Resource: Phrase

Words, phrases, and clauses are key to learning sentences. Here you’ll find resources on phrase. (Note: The page will be updated as more resources on phrase are added to the site.)

A phrase is a grammatical group of words that does not have both subject and verb:

Some confuse between phrase and clause. This should help:

Types of phrases

There are eight types of phrases:

  1. Noun phrase
  2. Adjective phrase
  3. Verb phrase
  4. Adverb phrase
  5. Prepositional phrase
  6. Infinitive phrase
  7. Participial phrase
  8. Absolute phrase

Some grammar books extend the list to ten by including gerund phrase and appositive phrase, but strictly speaking, these two can be clubbed into noun phrase.

Another classification of phrases

Every word, phrase, and clause functions as one of the eight parts of speech in a sentence. Here, we’re concerned with phrases. Look at what part of speech each phrase can function as in a sentence:

Types of phrase in English grammar

If you look at the above image, you’ll realize that adjective and adverb is the most common function of phrases. (That’s why we’re covering these two only.) Phrases that function as adjective (see the fourth column) are called adjectival phrases, and phrases that function as adverb (see the fifth column) are called adverbial phrases.