What is word phrase clause and sentence

These three structures are a common part of English, and are all composed of groups of words. Clauses, phrases and sentences are very similar, but they do have different roles. Learning the difference between them will help you make a lot more sense of English grammar, and will be very useful to improve your written English.

What is a phrase?

Words can be grouped together, but without a subject or a verb. This is called a phrase.

Because a phrase has neither subject nor verb, it can’t form a ‘predicate’. This is a structure that must contain a verb, and it tells you something about what the subject is doing.

Phrases can be very short – or quite long. Two examples of phrases are:

“After dinner”

“Waiting for the rain to stop”.

Phrases can’t be used alone, but you can use them as part of a sentence, where they are used as parts of speech.

What is a clause?

Clauses are groups of words that have both subjects and predicates. Unlike phrases, a clause can sometimes act as a sentence – this type of clause is called an independent clause. This isn’t always the case, and some clauses can’t be used on their own – these are called subordinate clauses, and need to be used with an independent clause to complete their meaning.

An example of a subordinate clause is “When the man broke into the house”

An example of an independent clause is “the dog barked at him”

While the independent clause could be used by itself as a complete sentence, the subordinate clause could not. For it to be correct, it would need to be paired with another clause: “When the man broke into the house, the dog barked at him.”

What is a sentence?

A complete sentence has a subject and predicate, and can often be composed of more than one clause. As long as it has a subject and a predicate, a group of words can form a sentence, no matter how short.

E.g. “You ate fish.”

More complex sentences can combine multiple clauses or phrases to add additional information about what is described. Clauses may be combined using conjunctions – such as “and”, “but” and “or”.

E.g. “He went out to dinner but didn’t enjoy the meal.”

This example is composed of two independent clauses, “he went out to dinner” and “he didn’t enjoy the meal”, combined with a conjunction- “but”.

Your turn

While clauses, phrases and sentences might seem very similar at first, on closer look you can start to see how they function very differently. To make sure you use them correctly, it’s important to practice identifying them.

Try reading different materials, and spotting the phrases, clauses and complete sentences in a piece of text. Then try to write your own examples of them! And if you would like to learn English with people from all over the world — check out our range of language courses abroad at Eurocentres.com

When identifying parts of a text you want to manipulate, you will invariably pick one of the three – a word, a phrase or a clause.

1.     Words

Words are the easiest constituents of a text to identify. The key is to consider which words are the most important for how the text works, or the most telling regarding the author’s purpose.

e.g. Look at the following text: Marina And The Diamonds “I Am Not A Robot”

E.g. “You’ve” on line 1

1. You’ve been acting awful tough lately
2. Smoking a lot of cigarettes lately
3. But inside, you’re just a little baby
4. It’s okay to say you’ve got a weak spot
5. You don’t always have to be on top
6. Better to be hated than love, love, loved for what you’re not

1. You’re vulnerable, you’re vulnerable
2. You are not a robot
3. You’re loveable, so loveable
4. But you’re just troubled
5. Guess what? I’m not a robot, a robot
6. Guess what? I’m not a robot, a robot
7. You’ve been hanging with the unloved kids
8. Who you never really liked and you never trusted
9. But you are so magnetic, you pick up all the pins
10. Never committing to anything
11. You don’t pick up the phone when it ring, ring, rings
12. Don’t be so pathetic, just open up and sing
13. I’m vulnerable, I’m vulnerable
14. I am not a robot
15. You’re loveable, so loveable
16. But you’re just troubled
17. Guess what? I’m not a robot, a robot
18. Guess what? I’m not a robot, a robot
19. Can you teach me how to feel real?
20. Can you turn my power on?
21. Well, let the drum beat drop
22. Guess what? I’m not a robot
23. Guess what? I’m not a robot
24. Guess what? I’m not a robot, a robot
25. Guess what? I’m not a robot, a robot
26. Guess what? I’m not a robot, a robot
27. Guess what? I’m not a robot, a robot

–          This is a rather inconspicuous word, not heavily laden with meaning, but why might it be important?

–          How does this word give us a hint as to the author’s purpose? How is she using this word to manipulate the target audience?

