THE PHRASEAppositive, Prepositional, Participle, Gerund and Infinitive Phrases

English I

What is a phrase?

A phrase is a group of words without both a subject and a verb.

The Appositive

An appositive is a noun or a pronoun placed beside another noun or pronoun to identify or describe it.

Saul, a talented musician, plans to study in Europe. [The appositive musician describes the noun

Saul.] Those, the ones on the right, are on sale.

[The appositive ones identifies the pronoun Those.]

Helpful hint

An appositive is usually set off from the rest of the sentence with commas.

The Appositive Phrase

An appositive phrase consists of an appositive and any modifier it has.

Thomas, my longtime friend from my old neighborhood, has a new sports car.

Dr. Ross has a degree in entomology, the scientific study of insects.

Identifying Appositives

Joseph, a college instructor, started a new study group for his students.

Charles, a freshman at CCHS, is a genius.

Jordan sacked the QB, a veteran of ten years in the NFL.

Prepositional phrases

A prepositional phrase includes a preposition, the object of the preposition, and any modifiers of that subject to the pool at the Jones’ house instead of them

The noun or pronoun in a prepositional phrase is called the object of the preposition David went to the dance. [The noun dance is

the object of the preposition to.]

Prepositional phrases

Do not be misled by a modifier coming after the noun or pronoun in a prepositional phrase. The noun or pronoun is still the object. Gabe and Andrew worked at the stores

today. [Stores is the object of the preposition at. The

adverb today tells when and modifies the verb worked.]

Verbals

A verbal is a word that is derived from a verb but is used as an adjective, adverb, or noun rather than as a verb.

Participles

A participle is a word derived from a verb; it ends in d, ed, n, en, t, ing and is used as an adjective.

Examples of particples

broken window dancing bear fumbled punt Marching into the stadium, the band

thrilled the crowd.

Helpful hint

All introductory participial phrases take commas at the end of the phrase; the very next noun in the sentence is the person or thing “doing” the action of the participle.

If the noun immediately following the comma is NOT the person or thing “doing” the action of the participle, that participle is called a “dangling participle” or a “dangler.” A dangling participle is the improper use of

participles.

Participle Phrases

Examples Lecturing on the impact of the Civil War, the

teacher maintained her students’ attention. Teacher is the person lecturing.

Developed for use in space, Tang proved to be a popular drink on Earth. Tang was developed for use in space.

Participle Phrases

Examples: Carrying a heavy pile of books, her foot

caught on the step. Riding in the Jeep around Africa, the elephant

was seen by us all. Caught cheating on the test, the student

received a zero. Searching for lost keys, the missing wallet

was found.

The Gerund

A gerund is a verb form ending in –ing that is used as a noun.

Like other nouns, gerunds are used as subjects, predicate nominatives, direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions.

The Gerund

The dancing was fun. [SUB] My favorite part of the show was his

juggling. [PN] Pierre tried climbing faster. [DO] We worked better after resting. [O of P]

The Gerund

Gerunds, like participle phrases, end in –ing. To be a gerund, a verbal must be used as a noun. In the following sentence, three words end in –ing, but only one of them is a gerund.

Circling the runway, the pilot was preparing for landing.

Identifying Gerunds

Her laughing attracted my attention. By studying, you can improve your

grades. Why did the birds stop chirping? Writing in my journal has helped me

understand myself better. What Jesse liked best was hiking to the

peak.

The Infinitive

An infinitive is a verb that can be used as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. An Infinitive is formed by adding the word to to a present-tense verb.

To fly is glorious. [To fly is the SUB of the sentence]

Matthew wanted to work on the play. [to work is the object of the verb wanted]

Identifying Infinitives

To plus a noun or pronoun (to school, to him, to the beach) is a prepositional phrase, not an infinitive.

Joshua’s ambition is to teach. To persist can sometimes be a sign of

stubbornness. Paul has learned to tap dance. I am happy to oblige. An easy way to win at tennis does not exist.

Lesson Review

We walked around the block. The event, new to most Americans, is called

Festivus. Drenched by the rain, the girl changed into

drier clothes. Most students dislike reading long, boring

novels. Yoda told Luke to use The Force wisely. Typing furiously to complete the essay, the

computer froze, and the information was lost.