The Learning Hub Clauses & Phrases Writing Handout Series Grammar, Mechanics, & Style
When constructing sentences, writers will use different building blocks of clauses and phrases to construct varied sentences. This handout will review how those phrases and clauses are constructed and where they can be placed in a sentence.
Clauses
Dependent Clauses A dependent clause has a subject and a verb but does not express a complete idea and cannot stand alone as a simple sentence. The two clauses below do not express a complete idea because of the subordinator at the beginning of the clause. Subordinators are words that commonly used to make independent clauses dependent clauses that help a writer connect ideas together and explain the relationship between clauses. Common subordinators like after, although, because, before, once, since, though, unless, until, when, where, and while come at the beginning of the clause.
Subordinator Verb
Since it is going to rain soon
Subject
Common Subordinators After Before Since When Although Even though Then Where As Even if Though Whether Because If Until While
Independent Clauses An independent clause has a subject and a verb, expresses a complete idea, and is a complete sentence.
The soccer game was cancelled
Subject Verb
Independent clauses are also referred to as simple sentences or complete sentences.
Combining Clauses When combining independent and dependent clauses, there is a simple rule to remember. If the dependent clause comes before the independent clause, there must be a comma that separates the two clauses. If the dependent clause comes after the independent clause, then no comma is needed.
Dependent clause first When I was young, I loved swimming.
Dependent clause last I loved swimming when I was young.
This rule also applies to more complex sentences when there are multiple independent and dependent clauses. For more information, see our handout on sentence patterns.
Last Edited: 6/12/2017 [email protected] | (217) 206-6503 By: PA, AA, MB, CB, SC BRK 460 | www.uis.edu/thelearninghub thehub # Phrases
Much like in daily conversations you have with friends, family, or colleagues, phrases are used in academic studies to enrich and provide variety to formal writing. Phrases are small groupings of words that function as a part of a sentence, like a verb, adjective, or noun. Even though a phrase might contain a subject and a verb, in relation to the other words in the sentence, that particular group of words may be modifying or describing another word in the main sentence.
Running through the forest, Katniss avoided the other tributes.
Phrase Subject Verb
In the example above, the phrase has a verb and a noun but it cannot stand alone since it is missing a subject. This phrase is meant to add more detail to the subject, so the whole phrase acts like an adjective. Below you will find some of the most common kinds of phrases used in academic writing, but there are many kinds of phrases to choose from. For more information on comma placement with phrases, see our Commas handout.
Participial Phrases Participial phrases add descriptions to nouns and pronouns in your writing because they function as adjectives even though they resemble actions.
No Phrase: Avatar earned the most money at the box office. Phrase: Earning the most money at the box office, Avatar became the highest grossing film ever.
No Phrase: The filmmakers of Jurassic Park accumulated millions of dollars. Phrase: The filmmakers of Jurassic Park, accumulating millions of dollars, made three sequels.
Absolute Phrases The absolute construction resembles the participial phrase and includes a noun (person, place, thing, or idea) and a participle (a word that looks like an action ending in –ed or –ing in most cases, but a participle is actually an adjective describing a noun).
No Phrase: George Miller likes dramatically choreographing his Mad Max films. Phrase: Dramatically choreographed, George Miller’s Mad Max films are beautifully envisioned.
No Phrase: Ripley’s pounding heart scares her. Phrase: Heart pounding, Ripley confronted the alien.
Appositive Phrases An appositive phrase adds details to other nouns. The difference between an appositive phrase and a participial phrase is that an appositive also functions as a noun; therefore, an appositive phrase frequently begins with “a, an, or the.”
No Phrase: M is a male character in the James Bond movies. Phrase: M, a role originally played by men, was later recast as a woman.
No Phrase: Alec Guinness was cast as the original Obi-Wan Kenobi in first Star Wars movie. Phrase: A legendary stage actor, Alec Guinness was cast as the original Obi-Wan Kenobi in the first Star Wars movie.
***The clauses portion of this handout was inspired from John Haslem’s “Sentence Pattern and Punctuation” handout, who relied heavily upon the Harbrace College Handbook, 12th edition, for word lists and definitions of grammatical terms.
Last Edited: 6/13/2017 [email protected] | (217) 206-6503 By: PA, AA, MB, CB, SC BRK 460 | www.uis.edu/thelearninghub thehub #