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Phrases,
Clauses, Sentences
Sentences, in grammar, are groups of words which
make complete sense. The question arises: What exactly do we mean by
'complete sense'?
I
would like to give you a
more accurate way of recognizing a sentence. I am sure, you
will be able to identify it clearly if you travel with me
through this article.
The first part of our journey is the question:
What is
a Phrase?
A phrase is any group of words, usually consisting of only a
few words.
It is named sometimes according
to the work it does—as in adjective phrase, adverb phrase,
noun phrase.
Here are a few examples:
- It is a pen of green colour.
('of green colour'—adjective
phrase, because the phrase describes the noun
'pen'.)
- He has helped a few needy young men.
('a few needy young men'—noun
phrase, because this phrase is the object of the verb 'has
helped'. If you ask the question 'helped whom?', you get the
answer 'a few needy young men'.)
- She wrote it in the morning.
('in
the morning'—adverb
phrase, because this phrase tells us something more
about the verb
'wrote'.)
Sometimes a phrase is named depending
on a particular word which is at the beginning of it—as in
prepositional phrase, participial phrase.
Here are some examples:
- 'of
green colour' and 'in the morning' in the examples above are also
prepositional phrases because both the phrases begin with a preposition.
- I saw him sitting
in the front seat. ('sitting in the front seat' is a
participial phrase because 'sitting' is a participle)
Please
note: nowadays, we treat this second type of phrase
'sitting in the front seat' as a non-finite clause, because it contains
a non-finite verb 'sitting'.
We need not be concerned about the non-finites now. Remember our
destination is a clearer definition of the sentence.
We now move on to the
next part of our journey through sentences.
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