ADJECTIVE PHRASE

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to know how to:

1. define an adjective phrase

2. Identify a prepositional adjective phrase and the noun or pronoun it modifies in a sentence.

Let us review what is an adjective and what is a phrase!

Adjective Phrase

Is a word that describes a noun or

a pronoun

Is a group of words that does not make sense by itself. It does not

have a subject and a predicate and depends on other words to form a meaningful sentence. Remember that a preposition is a word that

indicates the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words

in a sentence.

Peter Pan

The five members of the Darling family included Mr. and Mrs. Darling and their three children, Wendy, Michael, and John. Nana, the nursemaid, was a dog, and she was often a babysitter for the children. One night the parents went out, and Peter Pan paid a visit to the house of the Darling’s. That night Peter Pan and the children took a journey to the island of Never Land. Never Land was an island with a pirate cove, an Indian village, and a lagoon with mermaids. They could also see the big ship of Captain Hook. Peter Pan and a hungry crocodile were the two enemies of Captain Hook. The crocodile had once eaten one of Captain Hook's hands. He wanted another taste of the man! The creature, therefore, forever followed Captain Hook and his boat of pirates.

Three Forms of Adjective Phrases

A. Prepositional PhrasesA prepositional phrase is a group

of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun called object of the preposition. It may be used to modify a noun or pronoun in the sentence. Remember that prepositions are

EXAMPLES:

Modifying a Subject:The book on the table is mine.

Modifying a Direct Object: Richard bought a new camera with 16.0 mega pixels.

Modifying an Indirect Object: Mr. Torres gives students with low grades free tutorial services.

Modifying a Subjective Complement:Janus is the eyewitness to the crime.

Modifying an Object of the Preposition of Another Prepositional Phrase: The child hid his toys at the back of the door.

NOTE:Sometimes more than one prepositional phrase (adjectival phrase) may be used to modify the same noun.

The box of chocolates in the fridge is

very inviting.

List of common prepositions:

aboard beyond outabout but (meaning except) overabove by pastacross concerning sinceafter down throughagainst during throughoutalong except tillamong for toaround from towardat in underbefore inside underneathbehind into untilbelow like upbeneath near uponbeside of withbesides off withinbetween on without

More examples!

•Justin was our class valedictorian in grade school.•My literature teacher enjoyed my article Perks of being a Wallflower. •That beach house in Boracay has remained controversial.•I will give students in incomplete uniform a serious warning.•I still see you in some corner of my mind.

Do not be fooled by other prepositional phrases!

1. The new student sat beside James.2. Through hard work and patience, Frea

reached her dream.3. The teacher greeted me with a frown.4. Through bad times, I was able to figure out

my purpose in life.5. The bowl was full of soup.

Seatwork:

Underline the adjective phrase in each sentence and encircle the noun it modifies and underline the adverb phrase twice if there is. Some sentences have more than one adjective phrase.

Example:1. Mary went to the beside Chong Hua

hospital in Cebu City. mall

1. Horseshoe crabs resemble hard hats with long tails.

2. They are close relatives of spiders. 3. Ms. Mary is the teacher beside Dr. Lopez.4. The rock was collected by the Apollo space

mission.5. The daytime temperature on the lunar

equator is 243°F.6. It is an opening underneath the crab’s body.An Alaskan, Mrs. E. H. Hodges, is the only person

hurt by a falling meteorite.

7. About 150 meteorites from space pound the Earth each year.

8. A black hole is formed by a star’s complete collapse.

9. The purple hat with the red feather was for sale in the store.

10. Maya sang inside the room with pink curtains.

‘B. Participial Phrases

A participial phrase is a participle modified by an adverb or accompanied by a complement. The entire phrase acts as an adjective when it modifies a noun or pronoun in the sentence. It can be placed either closely before or after the word it modifies.

With an adverb: Burning brightly, the fire brightened up the tunnel.

With an adverb phrase: Walking along the shoreline, I met a group of fishermen.

With a direct object: Knowing his limitations, Kenji conceded the game to his opponent.

THE FIVE FORMS OF THE PARTICIPLE

Present participle active (- ing ending)> Barking dogs seldom bite.

Present participle passive (being + past participle)

>Being tied to the post, the dog barked furiously.

Past participle (the third principal part)>The dog tied to the post is a

Dobberman.

