder is paying $4,000, the others are contributing $1,000.
His tires are screeching loudly, John braked to avoid the pedestrian.
The weather being permitting, we’ll convene the class in the park.
These issues having been resolved, the agency turned its attention to other matters.
That being/having been said, the chair called for an ending to the meeting.
We finished the hearty meal quickly, our appetites being satisfied, our minds at peace.
He lay flat on…the floor of the forest, his chin on his folded arms.
Your best friends, where are they now, when you need them?
The defendant knew he’d survive the trial, his sister the only witness to the murder.
8) NOUN APPOSITIVES
A noun appositive is a noun or noun phrase that restates or identifies another noun or noun
phrase. Sometimes it is set off by commas and sometimes not. Ordinarily, the appositive
immediately follows the noun it restates, but in some cases it can begin a sentence and then
point directly to the grammatical subject of the sentence.
Example Sentences: (noun modified; noun appositive)
The White House, home of the President, is closely guarded.
A graduate of Carolina, Michael Jordan became a star.
Singing sensation Britney Spears sold the most albums.
My computer, a modern-day dinosaur, chews floppy disks noisily.
Jane’s brother Fred came to dinner. (Restrictive because Jane has more than one brother)
Susan’s brother, Jack, came to dinner. (Nonrestrictive because Susan has only one brother)
9) DEPENDENT ADJECTIVAL CLAUSE aka RELATIVE CLAUSE
An adverbial clause begins with a relative pronoun or relative adverb (when, where, why) and
modifies either a noun or pronoun. They come in two basic models: restrictive clauses and
nonrestrictive clauses.
Restrictive (defining) clause – one that restricts, limits, or defines the subject of the sentence;
it is essential to the reader’s understanding and do not need to be set off by commas. The
relative pronoun that (not which) introduces a restrictive clause.
Nonrestrictive (nondefining) clause - does not restrict or narrow the meaning but instead adds
meaning; it is not essential to the reader’s understanding and needs to be set off by commas.
The relative pronoun which (not that) introduces a nonrestrictive clause.
Not all restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses begin with that and which; they can also begin
with who, whom, and whose.
* In clauses referring to people, whenever you spot a subjectless clause, the word who is
always correct. When you spot a clause that already has a subject, the word whom (or
perhaps whose) will always be correct. If the clause has both its subject and its object, then it
will probably need the possessive case whose.
Example Sentences: (noun modified; adjectival clause)
This is the song that hurts the most.
The game, which attracted 10,000 people, lasted more than three hours.
He who laughs last laughs best.
Senator Smith, who lost the notes, gave the speech anyway.
The man whom she met at the club would later become her husband.
The author, whom we all admire, finally succeeded after many years of obscurity.
The player whose enthusiasmO carriesV the teamS usually receives the MVP award.
The songwriter, whose artistic work had stretched over decades, acknowledged his fans.
Chewing with her mouth open is one reason why Fred cannot stand sitting across from her.
10) DEPENDENT ADVERBIAL CLAUSE
An adverbial clause begins with a subordinating conjunction and shows when, where, why,
how, or under what circumstance a verbal activity takes place.
Subordinating conjunction – introduces a subordinate clause
Subordinate (dependent) clause – begins with a subordinate conjunction or a relative pronoun
and will contain both a subject and a verb; this combination of words, however, will NOT
form a complete sentence.
*after
*because
*provided that
*till
*where
*although
*before
*rather than
*unless
*wherever
*as
*even if
*since
*until
*while
Subordinating Conjunctions:
*as far as
*as if
*even though *how
*so (that)
*than
*what
*whatever
*as long as
*if
*that
*when
*as though
*in order that
*though
*whenever
Example Sentences: (verb or larger thought modified; adverbial clause)
You will not write a good novel unless you possess a sense of reality…
Because of the civilization of ancient Rome perished in consequence of the invasion of the
barbarians, we are perhaps too apt to think that civilization cannot perish in any other
manner.
His mother, though he never really said so, found it difficult to understand him.
He is a storyteller because the pieces he conducts have a dramatic motion.
Before you go, sign the log book.
11) DEPENDENT NOUN CLAUSE
A noun clause can begin with a subordinating conjunction, a relative pronoun, or a relative
adverb and can serve almost all noun roles within the sentence.
*Simply because a noun clause can act as a noun does not necessarily mean that you want it
to. Often these clauses become quite awkward. For example, Strunk & White label the fact
that as “an especially debilitating expression” and should be revised out of most sentences.
Example Sentences: (noun clause starter; noun clause)
ThatSC he prevailed did not surprise us.
Your boss was not impressed with the fact thatSC you read this book.
She cannot understand howRA he succeeded in life.
She discovered whenRA the Native Americans began their migration.
Figuring out whyRA the disease spreads became the goal of the CDC.
I know whereRA she lives.
Can you figure out whoRP is calling?
The senator paid attention to whoeverRP donated the most money.
Do you know whomRP he visited last night?