–          What’s more, is it actually a single word?

–          Is the second of these two words in any way important?

–          What is the word class of the first word “You”?

–          It is not just a pronoun; you can be more specific.

–          What is the word class of the second word?

–          Regardless of what a word’s class is, each word can only be replaced by another word of that class.

–          What might you want to replace this pronoun with?

–          What are the most prominent words, the words which most obviously stand out?

–          But are they the most telling as to the author’s underhand machinations? What are these words classes?

–          Nouns are the most obviously meaning laden words, but that doesn’t mean they are not important.

–          Identify 12 words which could viably be changed, what words could take their place whilst ensuring that the text’s strategy is maintained or the text is made more effective

–          Consider for each word:

1. What could replace it?
2. Could this word be completely dropped from the sentence? – if so, why has the author included it (if she did not have to)?

–          Always consider the constituents of sentences in this way; considering the alternatives, as though you were the author redrafting the text, is often more telling than considering what the author has given to us and which we often take for granted.

–          Rewrite a few stanzas of the lyric with the alternate words; does it work? If not, why not?

A word can only be replaced in a sentence by another word of that class.

2.    Phrases

–          At their simplest, phrases are groups of words. However, they are less substantial in sentences than clauses. What does this mean?

–          Consider the following series of words:

1. awful tough lately
2. you’re just troubled
3. let the drum beat drop
4. with the unloved kids
5. a weak spot
6.  you pick up all the pins
7. But you are so magnetic
8. Smoking a lot of cigarettes
9. a lot of cigarettes
10. all the pins

–          Some of these series of words are phrases and some are clauses, the key way to distinguish between them is that clauses are centered on verbs, whilst phrases are not.

–          What are the verbs in the above examples? Verbs are doing words, such as run, swimming, kill, as well as being words, such as is, was, am.

–          Why is it important to distinguish between phrases and clauses?

–          Clauses make a connection between one thing or person and another, e.g. between “you” & “trouble”, between “you” (you’re being told) and “the drum beat”, “you” and “the pins”, “you” and “so magnetic”, “a lot of cigarettes” and whoever’s smoking them  (we aren’t told directly, but if you look at the full text, it’s clearly “you” again)

–          On the other hand, phrases just work like words, making no connection, but give us a little more information about the things or people in the clauses, they just tag on (and can very often be omitted), merely featuring in the clauses which contain them

–          For the phrases above, consider:

1. What other phrase could replace it?
2. Could this phrase be completely dropped from the sentence? – if so, why has the author included it (if he did not have to)?

–          Phrases come in many different classes too, but first and foremost we have to be able to identify them – the key factor is that they do not contain verbs.

–          Also,  phrases can replace each word in a sentence, e.g.

“John walked home.”

…can become…

“The little fat man walked all the way home.”

…conversely, words can replace whole phrases…

“The day before Thursday was a bad day for the human race.”

…can become…

“Yesterday was crap.”

–          Identify 12 more phrases from the lyric

–          Which phrases can be omitted (without breaking the rules of grammar)?

–          What does this tell us about the author’s intentions?

–          If we forget about such concerns as metre or rhythm, what words can be replaced by phrases in this lyric, and what phrases by words?

–          Can we construct a subtly different lyric, one which adopts a different approach to achieve similar ends, or which alters the image this artist is trying to put forward?

Any single word can be replaced in a sentence by a phrase, and conversely, any phrase can be replaced in a sentence by a single word.

3.    Clauses

–          Consider the clauses in the above list:

1. you’re just troubled
2. let the drum beat drop

1. you pick up all the pins
2. But you are so magnetic
3. Smoking a lot of cigarettes

–          What can we say about each of them?

–          Clauses, like sentences (many of the above could be given a full stop and called sentences) have essential constituent parts, which cannot be left out:

you are just troubled

…someone, the subject, has to be troubled: a subject is needed.

…the verb has requirements

…it must have a subject, and it must have something coming after it: “You are.” is a strange kind of thing to say. “You are what?” our language demands.

…once verbs are involved, certain types of words are demanded.

