A phrase is a group of words that has some meaning, but that can’t stand by itself. It conveys some information, but doesn’t express a complete thought, e.g.
A very hungry crocodile
Terrifyingly sharp teeth
Crawling towards me
The only safe place
No escape
After lurching towards me and opening its jaws as wide as they’d go
Additional information:
A phrase is almost always missing a subject; therefore, it doesn’t even have enough meaning to form a dependent clause, e.g. ...after eating...
An independent clause is the smallest group of words that can stand by itself as a complete, grammatically correct sentence.
An independent clause has three elements. These are:
It has a verb, i.e. a word indicating an action or state, e.g. Crocodiles terrify me.
It has a subject, i.e. a noun or pronoun that the verb is referring to, e.g Crocodiles terrify me.
Note: In English, the subject usually comes before the verb.
The combination of this subject and verb forms a complete thought, e.g. Crocodiles terrify me
Terrify = verb
Crocodiles = subject
The emotion that crocodiles cause in me is terror = complete thought
Important note: There cannot only be an -ing verb in the sentence; there also needs to be at least one verb in a ‘simple’ tense, i.e. simple past, simple present, or simple future, e.g.
Eating my leg. (This only has an -ing verb, so doesn’t form an independent clause)
It chomped my leg.
It is eating my leg.
It will eat my leg.
Extra information:
When written by itself, it forms a simple sentence
Clauses can be combined with other clauses or with phrases to make longer, more detailed sentences.
A dependent clause is a group of words that can’t stand on its own. It has a noun and a verb and adds extra meaning or detail, but by itself it doesn’t express a complete thought.
This is because it starts with either a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun.
These are the most common relative pronouns: which, that, whose, whoever, whomever, who, who(m).
Because I am about to give up. (Dependent clause starting with a subordinating conjunction)
Which terrifies me. (Dependent clause starting with a relative pronoun)
A dependent clause needs to be attached to an independent clause. The subordinating conjunction will ‘join’ the dependent clause and independent clause. The combination of these two clauses will create a complex sentence, e.g.
I stopped running because I am about to give up.
Because I am about to give up, I stopped running.
Similarly, if there is a dependent clause that starts with a relative pronoun, this also needs to be attached to an independent clause. In this case, the relative pronoun will ‘join’ the dependent and independent clauses, e.g.
You are out of ammo, which terrifies me. (Complex sentence with an independent clause and a dependent clause starting with a relative pronoun).
Complete sentence’ is the name we give to a sentence that has all the grammatical elements in it, i.e. it is grammatically complete. In its simplest form, it is a simple sentence, i.e. a sentence that is made up or one, single independent clause.
To check if a group of words is an independent clause, look for the three elements:
Does it have a verb? i.e. a word indicating an action or state e.g. Crocodiles terrify me.
Does it have a subject? i.e. a noun or pronoun that the verb is referring to, e.g Crocodiles terrify me.
Remember: In English, the subject usually comes before the verb.
Does the combination of this subject and verb form a complete thought, i.e. is it a statement that can ‘stand by itself’?, e.g. Crocodiles terrify me.
Terrify = verb
Crocodiles = subject
The emotion (of terror) that crocodiles cause in me = the complete thought
Remember: There cannot only be an -ing verb in the sentence; there also needs to be at least one verb in a ‘simple’ tense, i.e. simple past, simple present, or simple future, e.g.
Chomping my leg. (Not an independent clause)
It chomped my leg. (Chomped = simple past tense)
It is chomping my leg. (is (chomping) = simple present tense)
It will chomp my leg. (will (chomp) = simple future tense)
If there’s only one, single independent clause in the sentence (and no other independent clause or dependent clause), it is a ‘complete sentence’.
A sentence fragment is a group of words that is trying to act as a sentence but that isn’t grammatically complete. It will be grammatically incomplete because it:
Is missing a verb, e.g. As my brother, and/or
Is missing a subject, e.g. Running frantically, and/or
Doesn’t form a complete thought, e.g.
Just like my brother
because I was terrified
Remember: There cannot only be an -ing verb in the sentence; there also needs to be at least one verb in a ‘simple’ tense, i.e. simple past, simple present, or simple future, e.g.
Eating my leg (sentence fragment)
It is eating my leg (complete sentence)
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/mainclause.htm note- they use the terms main clause and subordinate clause when talking about independent and dependent clauses.
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/mistake-of-the-month-sentence-fragments/