A clause is a group of related words containing a subject and a verb<span> A </span>clause<span> can be usefully distinguished from a phrase, which is a group of related words that does </span>not<span> contain a subject-verb relationship, such as "in the morning" or "running down the street" or "having grown used to this harassment." </span><span>A review of the different kinds of </span>phrases<span>might be helpful.</span> Learning the various terms used to define and classify clauses can be a vocabulary lesson in itself. This digital handout categorizes clauses into independent<span> and </span>dependent<span> clauses. This simply means that some clauses can stand by themselves, as separate sentences, and some can't. Another term for dependent clause is </span>subordinate clause<span>: this means that the clause is subordinate to another element (the independent clause) and depends on that other element for its meaning. The subordinate clause is created by a </span>subordinating conjunction<span> or </span>dependent word.