Words and Phrases
What is a word?
A word is a group of letters arranged in a particular order. It has a meaning. Examples are: flower, bird, boy, student, beautiful, evening, nice etc.
A group of letters that does not make any sense is not a word. For example, rhts, btured, ghuyl and gklis are not words because they do not make any sense.
What is a phrase?
A phrase is a group of words that makes sense. Examples are: the boy, a beautiful girl, in the morning and on the table.
Notes
A group of words becomes a phrase only when it makes sense. So what about the word group given below? Is it a phrase?
The on table
No, it is not a phrase because it doesn't make any sense. However, by rearranging the words we can convert it into a meaningful phrase: on the table
Exercise
Put a tick mark against the phrases in the following.
1. on the table
2. around corner the
3. evening an unforgettable
4. a wonderful experience
5. a badly cooked meal
6. dog my neighbour's
7. sky in stars the
8. a sheet of paper
9. story an interesting
10. bird in hand a
11. thread a piece of
12. the desert ship of
13. better than anybody else
14. a blade of grass
15. bush a bird in the
16. a funny little guy
17. flowers a garland of
18. bottle the in
19. a glass of water
20. a clever dog
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See also
Adverb clauses
Adjective clauses
Noun clauses
Transformation of sentences