Download Lesson 5: Phrases

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Lesson 5: Phrases
Unlike a phrase, a clause is a group of words that contains both a subject and a verb. Clauses are classified
according to their grammatical completeness:
 Independent or Main Clauses can stand alone as complete sentences.
 Subordinate or Dependent Clauses do not express a complete thought and cannot stand alone as
complete sentences; they must be accompanied by an independent clause to form a sentence.
Do not punctuate a subordinate clause as if it were a complete sentence; to do so creates a sentence
fragment.
SUBORDINATE CLAUSES:
Like a phrase, a subordinate clause is considered a single unit and therefore functions in a given sentence as
single parts of speech function—specifically, as adjectives, adverbs, or nouns may function in a sentence.
1. The Subordinate Clause Used as an Adjective (called an Adjective Clause):
A subordinate clause functions in a sentence as an adjective when it modifies a noun or pronoun in the main
clause. When used an adjective, the subordinate clause usually (but not always) begins with a relative
pronoun: that, what, which, who, whoever, whom, whomever, whose [see Lesson 1]. Because these relative
pronouns are pronouns, they may function as the subject or object of the relative clause.
Examples:
Henry is the one who studies all the time.
You need a watch that keeps time.
The essay that I wrote in high school received a C.
Quiet places where one can study are hard to find.1
As a result, the relative pronouns introducing these clauses may perform several functions: 1) they introduce the
subordinate clause; 2) they function within their own clauses as the subject or object of the subordinate clause.
Nonrestrictive and Restrictive Clauses:
Adjective clauses (subordinate clauses functioning as adjectives) are classified as either restrictive or
nonrestrictive clauses.

Nonrestrictive clauses are adjective clauses that are not essential to the meaning of the main
clause and may, therefore, be omitted from the sentence without any loss of meaning. As a
result, nonrestrictive clauses are set off from the main clause with commas.
Examples: Her car, which hasn’t run for some time, is a ’57 Chevy.
Everyone is preparing for the exam, which will be given soon.

