8-Difference between phrase and clause

Phrase and clause comparison

2. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PHRASE AND CLAUSE
¤ Clause and phrase are two important terms in English grammar.
¤ Clause and phrase are parts of a sentence.
 A clause is a group of words that consists of a subject and a verb.
 Examples:
He laughed.
The guests arrived.
¤ A phrase is a group of words that does not consist of a subject and a verb.
 Examples:
o on a table, under the tree, near the wall, on the roof, at the door.
¤ Both the clause and the phrase may exist within a sentence.
¤ For instance, read the following sentence:
¤ Example:
o He is sleeping on the bed.
¤ The first part of the sentence “He is sleeping” is a clause because it has a subject and
a verb.
¤ On the other hand, the remaining part of sentence, ‘on the bed’ is a phrase because
it lacks both the subject and the verb.
¤ Read the following examples.
¤ The underlined part of each sentence is a phrase.
¤ Non-underlined part of each sentence is a clause:
She is standing on the roof.
The cat is sleeping under the table.
She is drawing a map on the wall.
She is waiting at the door.

3. Understanding the conceptual difference in clause and phrase
¤ A clause has both subject and object.
¤ It can stand alone as a complete sentence because it gives a complete meaning.
¤ For instance in the above example the clause ‘He is sleeping’ can alone stand as a sentence
as it gives a complete meaning to the reader.
¤ On the hand, a phrase cannot stand alone as a complete sentence because it does not give
a complete meaning.
¤ For instance, in the above sentence ‘on the bed’ cannot stand as alone sentence as it does
not give a complete meaning.
¤ The each word of phrase has a meaning but the phrase collectively does not make a
complete sense like a sentence.
¤ The purpose of phrase is to complement the overall structure of a sentence.
¤ A simple sentence can also be called one clause.
¤ For instance, ‘He laughed’ is a sentence, but it is also one clause.
¤ Some sentence may have more than one clause, read the following example:
I waited for him but he didn’t come. (two clause)
I like Biology but my brother likes Physics because he wants to become an engineer.
(three clauses)