Phrase or Clause? Sentence Anatomy

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Teacher Date Period/Class

Subject: English Language Arts Grade level: 7th grade Unit/topic: Phrase or Clause? Sentence Anatomy CCSS: L.7.1a

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Grade band

Duration

45 minutes

Skill

Phrases and clauses

Standards

L.7.1a — Explain the function of phrases and clauses in general and their function in specific sentences.

Materials

Student worksheet (printable, included)
Pencils

Learning objectives

Students will be able to distinguish a phrase from a clause.
Students will be able to explain the function of a given phrase or clause within a sentence.
Students will be able to combine an independent and a dependent clause to build a complex sentence.

Lesson procedure

Warm-up (5 minutes) — I Do. Write "running down the street" and "because she was running late" on the board. Ask which one has a subject doing something. Introduce the clause-vs-phrase test.
Label the examples (12 minutes) — We Do. In pairs, students apply the test to a set of underlined phrases and clauses within full sentences, labeling each one.
Build complex sentences (18 minutes) — You Do. Students complete the worksheet, combining independent and dependent clauses using subordinating conjunctions (because, although, when, if, since).
Partner check (7 minutes) — You Do. Partners trade papers and verify each combined sentence actually has one independent and one dependent clause.
Share-out (3 minutes) — Closure. A few students read one combined sentence aloud and identify which part is the independent clause.

Printable worksheet

Part 1: Phrase or clause? Label the underlined part of each sentence.

1. Walking through the park, she noticed the flowers. Label: _____________

2. Since the bus was late, we missed first period. Label: _____________

3. He finished his homework before dinner. Label: _____________

4. Although it was raining, the game continued. Label: _____________

Part 2: Build complex sentences. Combine each pair using a subordinating conjunction (because, although, when, if, since).

1. I brought an umbrella. It looked like rain.
→ ________________________________________

2. The team celebrated. They won the championship.
→ ________________________________________

3. You should call me. You need a ride home.
→ ________________________________________

Try it on your smartboard

Sort each underlined part into Phrase or Clause — works with touch, a stylus, or a mouse. Reload the page to reset.

Phrase

Clause

Walking through the park

Since the bus was late

before dinner

Although it was raining

running down the street

because she was running late

Background for the teacher

A clause has both a subject and a verb; a phrase does not. "Running down the street" is a phrase — no subject doing the running, grammatically speaking. "Because she was running late" is a clause — "she" is the subject, "was running" is the verb — but it's a dependent clause, unable to stand alone as a sentence. Seventh graders have been combining clauses intuitively for years; this lesson makes the underlying structure visible and nameable.

The test that holds up best under pressure: cover up everything except the phrase or clause in question and ask "does this have its own subject and verb, doing something?" If yes, it's a clause (dependent or independent); if no, it's a phrase, no matter how long or sentence-like it sounds.

Differentiation

Support: Provide the subject-verb test as a printed checklist next to each Part 1 example, and work through the first item together as a model before students continue independently.

Extension: Challenge students to write one sentence containing two dependent clauses and one independent clause, then label each part.

ELL support: Model the subject-verb test aloud with a think-aloud for every example before students try independently ("Does 'walking' have its own subject doing the walking? No — so it's a phrase").

IEP/504 support: Reduce Part 1 to two examples, and provide the subordinating conjunction already chosen for each Part 2 pair so students focus on combining, not also selecting.

Answer key (for teachers)

Part 1 — Phrase or clause? 1. Phrase 2. Clause 3. Phrase 4. Clause

Part 2 — Build complex sentences. Open-ended: any grammatically correct combination using a subordinating conjunction is acceptable, e.g. "I brought an umbrella because it looked like rain."

Digital extension (optional)

To see sentence structure at work in a sillier context, try a fill-in-the-blank story in Giggle Gaps, where every finished story is built from full, labeled sentence parts.