Learning about Phrases

1. Things That Make Ya Go, Hmmm! Learning about Phrases

2. Phrases A phrase is a group of words that acts as a part of speech rather than as a complete sentence. You already know the function of a noun, adjective, or adverb—a phrase simply takes on one of those functions. A phrase does not have a subject or a verb. The two main kinds of phrases are prepositional phrases and verbal phrases.

3. !Adios!

4. Things That Make Ya Go, Hmmm! Learning about Phrases

5. Verbals Another kind of phrase is the verbal—infinitive,gerunds, & participles. As you can tell from the name, they are related to verbs. They look verby—yes, that’s a word —but never act as verbs. Instead they act as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. There are three types of verbals we’ll study: participial phrases, infinitive phrases, and gerund phrases.

6. I’m outta here!

7. Things That Make Ya Go, Hmmm! Learning about Participial Phrases

8. Participial Phrases These are simply phrases that seem to have verbs but not subjects. A participle is really half a verb. participle verb fallen screaming had fallen was screaming screaming

9. See the difference? A participle can’t take a subject, because it’s missing part of the verb. A participle looks like a verb, but it isn’t complete. A form of the verb to be + a participle= a verb.

10. With the verb to be, you only have a participle. The function of a participial phrase is to modify a noun—in other words, a participial phrase acts as an adjective. Whoa!

11. !Hasta la vista, baby!

12. Things That Make Ya Go, Hmmm! Learning about Participial Phrases

13. Participial Examples • Lying on her bed, Shanna ordered Chinese food. • The socks lost in the dryer were her favorites.

14. Participial Examples • Screaming with laughter, the students hid under their desks. • Kolby, left behind at school, wept over his homework.

15. See how each participial phrase tells us something about a noun? Lying on her bed describes Shanna and lost in thedryer describes the socks. Notice that Shanna is the subject of the verb ordered; socks is the subject of were. So lying, screaming, left, and lost have no subject; instead

16. of acting as verbs, they are describing the subject of the sentence. Recognizing participial phrases is crucial in avoiding the dreaded misplaced modifier or dangling participle. Hey, that’s pretty simple.

17. Well, that’s it!

18. Things That Make Ya Go, Hmmm! Learning about Dangling Modifiers

19. Misplaced Modifiers • A modifier is a word or group of words that describes another. • Modifiers can be adjectives: Keng made a brilliant statement (adjective) (noun) • Modifiers can be adverbs: Alex bowled wonderfully (verb) (adverb) • Modifiers can be clauses or phrases: The girl who snuck out her window was my date. (noun) (Clause modifies noun = adjective clause)

20. I’m ghost!

21. Things That Make Ya Go, Hmmm! Learning about Misplaced Modifiers

22. Misplaced Modifiers Funny things happen when modifiers appear too far away from the words they modify. • Example:Carolyn soaked the foot she sprained in ice water. • An odd injury—Carolyn sprained her ankle in ice water?

23. Misplaced Modifiers • Example: Brandon hit a homerun to left field, which flew over the fence. • Left field flew over the fence? Doesn’t that sound a bit strange?

24. 3 Tips for Avoiding Misplaced Modifiers • Keep modifiers close to the words modified. • Keep the subject and verb together. • Be clear about which noun a pronoun stands for.

25. !Dicho y hecho!

26. Things That Make Ya Go, Hmmm! Learning about Dangling Participial Phrases

27. Misplaced Modifiers • Another type of misplaced modifier is the dangling participial phrase. Participles, as you recall, are verb forms ending with-ingin the present tense and-dor-edin the past tense. A few participles end in-tor have irregular forms. • Participle examples: dribbling, skating, scaled, burned or burnt

28. Review of Participial Phrases • Combine a participle with other words to create a participial phrase. Remember, participial phrases act as adjectives because they modify a noun in a sentence. • Participle Phrase examples: • filled with hope • cleaning the bathroom • jumping overboard

29. That’s it!

30. Things That Make Ya Go, Hmmm! Learning about Verbals (Infinitives)

31. Infinitives When the preposition to is followed by a noun, it is a prepositional phrase: to the beach. When to is followed by a verb—torun, to see, to feel —it is an infinitive. Why does this matter? The rules that govern infinitives are different from rules that govern prepositional phrases; since infinitives are closely related to verbs, they can have a passive or active voice as well as present or perfect tense.

32. !Hasta mañana!

33. Things That Make Ya Go, Hmmm! Learning about Other Types of Phrases

34. Find the Infinitive • Emily wanted to leave. • Ask yourself: “What did Emily want?” • Answer: “To leave,” which is an infinitive phrase acting as a noun.

35. Find the Infinitive • Kenny works hard to make money. • Ask yourself:“Why does Kenny work?” • Answer: “To make money,” an infinitive phrase acting as an adverb, modifying work.

36. Woo hoo!

37. Things That Make Ya Go, Hmmm! Learning about Other Types of Phrases

38. Find the Infinitive • Emily wanted to leave. • Ask yourself: “What did Emily want?” • Answer: “To leave,” which is an infinitive phrase acting as a noun.

39. Find the Infinitive • To read is to be transported to another world. • Answer: to another world is a prepositional phrase acting as an adverb, telling where transported.

40. Let’s do more!

41. Things That Make Ya Go, Hmmm! Learning about Other Types of Phrases

42. Find the Infinitive • Liz wanted to know why her so-called boyfriend thought he was a pimp. • Answer:to know is an infinitive

43. Find the Infinitive • To have been in love is to have suffered. • Answer:To have been is the subject of the sentence; to have suffered is an infinitive acting as an adverbial phrase.

44. Find the Infinitive • To have been in love is to have suffered. • Answer:To have been is the subject of the sentence; to have suffered is an infinitive acting as an adverbial phrase.

45. Alrighty then!

46. Things That Make Ya Go, Hmmm! Learning about Gerund Phrases

47. Gerund Phrases A gerund is an –ing verb that acts as a noun. Since it acts as a noun, it can be the subject of a sentence or the object of a verb or preposition.

48. Gerund Phrase Examples • Daydreaming was her favorite pastime. • Winning the lottery is my only hope. • She loved eatingpastries and staying upall night.

49. Find Gerund Phrase • Dante hated studying. • Partying and e-mailing his friends took up most of his homework time. • He was thinking of hiring someone to upgrade his computer, but unfortunately, spending money appalled him.

50. !Basta!