Phrases Notes:
Phrase - A group of related words that do not have a
subject or a verb.
Infinitive - A verbal that begins with -to that is used as a
noun, adjective, or adverb.
Example: Climbing to a high chamber, in a well of houses, he
threw himself down in his clothes on a neglected bed, and its
pillow was wet with wasted tears.
(A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens).
Example: to walk, to read, to imagine. I sold the watch to get the
money to buy your combs.
(The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry).
Preposition - A word that shows the relationship
between a noun or pronoun and another word in
sentence.
Example: I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole
purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body.
(Frankenstein by Mary Shelley).
Prepositional phrase - A group of words that begins
with a preposition, ends with a noun or pronoun, and is
used as an adjective or an adverb.
Example: The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
(Walden by Henry David Thoreau).
Participle - A verbal ending in -ing, -ed, -d, or an
irregular form that is used as an adjective. Example: I
am not in the giving vein today.
(Richard III by William Shakespeare).
Participial phrase - A participle with its modifiers and
complements.
Example: In the morning, looking into each other’s faces,
they read their fate.
(The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte).
Infinitive phrase - An infinitive with its object and
modifiers.
Example: To see him leap and run and pursue me over hedge
and ditch was the worst of nightmares.
(Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson).
Gerund - A verbal ending in -ing used as a noun.
Example: Saying is one thing, and paying is another.
(The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy).
Gerund phrase - A gerund with all of its modifiers.
Example: The coming of daylight dispelled his fears, but
increased his loneliness.
(White Fang by Jack London).
Appositive - A noun, pronoun, or phrase that identifies
or extends information about another noun or pronoun in
a sentence.
Example: At the man’s heels trotted a dog, a big native husky, the
proper wolf dog.
(To Build a Fire by Jack London).