Phrases

Prepositional Phrases:
Adjective and Adverb
Phrases

What is a Phrase?
A phrase is a group of related words
that is used as a single part of
speech and that does not contain
both a verb and its subject.

What is a clause?
A clause is a group of related words
that is used as a single part of
speech and that does contain both a
verb and its subject.

Lets see, are these

phrases or clauses?

As soon as the bell rings

Around the beautiful, fragrant garden
That I really want
Any student can join
Thinking about tonights game
To run the marathon
Swimming the length of the pool

Lets Try Some

More!

when you know

as they walked in
in the garden
is sleeping
how she
remembered

smiling brightly
to the supermarket
where the car is
to laugh at myself
if he says so

What is a Prepositional
Phrase?

A prepositional phrase includes a

preposition, a noun, or a pronoun
called the object of the preposition,
and any modifiers of that object.
There are 2 kinds of prepositional
phrases: adjective phrases and
adverb phrases

Prepositional Phrase
Examples
The Seine River flows through Paris.
The car in front of us slide into an icy snowbank.
During the stormy night, the black horse ran off.
The dish is filled with raw carrots and celery.

What is an Adjective
Phrase?
A prepositional phrase used as an
adjective is called an adjective phrase.
ADJECTIVE: Rosa chose the blue one.
ADJECTIVE PHRASE: Rosa chose the one
with blue stripes.

Adjective Phrases
An adjective phrase
modifies a noun or a
pronoun.

Adjective phrases
generally come after
the words they modify
and answer the same
questions that singlework adjectives
answer:

What
kind?

Which
one?

How
many?

How
much?

Adjective Phrases

The storewith the neon

sign
open.
by Janet
We bought a CDJackson.

is

What is an Adverb Phrase?

A prepositional phrase used as an
adverb is called an adverb phrase.
ADVERB: The cavalry will reach the fort
soon.
ADVERB PHRASE: The cavalry will
reach the fort by noon.

Adverb Phrases
Adverb phrases answer the same
questions that single-word adverbs
answer:
When? Where
?

How?

How
often?

To
what
extent
?

How
long?

Why?

Adverb Phrases

at the animal
We got our new puppy
shelter.

A puppy is always ready

for a game.

He barks loudlyfor a puppy.

Verbals
&
Verbal Phrases

What is a Verbal?
A verbal is a word that is formed from
a verb but is used as a noun, an
adjective, or an adverb.

What is a Participle?
A participle is a verb that can be used as an
adjective. There are present participles (-ing) and
past participles (-d or ed).
PRESENT Mr. Sanchez rescued three
people from the burning
building.
PAST Well trained, the soldier
carried out her mission.

successfully

What is a Participial Phrase?

A participial phrase consists of a
participle together with its modifiers
and complements. The entire phrase
is used as an adjective.

Participial Phrase Examples

Stretching slowly, the cat jumped
down from the windowsill.
The tornado predicted by the
meteorologist did not hit our area.
Reading the assignment, she took
notes carefully.

Misplaced Modifiers
A participial phrase should be placed close to
the word it modifies. Otherwise, the phrase
may appear to modify another word, and the
sentence may not make sense.
MISPLACED
a

Hopping along the fence, I saw

rabbit.

CORRECTED

I saw a rabbit hopping along the

fence.

BEWARE!

There are some past participles that

DO NOT end in d or ed. These are
irregular past participles.

Examples driven, frozen, broken,

swept, caught, rung, hung
The car driven by Uncle Cletus belonged
to Aunt Petunia.
We skated on the frozen pond.

The Infinitive
An infinitive is a verb form that can be used
as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.
Most infinitives begin with to.
NOUN
ADJECTIVE
tomorrow is
ADVERB
to

To succeed is my goal.
The place to meet
the library.
Tamara claims she was born
surf.

The Infinitive Phrase

An infinitive phrase consists of an
infinitive together with its modifiers
and complements. The entire phrase
may be used as a noun, an adjective,
or an adverb.

Infinitive Phrase Examples

To be a good gymnast takes hard work.
The first person to fly over both the
North Pole and the South Pole was
Richard Byrd.
Are you ready to go to the gym now?

BEWARE!

Dont mistake an infinitive or

infinitive phrase for a prepositional
phrase starting with to

The boy next to the purpled-haired girl

Phrase
went to the stage for hisPrepositional
award.
The purple-haired girl had to move her
Infinitive
feet so he could get around
her. Phrase

Just so you know

Sometimes an adverb will come before

the infinitive in the phrase. This
adverb is part of the infinitive phrase.

The child was told not to leave the

playground area alone.
The employee who stole merchandise was
ordered never to step foot in the store
again.