However, there are still options for the author: each word can be replaced by another of the same class, e.g. “you” can be replaced by “Tom”, “are” by “is”, “troubled” by “disturbed”, and “just” can be left out completely, or replaced by “only” or “almost”.

–          But clauses say something about something, they link two things together, what comes before the verb, the subject, and what comes after it. Sometimes clauses just link the subject and the verb as in:

“Peter swims.”

            …sometimes the subject and a quality, or a “complement”, of that subject:

“Peter is stupid.”

            …and sometimes the “subject” with a completely other “object”:

“Peter kills sheep.”

…and sometimes with two objects:

“Peter gave Mary a kiss.”

…but it’s the verb what does it!

Identify what you consider to be the 2 key clauses in the following text:

Expectations

Monday morning wake up knowing that you’ve got to go to school
Tell your mum what to expect, she said it’s right out of the blue
Do you want to work in Debenhams, because that’s what they expect
Start in lingerie, and Doris is your supervisor

And the head said that you always were a queer one from the start
For careers you say you want to be remembered for your art
Your obsessions get you known throughout the school for being strange
Making life-size models of The Velvet Underground in clay

In the queue for lunch they take the piss, you’ve got no appetite
And the rumor is you never go with boys and you are tight
So they jab you with a fork, you drop the tray and go berserk
While your cleaning up the mess the teacher is looking up your skirt

Hey, you’ve been used
Are you calm? settle down
Write a song, Ill sing along
Soon you will know that you are sane
You’re on top of the world again

Monday morning wake up knowing that you’ve got to go to school
Tell your mum what to expect, she said it’s right out of the blue
Do you want to work in C&A, cause that’s what they expect
Move to lingerie and take a feel off Joe the store man

Tell Veronica the secrets of the boy you never kissed
She’s got everything to gain cause she’s a fat girl with a lisp
She sticks up for you when you get aggravation from the snobs
cause you cant afford a blazer, girl you’re always wearing clogs

At the interval you lock yourself away inside a room
Head of English gets you, asks you, what the hell do you think you’re doing?
Do you think you’re better then the other kids? well get outside.
You’ve got permission, but you’ve got to make the bastard think he’s right

Hey, you’ve been used
Write a song, Ill sing along
Are you calm? settle down
Soon you will know that you are sane
You’re on top of the world again

Are you cool, and you know
You’re a star and you’ll go far
Think of me as a friend
Not just a boy who’s playing guitar
You’re on top of the world again

Belle & Sebastian

1. Why are these clauses important?
2. What does each of these clauses tell us about the text’s P (purpose), A (audience), C (context)?
3. How might these clauses have been altered?
4. What does the author’s choice of the specific make up of each clause tell us?
5. Are there any patterns in the texts’ clauses?
6. What is more often the clauses subject? Are the subjects being described (linked to a complement) or are they the subject of an action, doing something to some other object?

–          There are classes of clauses to be learnt also, but first and foremost, you have to be able to identify single clauses (i.e. know when there is one clause or more – which depends on whether there is one verb or more) and whether a collection of words is a phrase or a clause.

–          Sentences are made up of strings of clauses and phrases arranged together in very specific ways. Many sentences are made up of just one clause.

“Peter killed six sheep.”

–          However, all clauses are not sentences:

“Because there are six sheep.”

            …is not a sentence because it cannot stand on its own.

“When I turned eighteen, I went down to the big smoke, in order to uncover something about who I was, who my parents were, and where I had come from, but it was too late, as the city had changed completely, with whole streets turned upside down and backwards, blocks turned to rubble, and every tree from Deansgate to Exchange Square pulled up by the roots to make space for crappy little stalls selling rubbish to idiots.”

…is a sentence made up of a number of different phrases and clauses; can you identify all of them?

The verb of a clause determines its shape; apart from having a subject, whether it needs an object, or a complement.

Phrases and clauses are basic components of writing that help you to create intricate sentence structures. They are both groups of words. The main difference between phrase and clause is that a clause contains a subject and a predicate whereas a phrase does not contain a subject and a predicate.

