Grammar: The Big Picture -- Phrases and Clauses When I decided to get my Master's degree in
TESOL, I was worried about passing my pronunciation and grammar classes.
To my surprise, I did fine in both classes.
The reason is that I looked at both of them as formulaic.
For pronunciation, put your tongue here, hold your mouth like this and vibrate your breath
as you pronounce whatever sound.
For me, grammar fit even better into mathematic type formulas.
So, what I am going to present in the next couple of videos is a big picture look at
grammar that I have adapted from numerous sources.
For some of you, my method will just confuse you, but for others, this will bring needed
insights into the language.
Do I actually teach ESL students this way?
Yes, I do.
In fact, it is the very first few classes of a new semester.
I generally teach advanced ESL students, so they have all learned about phrases, clauses,
and the other parts of sentences, but most of them have never had it taught all at once.
So, when I teach it, it is the first time they have been shown how it all fits together.
Let's start by looking at the difference between phrases and clauses.
The big difference is that phrases do not have a subject and a verb.
Now, they sometimes look like they do and sometimes the phrase itself is the complete
subject, but if you can't find a subject and verb, then you are looking at a phrase.
Of course, another problem are the understood subjects, such as in commands like "open the
door."
The subject is understood to be "you," which means the person that I am talking to, and
that means it is a clause.
OK.
Phrases do not have subjects and verbs, but clauses do.
IF there is at least one subject and at least one verb then it is a clause.
That leads to the next confusing aspect.
There are two types of clauses -- independent clauses (IC) and dependent clauses (DC).
ESL students get confused here because they are taught things like conditional clauses
and adjective clauses.
What they don't realize is that adjective clauses, conditional clauses, adverb clauses,
etc. are all subcategories under the big umbrella of dependent clause.
So, if the clause expresses a complete thought, then it is an independent clause.
If it contains an incomplete thought, then it is a dependent clause.
For example, "It is so hot today."
That is a complete thought.
You don't need more information to understand the sentence.
"So that he applied for school" is an incomplete thought.
However, even though it is an incomplete thought, it still has a subject (he) and verb (applied),
so it is a clause and not a phrase.
And, yes, it is the addition of that subordinate conjunction "so that" that causes it to be
incomplete.
How about "while applying for school"?
Is that an Independent clause, Dependent Clause or a Phrase?
The word "while" confuses many students into thinking this is a Dependent Clause, but there
is no subject so it is a phrase.
Now, how do I write this stuff in a formula.
Well, if there is an incomplete thought and it does not have a subject and/or no verb,
then it equals a phrase.
Next formula.
If the clause is just one clause and it contains a complete thought, then it equals an independent
clause.
Next formula.
If there is just one clause which is not a complete thought, does have a subject and
verb because it is a clause, then it equals a dependent clause.
The next two videos in this series will look at the four sentence structures.