Phrases, Clauses, Sentences

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Phrases, Clauses, Sentences

• Chapter Two
• Working With Words

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Phrases

• Phrases are groups of related words that lack
  either a subject (a doer) or a verb (an action or
  state of being) or both.
• To the restaurant
• Walking along the beach
• As long as my arm
• Phrases can serve as subjects, objects,
  predicates, modifiers and connecting words.

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Clauses

• Clauses are groups of related words that have
  both a subject and a verb
• He wants it all (Independent clauseforms a
  complete thought)
• because he wants it all (dependent clausenot a
  complete thought but depends on something else to
  make a statement)

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Sentences

• Sentences, like clauses, are groups of related
  words with a subject and a verb, but they must
  also make a complete statements.
• Must have at least one independent clause
• May have several dependent clauses

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Sentences

• He loves to watch television to relax. (one
  independent clause)
• She spends most of her time studying, but she
  sometimes regrets it. (two independent clauses)
• David Lettermans show proved popular even though
  it was scheduled late at night. (one independent
  and one dependent clause)

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Phrases

• Phrases can be subjects, objects, verbs,
  modifiers, or connecting words.
• Subjects
• Playing the mandolin is like plucking a violin.
• (two gerund phrases 1st subject of sentence, 2nd
  object of preposition.)
• To try is to succeed
• (two infinitive phrases 1st subject of sentence,
  2nd predicate nominative)
• Over there is where police found the body.
• (prepositional phrase used as subject of the
  sentence)

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Phrases

• Phrases as verbs
• Wagner had been going to college for three years
  at the time.
• Phrases as modifiers
• Looking through the book, Chou decided to buy it.
• Phrases as connecting words
• In spite of that, the commission turned down the
  request.

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Clauses

• Independent Clauses
• (AKA main clause) can stand alone as a complete
  sentence.
• Here we are.
• Independent clause
• Here we are, and here we go again.
• (Second independent clause starts with
  coordinating conjunction)
• Here we are moreover, here we go again.
• (Second starts with conjunctive adverb)

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Clauses

• Dependent Clauses
• A dependent clause cannot stand alone as a
  complete sentence but must be joined to an
  independent clause.
• Dependent clauses work as
• Nouns,
• Adjectives,
• Adverbs
• rather than as complete statements.
• There are two kinds of dependent clauses
• Subordinate
• Relative

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Clauses

• Subordinate clauses
• Begin with subordinate conjunction
• although, since, as, because, if, until
• The City Council rejected the idea because no one
  really pushed for it.
• Relative clauses
• Begin with relative pronouns
• who, whose, whom, which, that
• Whoever made that rule no longer works here.

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Restrictive vs. Nonrestrictive

• Phrases, clauses, and single words can be
  classified as restrictive or nonrestrictive
• Restrictive
• essential
• Not set off by commas
• use that in a sentence
• Nonrestrictive
• nonessential
• set off by commas
• use which in a sentence.

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Restrictive vs. Nonrestrictive

• Nonrestrictive words, phrases, clauses
• Yes, Juanita, Im over here.
• Dwight, my musical friend, has just released an
  album.
• Compare comma use
• When he was a child, he said, other boys made fun
  of him.
• When he was a child, he said other boys made fun
  of him.

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That vs. Which

• Use which when what is introduced is not
  essential to the meaning of a sentence.
• Use that when what is introduced is essential.
• The Nile is the river that gives Egypt life.
• The Nile, which flows in to the Mediterranean,
  gives Egypt life.

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That vs. Which

• Think of a nonessential clause as an aside Which
  introduces a clause set off by commas,
  parentheses, or dashes. That introduces an
  essential clause not set off by comma,
  parentheses, or dashes.

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That vs. Which

• The lawn mower that is broken (essential because
  it tells which one) is in the garage.
• The lawn mower, which is broken ( nonessential
  because it merely adds a fact parenthetically
  about the lawn mower, is in the garage.
• The corner house, which has a brick front, is
  ours. (nonessential)
• The corner house that has a brick front is ours.
  (essential)

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Sentences

• At the simplest level, a sentence consists of a
  subject and a verbsomeone or something doing or
  being
• Dogs bark.
• Grandpa snores.
• Bees be.
• Run!
• A Simple sentence has one independent clause.
• The team is in a slump.

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Sentences

• A simple sentence may have more than one subject
  or verb and remain a simple sentence.
• This simple sentence has both a compound subject
  and a compound predicate
• Burt and Ernie are singing and dancing.
• Burt and Ernie constitute the subject.
• Singing and dancing constitute the predicate

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Sentences

• A compound sentence has two or more independent
  clauses connected by one of three ways
• A comma and a coordinating conjunction
• (and, or, for, nor, so, yet, but)
• A semicolon, or
• A conjunctive adverb and a semicolon
• (accordingly, also, anyhow, besides,
  consequently, however, thus)

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Sentences

• Compound sentences are used to show that thoughts
  are related and equal
• The team is in a slump. The coach is
  unconcerned.
• The team is in a slump, but the coach is
  unconcerned.
• The team is in a slump the coach is unconcerned.
• The team is in a slump however, the coach is
  unconcerned.

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Complex Sentences

• A complex sentence contains one independent
  clause and one or more dependent clauses.
• Dependent clauses are subordinated to the
  independent clause by subordinating conjunctions
• (although, as, as if, as though, because, if,
  since, that, unless, until, when, where, whether)

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Complex Sentences

• Dependent clauses are subordinated to the
  independent clause by relative pronouns
• (that, that which, what, which, who, whom, whose)
• It is clearer not to separate the subject and
  verb of an independent clause with a dependent
  clause. Keep subjects and verbs together
• The President, although the Cabinet advised
  against it, vetoed the measure. (Confusing)
• The President vetoed the measure although the
  Cabinet advised against it.

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Compound-complex sentence

• A compound/complex sentence contains two or more
  independent clauses and one or more dependent
  clauses
• The cat was on the mat, and the dog was eyeing
  him when I came home.
• Compound-complex sentences should be avoided in
  academic writing at the high school level.

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Sentence Errors

• Fragments a word or group of words that isnt a
  complete sentence. Either it lacks a subject or
  a verb or its a dependent clause
• A team for all seasons
• Takes the guesswork out of the game
• Because he was sick.

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Sentence Errors

• Fused Sentences unacceptably combine two or more
  sentences without punctuation between them.
• The mayor left town the auditor did, too.
• Corrected
• The mayor left town. The auditor did, too.
• Because the mayor left town, the auditor did,
  too.
• The mayor left town, so did the auditor.

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Sentence Errors

• Comma Splice sentences unacceptably combine two
  or more independent clauses with only commas.
• They are going, we are going, also.
• Corrected
• Since they are going, we are going, also.
• They are going we are going, also.

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Sentence Errors

• Run-on sentences may or may not be grammatical.
• They are often used for effect in novels and
  narrative, but they do not belong in formal
  writing.
• Keep writing concise in formal writing avoid
  unrelated items, unrelated details, and extra
  clauses.

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Sentence Errors

• Lack of Parallelism
• To make ideas parallel, similar items should be
  written in similar ways. Items in a series
  should be alike whether all nouns, all gerunds,
  all infinitives, all phrases, or all clauses.
• A series of verbs should be all in the same
  tense, voice, and mood