The Phrase

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The Phrase

• A phrase is a group of related words, used as a
  single part of speech, that never contains a verb
  and a subject.
• It does NOT create a sentence.

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I. Verb Phrase

• Every word in a verb phrase is a verb.
• Examples
• A storm is approaching.
• Thunder could be heard in the distance.

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II. The Prepositional Phrase

• A prepositional phrase (P A N)
• begins with a preposition,
• it may have adjectives
• it ends with a noun or pronoun (obj. of the
  prep.)
• Example in that picture
• It acts like an adjective OR adverb.

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• Two kinds of prepositional phrases
• 1. Adjective phrase - a prepositional phrase
  used as an adjective. It tells what kind or
  which one. It follows the noun or pronoun it
  modifies.
• Examples
• A book of jokes might make a good gift.
• The girl in the blue shirt won the contest.

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• Adverb phrase - a prepositional phrase used as an
  adverb. It tells when, where, how, why.
• It modifies a verb, an adjective or another
  adverb.
• It comes anywhere in the sentence except after
  the subject.
• Examples
• Later in the afternoon, the storm brought high
  winds and rain.
• We played for hours.

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III. Verbal phrase

• A phrase that is centered around a verb form.
• This verb form is NOT used as a verb in the
  sentence.
• It is used as a noun, adj. Or adv.

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3 Kinds of Verbal Phrases

• Participial Phrase
• Gerund Phrase
• Infinitive Phrase

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A. Participles/Participial Phrases

• - Any verb forms used as adjectives
• - Can be taken out of the sentence
• - Have several forms
• Note A participle is always used as an
  adjective, therefore it comes close to a noun.
• They can come BEFORE or AFTER the noun

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Some participial verb forms

• -ing as in The pouring rain
• -ed as in The soiled carpet
• -n or en as in The broken arrow
• -t as in The bent tree

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Examples of Participles

• The falling snow is beautiful.
• The bucking bronco
• The running stream

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Examples of Participles

• The participial phrase usually needs commas.
• The snow, falling on the trees, is beautiful.

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Examples of Participles

• The fallen snow was beautiful.
• Having fallen, the boy slid into the teacher.
• Having fallen on the ice, the boy slid into the
  teacher.
• If the participial phrase comes first in the
  sentence, it is separated from the sentence with
  a comma.

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Examples of Participles

• The boy, having fallen on the snow, slid into the
  teacher.

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Caution

• If a participle is not close to the noun it
  modifies, it can become misplaced.
• The boy slid into the teacher having fallen on
  the ice.
• problem so far from boy did the boy fall
  or the teacher ??? Called a misplaced
  participle.

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B. Gerund Phrase

• A gerund is a verbal, or verb form, that ends in
  -ing and is used as a noun.
• A gerund always ends in ing and is always used
  as a noun.
• Never surrounded by commas except for appositives
• Be careful of ING verb forms that ARE used as
  verbs in a sentence (these are not gerunds)
• Positions subject, direct object, predicate
  nominative, object of the preposition

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Not all ING words are Gerunds

• Morning
• Evening
• Something
• Nothing
• Anything
• Everything
• She is driving to school today.

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• Examples of gerunds/gerund phrases
• As subject Kissing is fun.
• Kissing my dog is fun.
• As predicate nominative My hobby is kissing.
• My hobby is kissing my dog.
• As direct object I like kissing.
• I like kissing my dog.

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• Examples of gerunds/gerund phrases
• 
  cont.
• As object of the prep. I am good at kissing.
• I am good at kissing my dog.
• Kissing can still be a verb phrase and not a
  gerund
• I am kissing my dog.

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Find the gerund phrase

• Swimming the mile is my best event.
• I gave swimming the mile a try.
• He lectured us about swimming the mile.
• My best event is swimming the mile.
• His sister was dancing in the show.

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C. Infinitives/Infinitive Phrases

• An infinitive is a verbal, or verb form, that can
  be used as a noun, adjective, or an adverb.
• An infinitive usually begins with to a plain
  verb form ( no endings no -s, -ing)
• Example to walk, to talk, to go, to see
• Dont confuse with prep. phrase - a prep. phrase
  has no verb.

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Infinitives as nouns

• To succeed is my goal. (subj.)
• My ambition is to teach Spanish. (p.n.)
• She tried to win. (D.O.)
• Noun will appear in a noun position.
• Which two are not used????

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Infinitives as adjectives

• The place to meet tomorrow is the library.
• She is the one to call.
• Adjective will come directly after a noun and
  modify it by telling which or what kind.

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Infinitives as adverbs

• To get into Harvard, you must study.
• Tamara claims she was born to surf.
• This math problem will be hard to solve without a
  calculator.
• Adverb will come first with comma, or answer adv.
  question, or come after an adjective.

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Some famous Infinitives

• To be or not to be, that is the question.
• To know me is to love me.
• Youve got to live a little.
• I vant to drink your blooooooood.
• I wanna hold your hand.
• Ive only just begun to fight.
• To boldly go where no man has gone before
  (split infinitive)

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• Note To plus a noun or a pronoun (to
  Washington, to her) is a prepositional phrase,
  not an infinitive.
• Prep. Phrase I am going to the mall today.
• Infinitive I am going to shop for new shoes.

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IV. The Appositive Phrase

• Is centered around a noun
• Bob, a boy in my class, sits next to me.
• Renames another noun in the main sentence.
• Bob is renamed with boy.
• Can be removed from the sentence.
• Bob sits next to me.

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The Appositive Phrase

• Will be surrounded by commas 99 of the time.
• Bob, my friend, is nice.
• My friend Bob is nice.
• MOST appositive phrases come AFTER the noun it
  renames.
• Bob, my friend, is nice.
• A friend at all times, Bob is always there.

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The Appositive Phrase

• Will not begin with a pronoun like who,
  which, that, etc. a verb
• The boy who sits next to me is Bob.
• No appositive in the above sentence.
• May have a pronoun verb later in the phrase

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The Appositive Phrase

• Will not begin with a verb form.
• The boy calling out my name is Bob.