Identifying Phrases and Clauses Practice Sheet - ESL worksheet by ... - Free Printable

Let’s go step by step to figure out which lines are phrases and which are clauses.

First, remember:
- A phrase is a group of words that does NOT have both a subject and a verb. It might have one or the other, but not both together doing something.
- A clause IS a group of words that HAS both a subject (who or what) and a verb (what they’re doing). Even if it doesn’t make full sense on its own, if it has both, it’s a clause.

Now let’s look at each line:

1. “What I want” → Has “I” (subject) and “want” (verb) → Clause
2. “The old man came riding home” → “man” (subject), “came” (verb) → Clause
3. “On the hill” → No subject, no verb → Phrase
4. “In winter” → No subject, no verb → Phrase
5. “She moved” → “She” (subject), “moved” (verb) → Clause
6. “Except for the baby” → No subject, no verb → Phrase
7. “It rained in my hometown” → “It” (subject), “rained” (verb) → Clause
8. “Under the bed” → No subject, no verb → Phrase
9. “I am eight years” → “I” (subject), “am” (verb) → Clause
10. “He threw the arrow back” → “He” (subject), “threw” (verb) → Clause
11. “And then there were none” → “there” (subject), “were” (verb) → Clause
12. “Do you want to take a picture” → “you” (subject), “want” (verb) → Clause
13. “Cataracts apply to several conflicts” → “Cataracts” (subject), “apply” (verb) → Clause
14. “A long way up the mountain” → No subject, no verb → Phrase
15. “By sea or by land” → No subject, no verb → Phrase
16. “My new computer” → No verb → Phrase
17. “That church packed with visitors” → “church” (subject), “packed” (verb — past participle used as verb here) → Clause? Wait — actually, “packed” here is acting like an adjective describing the church. There’s no real action verb. So this is a phrase. Let’s double-check: If it said “That church WAS packed...”, then it would be a clause. But as written, it’s just describing — so Phrase.

Wait — let’s recheck #17 carefully.

“That church packed with visitors”

- Subject: “church”
- Is there a verb? “Packed” can be a verb, but here it’s being used to describe the church — like “the church [that was] packed...” — so it’s a reduced relative clause, but in grammar terms for this level, since there’s no helping verb like “was” or “is”, we treat it as a phrase. Many textbooks classify this as a noun phrase with a participial modifier.

So yes — Phrase.

Final list:

Phrases: 3, 4, 6, 8, 14, 15, 16, 17
Clauses: 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Let me count again to be sure:

Phrases:
3. On the hill
4. In winter
6. Except for the baby
8. Under the bed
14. A long way up the mountain
15. By sea or by land
16. My new computer
17. That church packed with visitors → YES, phrase

That’s 8 phrases.

Clauses:
1. What I want
2. The old man came riding home
5. She moved
7. It rained in my hometown
9. I am eight years
10. He threw the arrow back
11. And then there were none
12. Do you want to take a picture
13. Cataracts apply to several conflicts

That’s 9 clauses.

Total items: 17 → 8 + 9 = 17 ✔️

Final Answer:
Phrases: 3, 4, 6, 8, 14, 15, 16, 17
Clauses: 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13