back to basics

A sentence is a grammatically complete idea. All sentences have a noun or pronoun component called the subject, and a verb part called the predicate.  SUBJECT + PREDICATE = A SENTENCE

A sentence fragment is a piece of a sentence, but it is not a complete sentence and it is grammatically incorrect. A fragment might contain only a subject or only a predicate, and it is missing one of those components. 

Examples of fragments:

• Because it is such a beautiful evening.

• Never in my life.

• (fragment -->) While you were out of town. I watered your plants. (<--complete sentence)

An independent clause is a sentence that has a subject and a verb and requires no extra information to understand. 

Dependent clauses, which start with subordinating conjunctions such as "while," "that," or "unless," give background information but cannot stand on their own as sentences.

Independent Clause

An independent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought. An independent clause is a sentence. It requires no extra information to understand it.

Example of independent clause: Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz.

Dependent Clause

A dependent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb but does not express a complete thought. A dependent clause cannot be a sentence. Often a dependent clause is marked by a dependent marker word. Some common dependent markers are: after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order to, since, though, unless, until, whatever, when, whenever, whether, and while. 

Example of dependent clause: When Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz . . . (What happened when he studied? The thought is incomplete. It cannot stand alone as a sentence.)

A phrase is a small group of words that forms a meaningful unit. There are several different types, as follows:

Noun phrase

A noun phrase is built around a single noun, for example:

A vase of roses stood on the table.

Verb phrase

A verb phrase is the verbal part of a clause, for example:

I will be going to college next year.

Adjective phrase

An adjective phrase is built around an adjective, for example:

He’s led a very interesting life.

Adverbial phrase

An adverbial phrase is built around an adverb by adding words before and/or after it, for example:

The economy recovered very slowly.

Prepositional phrase

In a prepositional phrase the preposition always comes at the beginning, for example:

I longed to live near the sea.

The dog was hiding under the kitchen table.

A participle is a verbal that is used as an adjective and most often ends in -ing or -ed.  

Examples: 

• The crying baby had a wet diaper.

• Shaken, he walked away from the wrecked car.

• The burning log fell off the fire.

• Smiling, she hugged the panting dog.