Phrases, Clauses, & Sentences

Phrase

A Phrase is a group of words that acts together as a part of speech. A Phrase does not have any subject and finite verb (a verb that show tenses) and it cannot stand alone as a sentence. For example: 

Birds are beautiful. (Here the subject ‘Birds’ contains only one word. It is a noun)
Most wild birds are beautiful. (Here the subject ‘Most wild birds’ contains more than one word. It is a noun phrase)

What is a phrase? 

If a part of the sentence contains one word, we call it a part of speech (noun, adjective, verb, etc.). If it contains two or more words, we call it phrase (noun phrase, adjective phrase, verb phrase, etc.). Examine the following examples carefully:

Fishes look beautiful. (Here ‘Fishes’ is a noun)
Most sea fishes look beautiful. (Here ‘Most sea fishes’ is a noun phrase)

Birds fly. (Here ‘fly’ is a verb)
Birds can fly. (Here ‘can fly’ is a verb phrase)

My cat is cute. (Here cute is an adjective)
My cat is very cute. (Here very cute is an adjective phrase)

Tell me if you love me. (Here if is a conjunction)
He speaks as if he loved me. (Here as if is a conjunction phrase)

Clause

A clause is a group of words that has a subject and a finite verb (a verb that shows tenses). Independent clauses can stand alone as a sentence. Sub-ordinate clauses are depended on the main clause and cannot stand alone as a sentence. Examine the following examples carefully:

The dog barks.

It sees someone unknown. 

Sentence

A sentence is a group of words that has a subject and a finite verb (a verb that shows tenses). A sentence can have one or more clauses. 

The dog barks. (This sentence has one clause)

It sees someone unknown. (This sentence has one clause)

The dog barks when it sees someone unknown. (This sentence has two clauses)