The difference between phrases and clauses:

 

 

A phrase is a collection of words that may have nouns or verbal, but it does not have a subject doing a verb. The following are examples of phrases:

  • leaving behind the dog
  • smashing into a fence
  • before the first test
  • after the devastation
  • between ignorance and intelligence
  • broken into thousands of pieces
  • because of her glittering smile

In these examples above, you will find nouns (dog, fence, test, devastation, ignorance, intelligence, thousands, and pieces). You also have some verbals (leaving, smashing), but in no case is the noun functioning as a subject doing a predicate verb. They are all phrases.

.           A clause is a collection of words that has a subject that is actively doing a verb. The following are examples of clauses:

  • since she laughs at diffident men
  • I despise individuals of low character
  • when the saints go marching in
  • Obadiah Simpson is uglier than a rabid raccoon
  • because she smiled at him.

In the examples above, we find either a noun or a pronoun that is a subject (bold-print) attached to a predicate verb (underlined) in each case.