Imagine a sentence as a house. 🏠

• Phrase: Like a room in the house – it has some furniture (words), but it can’t function on its own. 🛏️🛋️ It needs the rest of the house.
• Clause: Like a complete mini-apartment within the house. It has a living room (subject) and a kitchen (verb), so it can function on its own. 👨‍🍳👩‍💻

Here’s the key difference:

• Phrase: Missing a subject OR a verb (or both).
• Clause: Always has BOTH a subject and a verb.

Examples:

• Phrase: “the big red ball” (no verb) ⚽
• Clause: “The dog chased the ball.” (has subject “dog” and verb “chased”) 🐶

Think of it this way:

• A phrase is just a PART of an idea.
• A clause expresses a COMPLETE idea (even if it’s part of a bigger sentence).

Easy peasy, right? 😊