Sentence Structure
Phrases and clauses
Tell a phrase from a clause, and a main clause from a subordinate one.
Sentences are built out of two sizes of part. A phrase is a group of words that works as a unit but has no verb of its own. A clause has both a subject and a verb, so it says something about somebody. Once you can tell the two apart, sentence analysis stops being guesswork.
Phrase — no subject and verb pair
In the morning. On the wooden table. A bunch of keys. Each one is a unit of meaning, but none of them tells you who did what.
Clause — has a subject and a verb
The shop was closed. When we arrived. Both have somebody or something doing or being something.
Main or subordinate
A main clause stands alone: the lights went out. A subordinate clause cannot, because a joining word leans it against something else: although the fuse was new. Read it aloud on its own — if it sounds unfinished, it is subordinate.
Worked example
Break up: "After the rain stopped, the children ran outside."
"The children ran outside" has a subject and a verb, and makes sense alone.
So it is the main clause.
Try it together
Let us take one sentence apart together, piece by piece.
The sentence: Before the bell rang, the children in the front row packed their bags.
1.One part of this could stand alone as a whole sentence. Is it the part beginning "Before", or the part beginning "the children"? Write the first two words of it.
Have a go
In "Although he was tired, he kept walking", which part is the main clause?
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.