The difference between clause and phrase

Two words you’ll hear grammarians throw out are clause and phrase. What’s the difference?

In short, a clause contains a subject doing the verb while a phrase doesn’t.

Take this sentence for example.

For the first time in 11 years, I ate fried chicken.

In this example, everything before the comma is a phrase and everything after the comma is a clause (I is the subject and ate is the verb the subject is doing.

Clear as mud?

By Kim Siever

I am a copywriter and copyeditor. I blog on writing and social media tips mostly, but I sometimes throw in my thoughts about running a small business. Follow me on Twitter at @hotpepper.