Phrases and Clauses

Phrases and clauses are both groups of words that work together in a sentence. The difference is that a clause has a subject and a verb—often, a clause could be a sentence if it were all by itself, and when it could be, we call it a main clause or an independent clause.

Ex. Zombies hunt the surviving humans. [main clause]

On the TV show The Walking Dead, zombies hunt the surviving humans.

          [phrase]                 [main or independent clause]

You can flip these around.

Zombies hunt the surviving humans on the TV show The Walking Dead.

     [main or independent clause]                             [phrase]