Phrases v. Clauses Video Lecture | Learn and Master: Business Writing - Communication

so in this segment I'm going to give you
the most important question that you can
ask in trying to map out and identify
sentence types the most important
question that you can ask is not what is
my sentence type but it's this
so too often when we start looking at
our sentences and start trying to think
about what kind of sentence am i working
with or how do I punctuate it or what do
I do we make the mistake of assuming
that we're working with a sentence what
I want you to do when you're looking at
parts of a sentence to understand
relationships in the sentence or
punctuation or sentence types is to
first ask this question is it and it
refers to the word group I'm looking at
is my word group a phrase or a clause is
it a phrase or a clause if you'll first
ask this question you are going to much
more easily be able to answer
punctuation questions agreement in
reference questions and sentence type
questions let me put some examples up
and we'll talk through those
okay so I have a pair on the board a
sentence after eating Leslie took her
test now let's say I'm trying to figure
out what type of sentence I'm dealing
with here's the mistake that so many
students make they go oh I've got a word
group is this dependent or independent
because I'm trying to figure out what
type of clause I have well you've
skipped this important question every
time I'm analyzing a word group in my
sentence the first question that you ask
yourself is is my word group a phrase or
a clause now before we start identifying
in this sentence what's a phrase or
what's the clause let's just simply talk
about how do we have a clause and what
is a phrase a phrase is a word group a
phrase is a word group let me give you
an example
okay in this sentence here in the red I
have I will eat bananas and drink juice
now I have here two verb phrases this is
my fanboy coordinating conjunction and
in fact it's linking two verb phrases a
phrase typically has a subject or a verb
so a noun or a verb but not both when I
have both a subject and a verb then I'm
dealing with a clause it takes my phrase
and it puts it it makes it into a clause
so let's relook at the sentence and this
first part of my sentence is actually a
clause because I have my subject and my
verb and after the fanboy drink juice is
a phrase it's another verb phrase so
remember I will eat bananas and drink
juice that is one single clause because
it has a subject and a verb you can have
multiple verbs in the clause so I will
eat bananas and drink juice however and
if I put in
I don't know I will eat bananas and I
will drink juice now I've introduced
another subject to go with this verb I
will drink juice and I have a clause so
fanboy words can connect words phrases
or clauses so in this case I have I will
eat bananas subject and a verb and I
will drink juice subject in a verb to
clauses to clauses so let's go back up
here to this word group after eating
Leslie took her test and what I'm trying
to figure out is do I have multiple
clauses in the sentence or do I have a
combination of a phrase and a clause
let's analyze I've got an introductory
word group and typically if I have an
introductory group or something offset
by a comma I want to analyze am I
dealing with a phrase a word group in
other words or a clause well let's look
let's isolate after eating after eating
again don't start thinking oh is this a
dependent clause or is it independent
what type of sentence am i dealing with
ask yourself is it a phrase or clause so
after eating has a verb form but no
subject so therefore after eating is
simply a phrase Leslie took the test we
now have a subject and a verb so I have
here a clause
and this is in another segment in terms
of sentence mapping but if I were to
look at the sentence I have one clause
therefore this would be a simple
sentence I'm going to give you two more
examples and I want you to look through
these to help determine is this word
group a phrase or a clause
okay so again when I'm looking at word
groups and analyzing my sentences I want
to first ask myself when I see a word
group is the word group a phrase or is
it a clause and that's my first question
that I ask is it a phrase or a clause
the second question I'm going to kind of
make this into a formula is if it's a
clause then is it independent or
dependent so these are the two basic
questions I need to ask before I tackle
sentence mapping punctuation and
agreement is the word group of phrase or
clause and if c then i or D in other
words if it's a clause is it independent
or dependent so let's look at several
sentences and go through this process
first of all bill took the folder in
order to figure out again is it a phrase
or a clause I have to remember that a
clause has what two components both a
subject and a verb so in this sentence
bill is my subject took is the verb so I
know that I'm dealing with a clause if
it's a clause now I can go to that next
step to say is it independent or
dependent well all independent means is
that that Clause can stand alone as its
own sentence it's not dependent on any
other information in the sentence to be
a standalone so think independent yay
can I do a little independent cheer I'm
independent I'm my own sentence well
Bill took the folder we've identified
first that it's a phrase or clause that
it's a clause because it has a subject
and a verb then we say can it do the
little chair and say yeah I'm
independent I can stand alone in fact it
can that's a full and complete sentence
so
here we have an independent clause now
let's go to our next sentence remember I
mentioned that often if we have a word
group offset by a comment that's an
indicator we need to analyze if we have
a phrase or a clause so before leaving
the meeting bill took the folder now I
already know that bill took the folder
because it has a subject and a verb that
this is an independent clause well what
about the new content that I added to
the sentence before leaving the meeting
remember when I'm analyzing my sentences
to figure out if I have a whole and
complete sentence and then how to
punctuate it make it agree and map it
out I need to first ask is this word
group a phrase or clause so I'm going to
ask myself that before leaving the
meeting is it a phrase or clause well we
have no subject I have a verb type here
I have a gerund verb but I have no
subject so this is in fact a phrase this
is in fact a phrase so I have one
independent clause phrases are sort of
neutral and they don't
phrases don't impact the type of
sentence that I have this is one
independent clause let's look at one
more sentence I'm going to change this
just slightly and we'll re-evaluate okay
now our sentence says before he left the
meeting bill took the folder again bill
took the folder we know that this is an
independent clause let's look at our
profit or your introductory phrase or
clause figure out what it is before he
left the meeting is it a phrase or a
clause well we've got a subject I'm
actually going to put a little dotted
line because it's a secondary subject
and left we have our secondary verb it's
not the main subject in verb but we do
have a secondary subject and verb so is
it a phrase or clause this is a claw
I'm dealing with a clause so before he
left the meeting since it's a clause is
it independent or dependent well can
before he left the meeting do a little
cheer and no he can't it's not a
standalone sentence before he left the
meeting is dependent on additional
information in order to stand alone so I
know that this introductory phrase is in
fact a dependent clause so this sentence
has one independent clause and one
dependent clause which we know is a
complex sentence so remember when you're
getting ready to map out your sentences
when you're analyzing word groups the
first question that you ask yourself is
is the word group a phrase or a clause