Clause and phrases

Question

In the sentence " The boy swam across the pool to grab the float."  What is the clause and the phrase?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

AnonymousWhat is the clause and the phrase?

There is more than one way of defining clauses and phrases, but a fairly traditional approach would analyze your sentence as a single clause. Within that clause you have a prepositional phrase (across the pool) and an infinitive of purpose which may be called a phrase (to grab the float).

A more recent approach might say that to grab the float is a separate clause and that the boy, the pool, and the float are noun phrases, across the pool is a preposition phrase, and swam across the pool to grab the float is a verb phrase.

The analysis of a sentence depends on the methodology you are using, as recommended by your teacher or in your textbooks.

CJ

Clause and phrases

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