What is a Phrase

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What is a Phrase?

• A phrase is a group of related words that does
  not contain a subject and a verb.
• Common Phrases
• Prepositional Phrases
• Infinitive Phrases
• Gerund Phrases

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Gerund Phrase

• Begins with a gerund verb ending in -ing
• Followed by object and any modifiers
• Functions as a noun

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Gerund Phrases

• Gerund as subject Traveling might satisfy your
  desire for new experiences. (Traveling is the
  gerund.)

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Examples of Gerund Phrase

• 1. Marching in unison builds teamwork.
• marching is the gerund
• in is the modifier for the object unison
• Functions as a noun
• 2. The student enjoys taking morning classes.
• taking is the gerund
• morning is the modifier for the object
  classes
• Functions as a noun

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Prepositional Phrase

• Begins with a preposition (in, on, under, over,
  around, of, about, through, etc.)
• Followed by an object and any modifiers
• Functions as an adjective or adverb

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As tendons connect muscle to bone, prepositions
connect their objects to another part of the
sentence.
We left
after the movie.
The flock
of birds
ate all the berries.
Sue and Tim met
in the moonlit garden
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Examples of Prepositional Phrase

• The cadets marched through the woods.
• through is the preposition
• the is the modifier for the object woods
• functions as an adverb
• Everyone in the class wrote an essay.
• in is the preposition
• the is the modifier for the object class
• functions as an adjective

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Infinitive Phrase

• Begins with an infinitive to verb
• Followed by an object and any modifiers
• Functions as a noun, adjective or adverb

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Examples of Infinitive Phrase

• 1. To exercise every day is a good habit.
• to exercise is the infinitive
• every is the modifier for the object day
• Functions as a noun
• 2. I was relieved to finish my project.
• to finish is the infinitive
• my is the modifier for the object project
• Functions as an adjective