KS3 English Language: Sentences, Phrases and Clauses

Sentences, Phrases and Clauses…

A sentence is a group of words that include a subject and verb, and usually expresses one complete thought.

‘Selena lives on the new space station’ is an example of a sentence.

Sentences are made up of three main ingredients: words, phrases and clauses, and include a subject and a verb.

Words are the most basic element of a sentence.

Phrases are single, short pieces of information, made up of one or more words, such as ‘the new space station’. Notice that there is no verb.

A clause is a group of words including a verb.
A clause can be, but often isn’t a complete sentence, ‘lives on the new space station’, for example.
It’s not a complete sentence but it has a verb.

‘Selena is making fuel for the space station.’ This is a complete sentence.

She collects atoms, creates compounds from the atoms and combines them together to create fuel.

It’s like making a sentence…
Atoms are the individual words.
Atoms are combined to form a simple compound, like combining words to make a phrase.

There’s something missing… Another chemical needs to be mixed into your phrase to make a clause: a verb.

Once that’s put in, Selena’s got the fuel. And we’ve got a sentence. Atoms, compounds and mixtures equals fuel.

Just as words, phrases and clauses = sentence.

‘The shiny space station suddenly exploded.’ It’s an example of a sentence with all of the right ingredients, unlike the fuel.

So don’t get mixed up.

A sentence is a group of words that include a subject and verb and usually expresses one complete thought.

‘Why did the space station explode?’ is also a sentence.

‘The space station exploded because Carl labelled the chemical incorrectly.’ And that’s an another and a sentence. Oh Carl!