Dependent phrase
Dependent phrases do not contain a verb phrase and therefore do not express clausal structure. Instead, they consist of smaller syntactic units such as noun phrases, prepositional phrases, or adjectival phrases that function to modify or complement elements within the main clause. Structurally, they are more compact and rely heavily on the surrounding context for interpretation. Unlike clauses, dependent phrases do not encode tense, modality, or an explicit subject, but they still contribute important semantic information such as description, relation, or specification within the sentence.