What is a Phrase

A phrase is a group of words that does not contain a subject and a predicate. Since it doesn’t have a subject and predicate, it cannot convey a complete thought and cannot stand alone. Therefore, phrases are mainly used as parts of sentences. Phrases can be categorized into several types. Given below are some of these types of phrases.

Noun Phrase:

A noun phrase gives information about the noun. It contains a noun and the modifiers which distinguish it.

The old lady smiled at me.

Many of his theories were proved wrong.

It was a hot summer day.

Adjective Phrase:

An adjective phrase is a group of words that describe a noun or pronoun in a sentence.

The extremely tired boy started crying.

She bought a black and white polka dotted dress.

The talented young singer mesmerized the audience with his magical voice.

Adverb Phrase:

 An adverb phrase is a group of words that function as an adverb.

The tortoise won the race slow and surely.

Time goes very quickly.

Prepositional Phrase:

Prepositional phrases give information about a time, location or condition. The preposition always appears at the front of the phrase.

He kept his watch on the table.

I received a letter from the president.

He kept his watch and wallet on the table.

What is a Clause

A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb. A clause can act as a sentence, but not necessarily as a complete sentence. The clauses that can stand alone and convey a complete thought are known as independent clauses and those that cannot stand alone are known as dependent clauses. Given below are some examples of dependent and independent clauses.

 Independent Clauses:

She served tea for the guests.

She smiled.

Even though he despised liars, he couldn’t resist telling a white lie once in a while.

Dependent Clauses:

Mary had her dinner after she watched the news on TV.

My friend failed biology twice even though his mother is a biology teacher.

Clauses can have different roles in a sentence. They can act as a noun, adjective or an adverb.

Noun Clause:

We saw what you did to her.

A man who trusts noone cannot be trusted.

Adjective Clause:

The sofa which you bought last year needs to be reupholstered.

The film you recommended scared me to death.

Adverbial Clause:

He goes to school whenever he wants.

You must continue this exercise until I tell you to stop.

The cat that you found belongs to old Mrs. Smith.

Difference Between Phrase and Clause

Subject and Predicate

Phrase does not contain a subject and a predicate.

Clause contains a subject and a predicate.

Complete meaning

Phrases cannot convey a complete thought.

Clauses can sometimes convey a complete thought.

Independence

Phrases cannot stand alone.

Independent clauses can stand alone.

Phrases and Clauses are an integral part of English grammar, and their proper knowledge is essential for writing correctly in English. One must know the definition of phrases and clauses as well as the difference between phrases and clauses. So, let us first understand what phrases and clauses are. A phrase refers to a collection of words that act like speech and maybe the adjective phrases, noun phrases, or adverbial phrases. A clause, on the other hand, refers to the noun phrase accompanied by a verb most of the time consisting of a subject and predicate. 

So, this is the basic meaning of phrases and clauses and now let us take a look at the various examples of phrases and clauses.

What is a Phrase?

The phrase refers to any group of words meaningfully arranged to make complete sense.  Phrases lose their meaning if isolated from the rest of the sentence. Examples of phrases are ‘the great lady’, ‘a red flower’, etc. There are three types of phrases. The first type is the prepositional phrase which refers to a group of meaningfully arranged words starting with a preposition. Example: Diwali is a wonderful occasion and I am writing an essay on this. 

Next is the noun phrase which acts as a noun in the sentence. For example: ‘Meena has a very beautiful bag.’. The third type is the verb phrase where the main verb and some other helping verbs would be present. For example, ‘the cycle is moving in a circular path.’. 

What is a Clause?

A clause refers to a group of words containing a subject along with a predicate. This clause can make sense when isolated from the sentence as well. For example, I have a cat. A clause can be main or independent in which the clause can make sense without a context such as, ‘India is growing at a rapid pace’, and this has startled many economists. A subordinate or dependent clause, on the other hand, does not make sense without the presence of another clause. For example, ‘the country is going from bad to worse’.

Phrase Vs Clause

Let us now talk about the difference between phrase and clause. The first point in the difference between phrase and clause is that phrases make sense only in a sentence which is not the case with clauses. The second difference between phrase and clause is that a clause that has a subject and a verb, while a phrase does not have a subject and a verb. A simple sentence can be called a clause which is not the case with phrases. 

