1. Things
That
Make
Ya Go,
Hmmm!
Learning about Phrases

2. A phrase is a group of words
that acts as a part of speech
rather than as a complete
sentence. You already
know the function of a noun,
adjective, or adverb—a phrase simply
takes on one of those functions. A
phrase does not have a subject or a
verb. The two main kinds of phrases are
prepositional phrases and verbal phrases.

3. !Adios!

4. Things
That
Make
Ya Go,
Hmmm!
Learning about Phrases

5. Another kind of phrase is the verbal—
infinitive, gerunds, & participles.
As you can tell from the name,
they are related to verbs.
They look verby—yes,
that’s a word —but never
act as verbs. Instead they
act as nouns, adjectives, or
adverbs. There are three types of verbals
we’ll study: participial phrases, infinitive
phrases, and gerund phrases.

6. I’m outta
here!

7. Things
That
Make
Ya Go,
Hmmm!
Learning about Participial Phrases

8. These are simply phrases that
seem to have verbs but
not
subjects. A participle
is really half a verb.
participle verb
fallen had fallen
screaming was screaming
screaming

9. See the difference? A participle
can’t take a subject, because
it’s missing part of
the
verb. A participle
looks like a verb, but
it isn’t
complete. A form
of the verb to be + a
participle = a verb.

10. With the verb to be, you only
have a participle. The
function of a
participial phrase is
to modify a noun
—in other
words, a
participial phrase acts
as an adjective.

11. !Hasta la
vista, baby!

12. Things
That
Make
Ya Go,
Hmmm!
Learning about Participial Phrases

13. Lying on her bed,
Shanna ordered
Chinese
food.
The socks lost in the
dryer were her
favorites.

14. Screaming with
laughter, the students
hid under their desks.
Kolby, left behind at
school, wept over his
homework.

15. See how each participial phrase tells us
something about a noun? Lying on her
bed describes Shanna
and lost in the dryer
describes the socks.
Notice that Shanna
is the subject of the
verb ordered; socks is
the subject of were.
So lying, screaming, left, and
lost have no subject; instead

16. of acting as verbs, they are
describing the subject of the
sentence. Recognizing
participial phrases is
crucial in avoiding the
dreaded misplaced
modifier or dangling
participle. Hey,
that’s
pretty simple.

17. Well,
that’s it!

18. Things
That
Make
Ya Go,
Hmmm!
Learning about Dangling Modifiers

19.  A modifier is a word or group of words
that describes another.
 Modifiers can be adjectives:
Keng made a brilliant statement
(adjective) (noun)
 Modifiers can be adverbs:
Alex bowled wonderfully
(verb) (adverb)
 Modifiers can be clauses or phrases:
The girl who snuck out her window was my date.
(noun) (Clause modifies noun = adjective clause)

20. I’m ghost!

21. Things
That
Make
Ya Go,
Hmmm!
Learning about Misplaced Modifiers

22. Funny things happen when modifiers
appear too far away from
the words they modify.
Example: Carolyn soaked
the foot she sprained in
ice water.
– An odd injury—Carolyn
sprained her ankle in ice
water?

23. Example: Brandon hit a
homerun to left
field, which flew
over the fence.
•Left field flew over the
fence? Doesn’t that
sound a bit strange?

24.  Keep modifiers close
to the words modified.
 Keep the subject and
verb together.
 Be clear about which noun a
pronoun stands for.

25. !Dicho y
hecho!

26. Things
That
Make
Ya Go,
Hmmm!
Learning about Dangling Participial Phrases

27. Another type of misplaced modifier is the
dangling participial phrase.
Participles, as you recall,
are verb forms ending
with -ing in the
present tense and
-d or -ed in the past tense. A
few participles end in -t or
have irregular forms.
Participle examples: dribbling,
skating, scaled, burned or burnt

28. Combine a participle with other words to
create a participial phrase.
Remember, participial phrases
act as adjectives because they
modify a noun in a
sentence.
Participle Phrase examples:
filled with hope
cleaning the bathroom
jumping overboard

29. That’s it!

30. Things
That
Make
Ya Go,
Hmmm!
Learning about Verbals (Infinitives)

31. When the preposition to is followed by a noun,
it is a prepositional phrase: to
the beach. When to is
followed by a
verb—to run, to see, to feel
—it is an infinitive. Why does this
matter? The rules that
govern infinitives are different
from rules that govern
prepositional phrases; since
infinitives are closely related to verbs,
they can have a passive or active
voice as well as

32. !Hasta
mañana!

33. Things
That
Make
Ya Go,
Hmmm!
Learning about Other Types of
Phrases

34. Emily wanted to leave.
Ask yourself: “What
did Emily want?”
Answer: “To leave,” which
is an infinitive phrase
acting as a
noun.

35. Kenny works hard to make
money.
Ask yourself: “Why
does Kenny work?”
Answer: “To make money,”
an infinitive phrase
acting
as an
adverb, modifying
work.

36. Woo hoo!

37. Things
That
Make
Ya Go,
Hmmm!
Learning about Other Types of
Phrases

38. Emily wanted to leave.
Ask yourself: “What
did Emily want?”
Answer: “To leave,” which
is an infinitive phrase
acting as a
noun.

39. To read is to be transported
to
another world.another
Answer: to
world is a prepositional
phrase acting as an
adverb, telling where
transported.

40. Let’s do
more!

41. Things
That
Make
Ya Go,
Hmmm!
Learning about Other Types of
Phrases

42. Liz wanted to know why her so-called
boyfriend thought he was a pimp.
Answer: to know is an
infinitive

43. To have been in love
is to have
suffered.
Answer: To have been
is the subject of the
sentence; to have
suffered is an
infinitive acting as an
adverbial phrase.

44. To have been in love
is to have
suffered.
Answer: To have been
is the subject of the
sentence; to have
suffered is an
infinitive acting as an
adverbial phrase.

45. Alrighty
then!

46. Things
That
Make
Ya Go,
Hmmm!
Learning about Gerund Phrases

47. A gerund is an –ing verb
that acts as a noun.
Since it acts as a
noun, it
can be the subject of a
sentence or the
object of a verb or
preposition.

48. Daydreaming was her
favorite pastime.
Winning the lottery
is my only
hope.
She loved eating
pastries and staying
up all night.

49. Dante hated studying.
Partying and e-mailing
his friends took up
most of his
homework time.
He was thinking of hiring
someone to upgrade his
computer, but unfortunately,
spending money appalled him.

50. !Basta!