1. Phrases: Appositive, gerund, and infinitive

2. Appositives
An appositive is a group of words that identifies, renames, or explains a noun or pronoun.
If the information is nonessential use commas to offset the phrase.
The home team, the Panthers, won the tournament title.
Notice how the sentence would still make sense without the appositive
The home team won the tournament title.
If the information is essential no commas are needed
The poet Lord Byron was a British citizen
Notice how the sentence would not make sense without the appositive
The poet was a British citizen (who was the poet? There are many poets).

3. Appositive Phrases
An appositive phrase occurs when an appositive is accompanied by its own modifiers.
An appositive phrase is a noun or pronoun with modifiers that adds information by identifying, renaming, or explaining a noun or pronoun.
An appositive phrase may
Identify a subject
Identify a direct object
Identify an indirect object
Identify an object complement
Identify a predicate nominative
Identify the object of a preposition.

4. Appositive Phrases Examples
Ms. Myer, our principal and superintendent, moved offices.
We all know that Ms. Myer is our principal/superintendent; therefore, this information is nonessential
The cooks prepared chicken nuggets, a nutritional lunch, yesterday.
Prepared what? Nuggets (Direct object).
What are nuggets? A nutritional lunch
They bought their new dog, a labrador retriever a toy.
Bought what? Toy (Direct object)
Bought who? Dog (Indirect object)
What is the dog? A labrador retriever
My sister painted the car brown, a weird color for a car.
Is the verb transitive or linking?
Painted what? Car (direct Object)
What is the car painted? Brown (Object Complement)

5. Appositive Phrases Examples
5. Benedict Cumberbatch is an actor in Avengers, a blockbuster hit.
6. Store the books in the basement, a dry place.

6. Gerunds
Gerunds are a form of a verb that ends in -ing and acts as a noun.
Subject: Reading is my favorite pastime.
D.O. I enjoy reading.
I.O. The coach gave running a new meaning.
P.N. My sister’s favorite activity is running.
Object of the Preposition: Their well-behaved horses showed signs of training.
Appositive: Dan’s profession, acting, is very competitive.

7. Verb, Participle, or Gerund?
Gerunds are words ending in -ing that act as nouns.
Gerunds do not have helping verbs.
They do not act as adjectives.
Verb: Gabby is singing in her seat
Participle: The singing girl is very joyful.
Gerund: Singing is very soothing
Note how the verb uses “is” as a helping verb in the first example, and how singing is modifying girl in the second example.

8. Gerund Phrase
A gerund phrase consists of a gerund and one or more modifiers of a complement. These phrases act together as a noun.
We can have gerund phrases with adjectives:
His constant, angry, ranting made the commander difficult to tolerate.
With an adverb:
Speaking loudly is not always easy.
With a prepositional phrase
Walking on the grass is prohibited here.

9. Gerund Phrases With a Direct Object
Blaine was incapable of remembering the speech.
With an I.O and D.O.
The literature professor tried giving her student praise.
Always use the possessive pronoun before a gerund.

10. Infinitive
An infinitive phrase is a form of a verb that generally appears with the word “to” in front of it and acts as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.
Examples:
Subject:To teach requires practice and patience
D.O.:The students decided to read
P.N.:The girl’s only option was to drive home.
Obj of Prep:I have no goal in life except to sing.
Appositive:You have only one option, to wait.
Ajective:The team showed a willingness to cooperate.
Adverb: Some people were unable to sing.
They like to read quietly.

11. Preposition or Infinitive?
A prepositional phrase will always end in a noun or pronoun.
An infinitive always ends with a verb.
Sometimes the “to” is omitted, but understood, using these verbs:
Dare, hear, help, let, make, please, see, watch.
Example:
He won’t dare (to) go without a plan.
Bob helped mike (to) see the game.

12. Infinitive Phrases
An infinitive phrase consists of an infinitive and its modifies, complements, or subject, all acting together as a single part of speech.
Infinitive phrases can be long!
With an adverb: The family likes to read quietly
With an adverb phrase: To run on the sand is sometimes difficult.
With a direct object: Annie hated to leave San Francisco.

13. Infinitive Phrases Examples continued
With an I.O. and a D.O.: She promised to show us the video from her soccer game.
With a Subject and a Complement: I want him (subject) to decide his own future (complement).