Photo caption: Akeem Lasisi
By Akeem Lasisi
Today’s topic is going to be a bit technical. Although it centres on three common grammatical elements, it involves some technicalities, the type we usually want to as much as possible play down in this class. By the way, what is a phrase? What is a clause? And what is a sentence? Understanding these and their characteristics will help improve your writing.
Apart from the fact that the three concepts work together, their meanings and functions are interwoven. As a result, they can be tricky to define and identify. For instance, a clause and a phrase often combine to form a sentence. Yet, they are distinct grammatical units.
Between a phrase and a clause
A phrase is a group of words that does not contain a subject and a predicate, with ‘predicate’ referring to the part of a sentence that contains the verb and gives information about the subject. If it has one (subject or predicate), the other will not be present. Remember: ‘subject’ is the performer of the action in a clause while ‘verb’ is the doing word. Examples of phrases are:
Akin and Gabriel (This is just a subject or object depending on use.)
One of them (A subject or an object)
Inside the house (An adverbial)
Making a chair with bamboo (A phrase with a gerund)
On the other hand, a clause is an expression/a group of words with a subject and a predicate. In other words, both must be present for the structure to be called a clause, thus suggesting that a clause has a higher grammatical status than a phrase. Examples are:
Because Akin and Gabriel went there
One of them has left.
They met inside the house.
Making a chair with a bamboo is a common practice in Leku.
A close look at the examples shows that while a phrase cannot normally function alone (cannot make a complete thought like a sentence), a clause can at times. For instance, the phrase ‘One of them’ is practically meaningless because we don’t know what happened to ‘one of them’. But the clausal counterpart, ‘One of them has left’, gives meaningful information.
It is, however, also evident in the examples that not all clauses make a complete thought. Consider ‘Because Akin and Gabriel went there’. So, what happened? You mean because they went there I should not eat today or I should go and slap a policeman? The expression would ignite this type of questions because it is hanging. So, some clauses are like sentences as they present complete messages while others are like phrases that do not.
When a clause can stand alone as a sentence and forms a complete thought, it is called an independent clause. On the other hand, the one that cannot stand alone as a sentence, though it also has a subject and a verb, is a dependent clause. See more examples:
Independent clauses
I am proud of Nigeria.
Tinubu and Obi met in Rome.
Dependent clauses
Because it is my country
Though they didn’t discuss much
To be continued.
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