Grammar Bite:

1. Grammar Bite: Phrases

2. What are phrases? • Phrases can act as adverbs and adjectives. • They also can act as nouns though this is less common. • Prepositional phrases only rarely act as nouns.

3. Basically… • Phrases add additional information to a sentence. • A clause must contain a subject and a verb (simple predicate): a phrase need not. • Note: a phrase can be part of a clause but a clause cannot be part of a phrase.

4. Prepositional Phrases • A Preposition is a word that shows a relationship; it relates a noun or pronoun to some other word in a sentence. • A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun, which is called the object of the preposition.

5. Object of the Preposition • The object of the preposition is the word or phrase that the preposition introduces. BOLD words are prepositions. Her copy of A Christmas Carol is on the table. Her copy of A Christmas Carol is beneath the table. Her copy of A Christmas Carol is leaning against the table. Her copy of A Christmas Carol is beside the table. She held her copy of A Christmas Carolover the table. She read her copy of A Christmas Carolduring class.

6. Common prepositions • time: after, at, before, during, past, since, till, to, until, upon • location: about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, at, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, down, from, in, inside, into, on, onto, out, outside, over, through, to, toward, under, underneath, up, upon. • possession: by, of, to, with. • other: despite, except, for, like, off, throughout.

7. Prepositional Phrases as Adjectives (Adjective phrases) • A prepositional phrase that modifies a noun or pronoun is an ADJECTIVE PHRASE. (It is a prepositional phrase acting as an adjective.) • Her necklace of gold was worth a thousand dollars. (of gold modifies necklace) • All of the customers ordered the tofu burger. (of the customers modifies all)

8. Prepositional Phrases as Adverbs (Adverb Phrases) • A prepositional phrase that modifies a verb, adverb, or adjective is called an ADVERB PHRASE. (It acts as an adverb.) • The crowd was dancing in the street. (in the street modifies dancing) • Over the summer, Buckley developed a taste for tofu-based foods. (over the summer modifies developed)

9. More Adverb Phrases • Melody was very melancholy about her mushy watermelons. (about her mushy watermelons modifies melancholy) • Vernon won the eel eating contest, and later in the day he felt his stomach squirming. (in the day modifies later)