Sentences

Now that we know the definition of phrase and clause, let us understand what are sentences. A sentence is a group of words that convey some meaning and makes sense. The sentence may comprise a subject, predicate, verbs, etc. The types of sentences are declarative, imperative, interrogative, or exclamatory. A declarative sentence states something like ‘the sun rises in the east’ and ends with a full stop. The imperative sentence makes a request or orders something, for example, ‘please turn off the lights when you leave the room’. The interrogative sentence asks a question and ends with a question mark like ‘How are you?». “How lovely is that flower!” is an example of an exclamatory sentence ending with an exclamation mark. 

Sentence Clause Structure

Now, let us understand the sentence clause structure. The sentence clause structure is determined by the number and types of clauses that a sentence contains. A simple sentence consists of just one clause while on the other hand, a compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses. The complex sentence has at least one independent and one dependent clause. This is the sentence clause structure. 

To understand the difference between phrases, clauses, and sentences, we need to understand a complete sentence has a subject and predicate and is composed of phrases and clauses. In other words, a sentence is a larger group of phrases and clauses. This is the difference between clauses and sentences.

Solved Examples

Q. State What is the Difference Between Phrase and Clause?

Ans: A phrase does not have a subject or verb, but clauses have a subject and predicate. Clauses can make complete sense by themselves, unlike phrases.

Did You Know?

The sentence structure has a subject that is the object about which something is being said. The predicate tells us about the subject. Every sentence has a subject and a predicate. It may be a direct object affected by the verb or an indirect object which is followed by direct objects. Verbs, phrases, and complements also play a vital role in sentences.

It depends on your theory of syntax.

In most current non-generative theories of syntax, a sentence can be simple (i.e. it consists of one clause), complex (more than one clause, subordination), or compound (more than one clause, coordination).

A phrase cannot be used as a stand-alone utterance, e.g. «reading a book» is a phrase. However, with proper intonation etc., it can become a sentence, («What are you doing»?) «Reading a book.»

The word «go» can be a word (go), a phrase (go), a clause (Go!), and a sentence (Go!). For example, Alexander Reformatskij, a famous Soviet linguist, came up with the following Latin example: I! (=go.IMP.SG). This one letter/sound is a phoneme, a morpheme, a word, a phrase, a clause, and a sentence.

I believe that in generative theories of syntax there is no distinction between a sentence and a clause. In fact, the clause/sentence is a phrase itself (TP or CP or FP).

What is syntax?

• Syntax is the study of the structure of sentences.

• Syntax analyzes how words combine to form sentences.

• Sentences are made up of smaller units, called phrases (which in turn are made up of words).

Why is syntax important?

• We speak in sentences not in words. To understand the structure of a language it is necessary to study the structure of sentences.

• If we learn to analyze the structure of sentences, we will also learn to analyze their meaning.

• The study of syntax is the study of the function of words, which is necessary to understand the structure and the meaning of a language.

The basic functions

• Subject: obligatory element; it specifies the entity about which we will say something (the doer of the action, the entity described, etc.)

• Object: obligatory element, it completes the meaning of a word or sentence.

• Subject or Object Complement: obligatory element that adds a description of the subject or the object. These function also receive the names of Attribute and Predicative.

• Modifier: optional element; adds additional information that specifies a noun

• Adverbial: optional element; modifies a verb, adjective or adverb

What is a sentence?

Although everyone knows or thinks they know what a word is and what a sentence is, both terms defy exact definition. The sentence as a linguistic concept has been defined in over 200 different ways, none of them completely adequate. Here are the most important attempts at defining the sentence:

The traditional, or common sense definition states that a sentence is a group of words that expresses a thought . The problem comes in defining what a thought is. The phrase an egg expresses a thought but is it a sentence? A sentence like I closed the door because it was cold expresses two thoughts and yet it is one sentence.

• A sentence is basically a string of words that follow the grammatical rules of a language.

• A sentence expresses a complete thought

• A sentence is made up of phrases. At the very least a sentence contains a verb phrase (also known as the predicate) and a subject.

