PHRASES
PHRASES Contains a single thought but is not necessarily a
complete sentence Words make up phrases; phrases make up sentencesA
two or more words that do not contain thesubject- verb pair
necessary to form a clause. NOUN PHRASEIncludes anouna person,
place, or thingand themodifiers which distinguish
it.Modifier(s)+Noun+Modifier(s)Modifiers can come before or after
the noun. Types of PhrasesOnes that come before might include
articles, possessive nouns,possessive pronouns,adjectives,
and/orparticiples.Modifiers that come after the noun might
includeprepositional phrases,adjective clauses,participle phrases,
and/orinfinitives.A noun phrase will have apronounas its basea word
likewe,everybody, etc.and themodifierswhich distinguish it.Noun
phrases function as subjects, objects, and complements
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASEBegin with a Preposition, and end with a
noun, pronoun, gerund, or clausePreposition+Modifier(s)+Noun,
Pronoun, Gerund, or ClausePreposition+Noun, Pronoun, Gerund, or
ClauseA prepositional phrase will function as anadjective
oradverb.As an adjective, the prepositional phrase will answer the
questionWhich one?As an adverb, a prepositional phrase will answer
questions such asHow? When?orWhere?Prepositional phrase will never
contain the subject of a sentence.
VERB PHRASEMulti-word verb, to express more different action or
condition.Auxiliary Verb(s)+Main Verb+Verb Ending A verb phrase can
have up to four parts.When you find an adverb snuggled in a verb
phrase, it is still an adverb, not part of the verb. INFINITIVE
PHRASE Begin with aninfinitive[to + simple form of the verb]It will
often include objects and/ormodifiersthat complete the
thought.Infinitive+Object(s) and/or Modifier(s)Infinitive phrases
can function asnouns,adjectives, oradverbs.When an infinitive
phrase introduces amain clause, separate the two sentence
components with a comma.Infinitive Phrase+,+Main Clause.When an
infinitive phrase breaks the flow of a main clause, use a comma
both before and after theinterrupter.Start of Main Clause+ ,+
Interrupter+,+End of Main Clause.When an infinitive phrase
concludes a main clause, you need no punctuation to connect the two
sentence parts.Main Clause+ +Infinitive Phrase PARTICIPLE PHRASE
begin with a present or pastparticiple. If the participle is
present, it will dependably end ining.regular past participle will
end in a consistented.Irregular past participles, unfortunately,
conclude in all kinds of waysParticiple+Object(s) and/or
modifier(s)Participle phrases always function asadjectivesModifiers
are right next to the words they describe.
When a participle phrase introduces amain clause, separate the
two sentence components with a comma.Participle Phrase+,+Main
Clause.When a participle phrase concludes a main clause and is
describing the word right in front of it, you need no punctuation
to connect the two sentence parts.Main Clause+ +Participle
PhraseWhen a participle phrase concludes a main clause and modifies
a word farther up in the sentence, you will need a comma.Main
Clause+,+Participle Phrase GERUND PHRASE Gerund phrases always
function asnouns, so they will besubjects, subject complements, or
objects in the sentence.Gerund phrases lookexactlylike present
participle phrases. You must determine the FUNCTION of the
phrase.
ABSOLUTE PHRASE Combines a noun and a participle with any
accompanying modifiers or objects.Noun+Participle+Optional
Modifier(s) and/or Object(s)
