PHRASES What are they? What are they NOT? What do they do in sentences? How many kinds are there?Quite a few. We will look at 4 kinds: prepositional infinitive participial appositive They ARE : Groups of words that function as a single unit in a sentence. They are NOT : complete sentences in themselves OR CLAUSES !! They give detail to sentences. They CAN be the subjects or objects of sentences.

Prepositional Phrases A preposition is a word that relates a noun or pronoun that appears with it to another word in the sentence. The preposition, any adjectives, and the word it appears with ( object of the preposition) make up the prepositional phrase. ***You will NOT find the subject of a sentence INSIDE a prepositional phrase!!!!*** ***Prepositional phrases do NOT contain verbs!!!**

You can sit before the desk (or in front of the desk). The professor can sit on the desk (when he's being informal) or behind the desk, and then his feet are under the desk or beneath the desk. He can stand beside the desk (meaning next to the desk), before the desk, between the desk and you, or even on the desk (if he's really strange). If he's clumsy, he can bump into the desk or try to walk through the desk (and stuff would fall off the desk). Passing his hands over the desk or resting his elbows upon the desk, he often looks across the desk and speaks of the desk or concerning the desk as if there were nothing else like the desk. Because he thinks of nothing except the desk, sometimes you wonder about the desk, what's in the desk, what he paid for the desk, and if he could live without the desk. You can walk toward the desk, to the desk, around the desk, by the desk, and even past the desk while he sits at the desk or leans against the desk. All of this happens, of course, in time: during the class, before the class, until the class, throughout the class, after the class, etc. And the professor can sit there in a bad mood [another adverbial construction]. Consider the following:

Prepositional expressions Time (on, in, at, since, during, for, within) Place (on, in, at, inside, over) Direction (to, onto, in, into) Spatial relationship (ahead, against, across, above) Introduce objects of verbs (You didn’t laugh at his joke.) at, of, for When determining which preposition to use when creating a prepositional phrase, consider WHAT KIND of expression you are trying to convey:

Example Prepositional Phrases 1.The dog chased the cat under the old, rickety, dirty bed. (place) 2.After class the students raced down the hall. (time, direction) 3.Without help we would have been trapped under the bridge. (object of verb, place) 4.After the council meeting I got a letter regarding my dog. (time) 5.During a church service is not a good time to discuss picnic plans. (time – SUBJECT of sentence!!!)

PARSING A SENTENCE WITH PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES IN IT “The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building.” - from “Hills Like White Elephants”, Ernest Hemingway The American and the girl (with him) sat (at a table) (in the shade), (outside the building). preps objects of preps n/s v cj

REMINDERS FOR DEALING WITH PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES NO VERBS NO SUBJECTS within, but the whole phrase can BE the subject They can be eliminated from the sentence and the sentence can still be complete and just lack detail. Can be quite long and have LOTS of adjectives in them. When parsing a sentence, put brackets around each prepositional phrase. When choosing a preposition, remember to think about what KIND of expression you are trying to convey…

Infinitive Phrases An infinitive the basic form of a verb usually with the preposition to**. ***You will NOT find the subject of a sentence OR the main verb of a sentence INSIDE an infinitive phrase!!!!*** ***Infinitive phrases DO contain verbs, but they do NOT contain SUBJECTS** to go to walk to sleep to be to feel to hear **Either the ‘to’ OR the verb itself can be left out of the sentence. When this happens, we say that the verb (or to is implied). e.g. My mother made me go. (‘to’ is implied)

The infinitive phrase in different contexts: the citation form of the English verb: "How do we conjugate the verb to go ?" a noun phrase, expressing its action or state in a general way: " To err is human.” " To know me is to love me. " an adverb phrase modifying a verb: The old man installed iron bars on his windows to stop intruders. An adjective phrase modifying a noun: Did he give his permission to paint a mural on this wall? EXAMPLES OF INFINITIVE PHRASES

Participial Phrases A participle is a word based on a verb and most often ends in -ing or -ed. removing (present participle) walked (past participle ) Removing her coat, the girl dove into the river. The picture, painted by a famous artist, had been carefully packed away The participial phrase includes the participle and the object of the participle or any words modified by or related to the participle. ***Participial phrases DO contain verbs, but they do NOT contain SUBJECTS! They CAN BE the WHOLE subject!**

EXAMPLES OF PARTICIPLES AND THEIR PHRASES PRESENT participles and phrases: Running down the street, Alicia tripped and fell. RUNNING describes what Alicia is doing, but main verbs for the sentence are TRIPPED and FELL. Cameron spotted his brother throwing rocks. THROWING is not a verb in this sentence. It describes what the brother is doing. The car, sliding out of control, hit the window. SLIDING modifies the CAR. The verb is HIT. PAST participles and phrases: Penned in by other runners, Steve was unable to make a break for the finish line. STEVE is the subject. WAS is the verb. PENNED describes STEVE. Mark returned the damaged package to the manufacturer. DAMAGED describes PACKAGE.

Appositives and their Phrases An appositive is a noun or pronoun -- often with modifiers -- set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it. Ms. Gilles, the English teacher, had a headache. The appositive and the word(s) it appears with (modifiers) make up the appositive phrase. ***You will NOT find the subject of a sentence INSIDE an appositive phrase, and appositives are NOT subjects themselves!!!!*** ***Appositive phrases do NOT contain verbs!!!**

Your friend Bill ** is in trouble. My brother’s car, a red convertible with bucket seats,* is the envy of my friends. A fantastic basketball player, Michael Jordan is also known for his Nike shoe advertisements. EXAMPLES OF APPOSITIVE PHRASES ‘Bill’ is an appositive describing ‘friend’. ‘a red convertible with bucket seats’ describes ‘car’. *note the commas that set off the phrase… ‘a fantastic basketball player’ describes ‘Michael Jordan’ The popular US president John Kennedy ** was known for his eloquent and inspirational speeches. John Kennedy, the popular US president, was known for his eloquent and inspirational speeches. Two ways to write it, but the same meaning… **If the appositive is 1-2 words (like a name), you can leave out the commas around it!!!