• We will use the terms SENTENCE and CLAUSE indistinctively.

What is a phrase?

• A phrase is a part of a sentence. It does not express a complete thought.

• A phrase is a group of words that function as a single unit. Usually they can be substituted by a pronominal form.

• All phrases have one word which is the nucleus, the head. The head of a phrase determines the kind of phrase we have: Noun Phrase, Adjective Phrase, Adverb Phrase, Prepositional Phrase or Verb Phrase.

A phrase is a small group of words that forms a meaningful unit within a clause. 

A clause is a group of words that contains a verb (and usually other components too). A clause may form part of a sentence or it may be a complete sentence in itself.

A sentence is a group of words that makes complete sense, contains a main verb, and begins with a capital letter.

Sentence must:

• have a subject and a verb (predicate)

• MUST have a complete though

• Begins with a capital letter

• Ends with punctuation

• have intonation

Sentences are used:

• to make statements:

• to ask questions or make requests:

• to give orders:

• to express exclamations:

Syntactic atoms

• The basic unit of syntax is not the word, but the syntactic atom, defined as a structure that fulfills a basic syntactic function. Syntactic atoms may be either a single word or a phrase that fulfills a single syntactic function.

• Fido ate the bone.

• The dog ate the bone.

• The big yellow dog ate the bone.

• Our dog that we raised from a puppy ate the bone.

Simple sentence

A simple sentence normally contains one statement (known as a main clause). For example:

The train should be here soon.

His father worked as a journalist.

Compound sentence

Joe became bored with teaching	and	he looked for a new career.
[main clause]	[conjunction]	[main clause]

Boxers can be very friendly dogs	but	they need to be trained.
[main clause]	[conjunction]	[main clause]

Complex sentence

The story would make headlines	if it ever became public.
[main clause]	[subordinate clause]
He took up the project again	as soon as he felt well enough.
[main clause]	[subordinate clause]

A clause is a group of words that contains a verb (and usually other components too). A clause may form part of a sentence or it may be a complete sentence in itself. For example:

He was eating a bacon sandwich.

[clause]

She had a long career	but she is remembered mainly for one early work.
[clause]	[clause]

Main clause

Every sentence contains at least one main clause. A main clause may form part of a compound sentence or a complex sentence, but it also makes sense on its own, as in this example:

He was eating a bacon sandwich.

[main clause]

Compound sentences are made up of two or more main clauses linked by a conjunction such asand, but, or so, as in the following examples:

I love sport	and	I’m captain of the local football team.
[main clause]	[conjunction]	[main clause]

She was born in Spain	but	her mother is Polish.
[main clause]	[conjunction]	[main clause]

Subordinate clause

A subordinate clause depends on a main clause for its meaning. Together with a main clause, a subordinate clause forms part of a complex sentence. Here are two examples of sentences containing subordinate clauses:

After we had had lunch,	we went back to work.
[subordinate clause]	[main clause]

I first saw her in Paris,	where I lived in the early nineties.
[main clause]	[subordinate clause]

A phrase is a small group of words that forms a meaningful unit within a clause. 

Types of Syntactic Relations

One of the most important problems of syntax is the classification and criteria of

distinguishing of different types of syntactical connection.

L. Barkhudarov (3) distinguishes three basic types of syntactical bond:

• subordination,

• co-ordination,

• predication.

Subordination implies the relation of head-word and adjunct-word, as e.g. a tall boy, a red pen and so on.

The criteria for identification of head-word and adjunct is the substitution test. Example:

1) A tall boy came in.

2) A boy came in.

3) Tall came in.

This shows that the head-word is «a boy» while «tall» is adjunct, since the sentence (3) is

unmarked from the English language view point. While sentence (2) is marked as it has an invariant meaning with the sentence (1).

Co-ordination is shown either by word-order only, or by the use of form-words:

4) Pens and pencils were purchased.

5) Pens were purchased.

6) Pencils were purchased.

Since both (5), (6) sentences show identical meaning we may say that these two words are

independent: coordination is proved.

Predication is the connection between the subject and the predicate of a sentence. In predication none of the components can be omitted which is the characteristic feature of this type of connection, as e.g.