Perfect participle active (having + past participle)

> Having fed the dog, the caretaker closed the kennel.

Perfect participle passive (having been + past participle)

> Having been fed, the dog in the kennel settled down to sleep.

Do you now get how participial phrases work as adjective?

Well, here are more examples.

• Startled by the sound of a horn, I jumped back of the street.

• We saw an old man lying unconscious on the hood of the highway.

• The man driving the combine owns the farm.

• Mr. Gargantiel, driving that combine, owns the farm.

Seatwork

INSTRUCTIONS: In each of the following sentences,

change the italicized clause into a participial phrase. Then on the blank before the item, classify the composition of the created participial phrase by writing PPA for participial phrase with adverb, PPAP for participial phrase with adverbial phrase, and PPDO for participial phrase with direct object.

Example:When we arrived in school, our friends

greeted us. ___ Arriving in school, our friends

greeted us.

___ 1. While he was driving down Silliman Avenue, the tourist saw the plush restaurant.

___ 2. My elder sister jumped with joy after she had received the board results.

___ 3. When the students received the teacher’s instructions, they began the experiment.

___ 4. The contestants felt anxious as they waited for the announcement of winners.

___ 5. While we were rowing across the lake, we heard the thunder roll.

___ 6. When the excursionists reached the ridge, they saw the beautiful lagoon below.

___ 7. The police left after they had apprehended the culprit.

___ 8. The students who did not want to work left early for home.

___ 9. When Jamie looked past the open door, she saw a young man approaching.

___ 10. While the wounded soldier was lying breathless and pale on the ground, he heard a voice through the twilight.

C. Infinitive Phrases

An infinitive phrase is a group of words beginning with the infinitive word to + base form of the verb with modifiers, complements, or a subject, all acting together as a single part of speech. An infinitive phrase may function as an adjective modifying a noun or pronoun in the sentence.

There are four forms of the infinitive:

1. Present active (to+base form)To forgive is divine.

2. Present passive (to be+past participle)He does not want to be scolded.

3. Perfect active (to have+past participle)The Japanese writer was believed to have witnessed the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

4. Perfect passive (to have been+past participle)His stories about the first atomic bombings were said to have been read in all the capitals of the world.

Examples:

Modifying a Subject:The guest to cut the ceremonial ribbon represents Mr. Ben

Chan.

Modifying a Direct Object:I interviewed the senator to speak at tomorrow’s

commencement exercises.

Modifying an Indirect Object: The doctors have given the patient to undergo heart

transplant preparatory procedures.

Modifying a Predicate Nominative:Mr. Francis Panganiban is the businessman to

receive an award.

Modifying an Object of the Preposition:We will pledge our support for the candidate to

address the ailing moral standards of society.

In other instances,

an infinitive phrase functions as ADVERB or

NOUN. As an adverb, the

infinitive modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. As a noun, the infinitive phrase is used as subject, direct object,

predicate nominative, etc.

As adverb: The doctor performed the emergency procedure to save the patient.

As adjective: The emergency procedure to save the patient

was performed by the doctor. As noun: To save the patient was the reason the

doctor performed the emergency procedure.As noun: The reason the doctor performed the

emergency procedure was to save the patient.As noun: The doctor wanted to save the patient.

How does the infinitive phrase of each sentence function ?

1. To find out the truth, the school officials created an ad hoc committee.

2. The main objective of the ad hoc committee was to find out the truth.

3. The school officials commended the ad hoc committee to find out the truth for accepting the challenge.

4. The ad hoc committee wanted to find out the truth.

5. My dad belonged to the ad hoc committee to find out the truth.

SEATWORK

INSTRUCTIONS: Reconstruct the following sentences by changing the subordinate clause to an infinitive or infinitive phrase.

1. I have some clothes that I must wash with detergent.

2. He met the teacher who would fall in love with his student.

3. Grace went out because she wanted to watch Sarah Geronimo’s concert.

4. I wrote some poems that I must publish.

SEATWORK

5. The money which she will use to buy a new lap top computer was stolen by an identified suspect.

6. You were the last person who saw Petersen alive.7. It hurts that I should be snobbed by Lizbeth.8. A student should read the newspaper daily so that he

will be informed.9. My uncle works for a foreign diplomat who maintains

open communication between and among nations. 10. We should exercise daily so that we will stay fit.