Is the group of words in bold a phrase or a clause?

Shannon's suitcase was too large to fit in the overhead bin, so unfortunately she had to check it.

1 answer

In the sentence you provided, "to fit in the overhead bin" is a phrase. Specifically, it is an infinitive phrase because it begins with the infinitive "to fit." A phrase does not have a subject and a verb, whereas a clause does. Since "to fit in the overhead bin" does not contain both a subject and a verb, it is classified as a phrase.