What is the difference between a phrase and a clause?

Phrases are groups of words that are part of a sentence but do not contain both a subject and a predicate. A clause is a group of words that contains and subject and a predicate.

A phrase is a group of words within a sentence but do not contain a subject and a predicate.

    Ex.  The old farmer came in and took off his boots.

In this sentence the phrase "the old farmer" contains the subject (farmer), and the phrase "and took off" contains the predicate (took).

A clause is a part of a sentence that contains both a subject and a predicate.

    Ex.  The bus stopped to pick me up.

In this sentence the clause "bus stopped to" contains the subject (bus) and the predicate (stopped).

A clause that cannot stand alone is dependent.

    Ex.  sauce spread on the chicken

A clause that can stand alone is an independent clause.

    Ex.  the ball bounced

With proper punctuation this clause could stand independently as would be a sentence

    Ex.  The ball bounced.

Independent clauses

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