Phrases Honors English 9

Prepositional Phrase Preposition + noun or pronoun Prepositional phrases function as adjectives or adverbs

Appositive Phrase Appositive = noun or pronoun placed near another noun or pronoun to identify, rename, or explain it When non-essential, the appositive phrase is set off by commas

Participial Phrase Present participle,ending in –ing, or past participle, ending in –ed, plus any modifiers or complements always act as adjectives Example: Working around the clock, the firefighters finally put out the last of the California brush fires.

Infinitive Phrase consists of an infinitive — the root of the verb preceded by to — and any modifiers or complements associated with it can act as adjectives, adverbs, and nouns Example: Juan went to college to study veterinary medicine.

Gerund Phrase Gerund, verb form ending in –ing, plus any modifiers and complements Acts as a noun Functions as a unit and can do anything that a noun can do (subject, D.O., I.O., object of prep., pred. nom.) Example: Cramming for tests is not a good study strategy.