What is a prepositional phrase?

48 Pages·2014·0.47 MB·English

by  Emily Beyer

GRAMMAR UNIT 3:
PHRASES
Lesson #1
What is a phrase?
A group of words that acts as one part of
•
speech.
It does not contain both a subject and a
•
predicate
You already know two types of phrases…
•
VERB PHRASE & INFINITIVE PHRASE
VERB PHRASES
What two parts make up a verb phrase?
Verb Phrase = helping verb + main verb
Forms of Be is was be
am were being
are been
Forms of have has had
Have
Forms of Do do does did
can might should
Modals could must will
may shall would
Important Ideas:
Verb phrases always have two verbs but sometimes more!
•
Example: The puppy could have played with her owner.
•
HV HV AV
Verb phrases are often found in questions:
•
Example: Do you read the Sunday comics?
•
HV AV
Verb phrases create some tenses…
•
Which verb tenses use a verb phrase?
Future
•
Woodstock will fly
•
Future Perfect
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Woodstock will have flown
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Present Perfect
•
Woodstock has flown
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Past Perfect
•
Woodstock had flown
•
If a phrase acts as ONE part of speech, what part
of speech does a VERB PHRASE act as?
a VERB
•
Can you explain why using the following sentence?
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I will sleep on the bus ride home from Vermont.
Explanation: In this sentence, the verb tense is
•
FUTURE. In order to make the future tense, you
need a verb phrase as the predicate of the sentence.
A predicate is always a verb or verb phrase.
INFINITIVE PHRASES
What two parts make up an infinitive
phrase?
An infinitive begins with “to” followed by the simple form of the verb like
•
“to” + verb = infinitive
this:
examples:
•
• to sneeze
• to smash
• to cry
• to shriek
• to jump
• to read
• to eat
• to be
If a phrase acts as ONE part of speech, what part of
speech could an INFINITIVE PHRASE act as?
Noun
1.
Ex. To snore loudly is annoying.
(To snore is the subject. Subjects are nouns or pronouns.)
Adjective
2.
Ex. She is the candidate to watch.
(To watch describes the noun “candidate”.)
Adverb
3.
Ex. We came to sing.
(To sing describes the verb “came”.)