About Phrase

[vcolts]

Purely grammatically speaking, phrase is not a sentence (a unit within one or without).

However, it also contains a rhetorical aspect which indicates a way of saying something.

For example, He used a phrase like, "you have to be cruel to be kind."

or "catch phrases" are also often sentences.

When we want to quote/cite something from a book, is it okay to call them phrases?

I find this aspect of phrase blurry.

[Rover_KE]

Not a lot of people will care, but generally speaking if the group of words you are quoting contains a finite verb, don't call it a phrase.

Find another word, like

'He used the expression "You have to be cruel to be kind".'

'As the saying goes: "Waste not, want not".'

'In the words of the proverb: "A rolling stone gathers no moss".'

Catchphrase is all one word, with a separate definition.

Rover