Which sentence contains restrictive (or non-restrictive) clause? In the three exercises below, identify which sentence contains a restrictive clause and which contains a non-restrictive. Also, if necessary, punctuate the sentence with comma(s). Remember, a non-restrictive clause takes a pair of…
You must have seen sentences like these. The snake crept up the stick easily. [Adverb of manner] I spotted the snake there. [Adverb of place] Note: In all the examples, adverb and adverbial phrase have been underlined. Second, all comments…
You must have seen sentences like these. Plenty of unfinished work awaits me. [Adjective] Plenty of difficult work awaits me. [Adjective] Note: In all the examples, adjectival phrase has been underlined. Also, noun (or noun phrase) being described by the…
A clause is a grammatical group of words that contains both subject and verb. It can be an independent clause representing a complete idea (he runs fast) or a dependent clause representing an incomplete idea (because he was ill). In…
Compare these two sentences (comments in square brackets). Tom disappeared at the turn of the street. [Noun] The man with bloodstains on his t-shirt disappeared at the turn of the street. [Noun phrase] In the first sentence, a noun Tom…
Can you tell which of the two underlined group of words is a phrase and which is a clause? After I left the workplace, I headed straight to the cinema hall. After leaving the workplace, I headed straight to the…
In this post, we’ll cover ins and outs of adjective phrase. What’s an adjective phrase? An adjective phrase is a phrase that has an adjective as its head word (or the most important word), and it functions as an adjective…
We see words every day. We see sentences every day. They’re so concrete and visible. In contrast, clauses sound so abstract. And why do we need them when we’ve words and sentences? We’ll explore the need for clause and much…
An independent clause is a grammatical group of words containing both subject and verb, and representing a complete idea. Since it represents a complete idea, it can stand on its own as a sentence. Every sentence must have at least…
Look at the two sentence fragments. Our team lost all close matches this year. Because we choked at crucial moments. Our team lost all close matches this year. All of them. (All examples of sentence fragments in the post have…
In this post, we’ll try to clear the confusion between finite and non-finite clauses. Finite vs. non-finite clause A finite clause is a grammatical unit containing subject and finite verb. It can be an independent clause, which can stand on…
A what-clause is a noun clause starting with the marker word what. Because it’s a noun clause, it can be subject, direct object of verb, object of preposition, subject complement, etc. in a sentence. Examples: (Note: Comments that go with…
