The main difference between phrases and clauses is that while
clauses have a subject and a predicate, phrases only have one. Clauses are one
step closer to forming a complete sentence than phrases are. Clauses may also
include phrases. Consider the following examples:
1. returned
his car
2. while
he climbs the mountain
3. beneath
the waterfall
4. because
she was so kind to everyone
Can you tell which examples are phrases and which ones are
clauses?
Example one is a phrase because it only has a predicate (a verb
and object) but no subject. It is missing the subject: “who returned the car?”
Some people may think that the noun “car” is a subject here; however, “car” is
a direct object, and therefore a part of the predicate.
Example three is a phrase because it only contains a
predicate. Some people may think that this phrase only contains a subject:
"waterfall". However, this is not true because a subject has to
perform an action. In this phrase, the waterfall isn't doing anything! "Waterfall"
is actually the object of the preposition "beneath". Prepositions are
part of predicates, so this phrase contains only a predicate.
Example two and four are clauses (although dependent)
because they have both a subject and a predicate.
Example 2: Subject = he Verb
= climbs
Example 4: Subject = she Verb
= was
Many people get confused when they see a sentence with an
implied subject; they think it is a phrase. Consider the following example:
leave the house now
Without any capitalization or punctuation, many people may
think that the above example is a phrase because they don’t see a subject.
However, there is a subject in this sentence, but it is implied. The
implied subject is “you” because this is an imperative sentence.
In fact, this is an independent clause. It stands by itself
as a complete imperative sentence. Here is the complete sentence:
Leave the house now!
For more information on implied subjects, see the imperative
sentences section of “Sentences”.