hello grammarians hello Rosie hello
David so okay so you know the
schoolhouse rock song conjunction
junction right classic classic so in
that song you know the the the chorus
asks like conjunction junction what's
your function and then this engineer
played by Jack Sheldon goes hook and up
words and phrases and clauses and so
that's what we're going to talk about
today is the difference between a phrase
and a clause because both of them are
groups of words right phrases and
clauses are both groups of words but
they each do different things so let's
let's break that down so Rosie if you
please what is a phrase so phrase is a
group of words and it acts like a single
part of speech okay but it's not it will
never be a full sentence because phrases
don't have both a subject and a verb
alright so a phrase can never be a
sentence right what are some examples of
phrases my best friend so this is a
group of words that ultimately behaves
like a noun right okay and then there's
an adjective phrase with the blue shirt
so this is a prepositional phrase that
as you said is behaving like an
adjective right okay and then for 20
days which behaves like an adverb so
this is a noun phrase an adjective
phrase and an adverbial phrase so none
of these things can be sentences but
they all like you said act like parts of
speech okay meanwhile a clause is a
group of words that can be a sentence
it's not always a sentence but the big
difference between phrases and clauses
is that clauses do have both a subject
and a verb so it's not it can't be a
phrase because a phrase is just one part
of speech but a clause always has a noun
or pronoun component and a verb
component that's right okay so a clause
could be a dependent clause which can't
stand on its own for example the wizard
who cast a spell right that can't be its
own sentence
but it's got a lot going on so that's
not a sentence but it can also be
independent right so if we said the
wizard cast a spell that would that's
also a clause and it's also its own
sentence so let's let's test a couple of
things and see if they are phrases or
clauses okay
the Falcon soared majestically so this
is a group of words and we've got this
the Falcon here that that's a noun
phrase that that's behaving like a part
of speech so I know that this definitely
has a phrase in it right but is it just
a phrase on its own I guess I would have
to say no because it's got this verb
sword and this adverb majestically so
the Falcon soared majestically I would
have to say this is a clause would I be
right you would be right right
that's not only a clause but it's an
independent clause so it could be its
own sentence with a period right so
let's get a little bit of George
Harrison in here while my guitar gently
weeps so we've got a subject in here my
guitar and a verb weeps so we know it's
a clause but it begins with this word
while which is I think it's a Borden
ating conjunction so this would be
actually a dependent clause but it is a
clause so this thing could not be a
sentence on its own that's right yeah we
Rosie what about the best ham sandwich
in Oklahoma is that a phrase or a clause
that is a phrase okay why is that we
don't have a verb this is a this is all
a subject okay and I mean we've got the
best so we've kind of got this
superlative and thrown in there hmm but
it's all modifying ham sandwich right
it's actually all modifying sandwich
because it's the best ham sandwich and
then we've got this other prepositional
phrase that also modifies sandwich right
so that's the phrase
how about under the ocean blue that is a
phrase okay what makes you say that well
again we don't have a verb so we've got
a subject the ocean mm-hmm and we have
under that's a preposition so we have
kind of a direction and a subject we
have a direction and a place but we
don't have an action and that would make
it a phrase and not a clause so phrases
are groups of words that act like parts
of speech so this one for example is an
adjective or adverb you'll phrase we
don't know because we don't know what
it's modifying and this one is a noun
phrase the best ham sandwich in Oklahoma
it's behaving like a noun and clauses
are groups of phrases that have a
subject and a verb so while my guitar
gently weeps there's a guitar what is it
doing it's weeping so we know it's a
clause we'll go into what the difference
between a dependent and an independent
clause is next time but just know for
now this is a clause over here and this
this clause over here the falcon soared
majestically is also a clause by dint of
the fact that it has both the subject
the falcon and a verb soared
majestically right cool that is phrases
and clauses you can learn anything Dave
it out Rosie out