7) He came …

*He …

9) * … came or

10) I knew he had come

11) * I knew he

12) * I knew had come

Sentences (8), (9) and (11), (12) are unmarked ones.

H. Sweet (42) distinguishes two types of relations between words: subordination, coordination.

Subordination is divided in its turn into concord when head and adjunct words have alike inflection, as it is in phrases this pen or these pens: and government when a word assumes a certain grammatical form through being associated with another word:

13) I see him, here «him» is in the objective case-form.

The transitive verbs require the personal pronouns in this case.

14) I thought of him. “him” in this sentence is governed by the preposition “of”. Thus, “see” and “of” are the words that governs while “him” is a governed word.

B. Ilyish (15) also distinguishes two types of relations between words: agreement by which he means «a method of expressing a syntactical relationship, which consists in making the subordinate word take a form similar to that of the word to which it is subordinated». Further he states: «the sphere of agreement in Modern English is

extremely small. It is restricted to two pronouns-this and that …» government («we understand the use of a certain form of the subordinate word required by its head word, but not coinciding with the form of the head word itself-that is the difference between agreement and government»)

e.g. Whom do you see

This approach is very close to Sweet’s conception.

As one can see that when speaking about syntactic relations between words we mention the terms coordination, subordination, predication, agreement and government

It seems that it is very important to differentiate the first three terms (coordination, subordination and predication) from the terms agreement and government, because the first three terms define the types of syntactical relations from the standpoint of dependence of the components while the second ones define the syntactic relations from the point of view of the correspondence of the grammatical forms of their components. Agreement and government deals with only subordination and has nothing to do with coordination and predication. Besides agreement and government there is one more type of syntactical relations which may be called collocation when head and adjunct words are connected with each-other not by formal grammatical means (as it is the case with agreement and government but by means of mere collocation, by the order of words and by their meaning as for example: fast food, great day, sat silently and so on).

subordination – подчинение

coordination –согласованность

predication – предикация

agreement- согласование

Согласование (agreement) имеет место тогда, когда подчиненное слово принимают форму, сходную с формой ядерного слова, например: this boy, these boys; the child plays, the children play; в английском языке слова согласуются только по категории числа в некоторых контекстах.

Управление (government) имеет место тогда, когда некая форма адъюнкта требуется при присоединении к ядерному слову, но не совпадает с ним по форме, например: to see him; to talk to him. Rely on him, to be proud of her.

Примыкание(adjoinment)- не предполагает никакого формального признака связи, слова объединяются просто на основе контакта друг с другом, например: to go home, to nod silently, to act cautuiosly.

Замыкание(enclosure) имеет место тогда, когда адъюнкт располагается между двумя частями аналитической формы ядерного слова, например: to thoroughly think over, the then government, an interesting question , a pretty face, your pretty man, on good essay.

Theme and Rheme

Theme-functions as the ‘starting point for the message’ (M. A. K. Halliday, 1985a, p. 39),the element which the clause is going to be ‘about’ has a crucial effect in orienting listeners and readers. Theme is the starting point of the clause, realised by whatever element comes first.

Rheme

is the rest of the message, which provides the additional information added to the starting point and which is available for subsequent development in the text. The different choice of Theme has contributed to a different meaning and English uses firstclausal position as a signal to orient a different meaning of the sentences. For example,

 Li Ping read a very good book last night.

Li Ping— theme

read a very good book last night.- rheme

 A very good book,Li ping read last night.

A very good book— theme

Li ping read last night.- rheme

 Last night  Li ping read a very good book.

What Li Ping read 

Last night was a very good book.

 Li Ping,he read a very good book last night.

In each case above, the writer starts the message from a different point, that is, to choose a different Theme for the clause. As Halliday (1994, p.38) mentioned Theme as the‘starting-point for the message’ or ‘the ground from which the clause is taking off’.

And also, the different choice of Theme has contributed to a different meaning. What makes these sentences different is that they differ in their choice of theme and they tell us what

 Li Ping, Avery good book, Last night or What Li Ping read 

is going to be about.