Restrictive clauses are adjective clauses that are essential to the meaning of the main clause and
cannot be omitted from the main clause without the loss of meaning. As a result, restrictive
clauses are not set off from the main clause with commas.
Examples: The students who pass the exam should be very proud of themselves.
The Eaton Richmond Center is the building that houses the English department.
Sometimes a clause may be restrictive or nonrestrictive depending upon the writer’s meaning.
Compare:
The students, who live in the dorm, receive free football tickets.
[Implies that all students receive free tickets and that they happen to live in the dorm]
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Restrictive clauses are those adjective clauses that are essential to the meaning of the main clause and cannot be omitted from the
main clause without a loss of meaning. As a result, restrictive clauses are not set off from the main clause with commas.
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The students who live in the dorm receive free football tickets.
[Implies that only those students who live in the dorm receive tickets]
2. The Subordinate Clause Used as an Adverb (called an Adverb Clause):
A subordinate clause functions in a sentence as an adverb when it modifies a verb, an adjective, or another
adverb in the main clause. When used as an adverb, the subordinate clause usually begins with a subordinate
conjunction [see Lesson 1] such as after, although, as, because, before, etc. Subordinators may also consist
of more than one word: as if, as far as, as long as, as soon as, as though, even though, in order that, in that,
no matter how, now that, provided that, so that, whether or not. [Some subordinate conjunctions can also
be prepositions; don’t confuse a prepositional phrase with a subordinate clause.] Note that, unlike relative
pronouns, subordinate conjunctions never serve as subjects in their clauses—only as subordinate clause
indicators.
Examples:
He plays tennis as though he were in a hurry. (how he plays)
He plays tennis wherever he finds a court. (where he plays)
He plays tennis because he enjoys it. (why he plays)
He plays tennis more than I do. (how much more he plays)
He plays tennis if the weather permits. (under what conditions he plays)
He plays tennis after he eats lunch. (when he plays)
 vs. He plays tennis after dinner. (prepositional phrase used as adverb)
Adverb clauses may also modify adjectives and other adverbs:
Examples:
She is confident that she will win. [clause modifies adjective confident]
She played better than I did. [clause modifies adverb better]
When an adverb clause introduces the sentence, use a comma to separate it from the main clause; when
it follows the main clause of the sentence, no comma is necessary.
3. The Subordinate Clause Used as a Noun (also called a Noun Clause):
A subordinate clause can function as a noun in a given sentence as a subject, object, object of a preposition, and
so on.
Examples:
Whoever wins the election will have many problems to solve. (as subject)
I knew what the answer was. (as direct object)
Here is a copy of what I said. (as object of preposition)
 Note: Adjective and noun clauses are sometimes presented without an introductory word signaling the
clause. In such cases, the introductory word is simply understood.
Compare:
I found a teacher whom I could trust. = I found a teacher I could trust.
She says that I am always right. = She says I am always right.
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PRACTICE: IDENTIFYING CLAUSES AND THEIR FUNCTION*
[Directions: Underline the subordinate clauses in each of the following sentences and indicate their function in the space to the left.]
1. ________________ Although team scoring of Olympic events is unofficial, every nation is well aware
of its team’s standing.
2. ________________ Major powers often emphasize what their teams did in past Olympics.
3. ________________ While individual achievement is the goal officially recognized by the Olympic
Committee, some countries have used their teams’ standings for propaganda purposes.
4. ________________ The 1936 Olympics were probably the most political games that have been held.
5. ________________ German youth at first opposed holding the Olympic Games in Berlin, perhaps
because German athletes had not done well in the preceding games.
6. ________________ Then Hitler decided that he had a chance to promote Nazism through the Olympics.
7. ________________ He built the most magnificent Olympic Village that anyone had ever seen.
8. ________________ Whoever participated in the 1936 Olympics was treated royally except the Jewish
and the black athletes.
9. ________________ Hitler felt that no Jewish athlete should be allowed to enter the competition.
10. ________________ Apparently as a result of the pressure that Hitler put on the American Olympic
Committee, the two Jewish athletes on the U.S. team did not participate.
11. ________________ Although Hitler did not prevent black athletes from participating, he did not
welcome them.
12. ________________ To Hitler’s dismay, black athletes won virtually every event they entered.
PRACTICE: EDITING*
[Directions: The following sentences contain grammatical errors. Identify the kind of error you find in each sentence in the spaces
below, and then revise the sentence to eliminate it. To identify the errors, use the following abbreviations: fragments (frag);
subject/verb agreement (s/v agr); pronoun/antecedent agreement (p/a agr); dangling modifiers (dm); unnecessary comma (uc); comma
needed (cn).]
(1) Thomas Boslooper and Marcia Hayes trying to establish women’s rights in athletics. (2) They argues
against many of the commonly held views regarding the female’s physique. (3) Boslooper and Hayes who
think that women have been brainwashed into accepting their inferiority in athletics present new evidence about
women’s strength. (4) Being smaller, the performance of women is supposed to be less than men’s in sports
that require strength. (5) But fitness tests have proved, that an Olympic female gymnast, who measured only
five feet, was as strong as the average male athlete in college. (6) Women are also considered more injury
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prone than men. (7) Which is another myth according to Boslooper and Hayes. (8) Studies at Penn State
University shows that college men have a greater number of injuries than women. (9) As Boslooper and Hayes
see it, women could compete quite successfully against men. (10) If they were trained and conditioned by
society to excel in athletics. (11) Women, who are physically healthy, should be given a choice about what
sports they want to compete in. (12) Other supporters of women’s rights agree.
1) __________________ 4) __________________ 7) __________________ 10) __________________
2) __________________ 5) __________________ 8) __________________ 11) __________________
3) __________________ 6) __________________ 9) __________________ 12) __________________
*These exercises have been adapted from the Harbrace College Workbook, Form 9A, ed. Sheila Y. Graham (New York: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, 1982), 57-58 and 139-40.