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Chapter 3
The Phrase
Kinds of Phrases and Their Functions
One of the most famous prose compositions in the English language is a brief essay, about a page in
length, called simply "Of Studies" by Francis Bacon. Many of his other essays were similarly introduced
by the preposition of. Likewise, one of the noblest pieces of Latin prose is Cicero's "De Senectute," which
might be translated "Of Old Age." These expressions introduced by a preposition are not sentences, but
phrases.
A phrase is a group of related words not containing a subject and predicate. A phrase may serve as a
subject, as an object, as a predicate nominative, or as a modifier. You have already learned the verb
phrase (a verb of more than one word, am writing, could have gone). In this chapter you will review the
other types of phrases and how they function in the sentence.
To determine how much you already know about phrases and what parts of this chapter you have to
review, give yourself the following two-part test.
Diagnostic Test
A. Number your paper 1-5. Copy in order the ten prepositional phrases in the following sentences. After
each phrase indicate whether it is an adjective or an adverb phrase.
1. Edgar Allan Poe died in the charity ward of a Baltimore
hospital.
2. "Bring Me the Sunset in a Cup" was written by Emily Dickinson.
3. Armed with the oldest weapons of preservation, the cockroach lives on.
4. She hopes to win the election in Ohio by a large majority.
5. His trips to Italy on important diplomatic missions broadened
Chaucer's knowledge.
B. Copy on your paper one participial phrase and one infinitive phrase from the sentences above. Label
each phrase.
3a. A phrase is a group of related words used as a single part of speech and not containing a verb and
its subject.
Five types of phrases are explained in the following pages: prepositional phrases (adjective and adverb),
participial phrases, gerund phrases, infinitive phrases, and appositive phrases.
THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
3b. A prepositional phrase is a group of words beginning with a preposition and usually ending with a
noun or a pronoun.
EXAMPLES
on the roof
under the sea
inside the house
over the hill
The noun or pronoun that ends the phrase is the object of the preposition that begins the phrase.
Prepositional phrases do not stand by themselves (except in such commands as At ease!, On the
double!, and in titles, like "Of Studies"); they are parts of a sentence and are used as modifiers,
sometimes as adjectives and at other times as adverbs.
The Adjective Phrase
3c. An adjective phrase is a prepositional phrase that modifies a noun or a pronoun.
EXAMPLE
That tall building' with the red tower is our new library. [The prepositional phrase with the red tower
modifies —describes or limits the meaning of—the noun building and is, therefore, an adjective phrase.]
Building
with
That tall
is
tower
the red
library
our new
In diagramming a prepositional phrase, the preposition that begins the phrase is placed on a line
slanting down-ward from the word the phrase modifies. The object of the preposition is placed on a
horizontal line extending to the right from the line with the preposition. Single-word modifiers in the
phrase are diagramed in the usual way.
EXERCISE 1. Copy in a column the adjective phrases from the following sentences. Before each phrase,
place the number of the sentence in which it appears. After each phrase, write the noun or pronoun the
phrase modifies.
1. The first attempt at lunar exploration took place over 500
years ago.
2. A scholar in China named Wan Hoo wanted to make a trip
to the moon.
3. The apparatus for the trip was very simple.
4. Wan Hoo took one of his largest chairs and attached fortyseven rockets to it.
5. His servants were to set off the rockets on the chair when
he was seated in it.
6. He planned to steer by means of two kites, one on each side
of the chair.
7. His plans for the trip back have not been recorded.
8. On the day of the flight, he strapped himself securely into
the chair.
9. "I'm off to the moon!" he cried, and signaled his servants
with a wave of his hand.
10. There was a gigantic explosion of all forty-seven rockets; the chair disappeared, and with it Wan
Hoo.
The Adverb Phrase
3d. An adverb phrase is a prepositional phrase that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
Notice in the following sentences the different ways in which an adverb phrase can modify a verb.
Louisa May Alcott wrote with great care, [how she wrote]
Louisa May Alcott wrote in the nineteenth century, [when she wrote]
Louisa May Alcott wrote for thirty years, [how long she wrote]
Louisa May Alcott wrote in America, [where she wrote]
Louisa May Alcott wrote for her own pleasure, [why she wrote]
Louisa May Alcott
wrote
for
pleasure
her
own
In the sentence below the adverb phrase modifies an adjective.
The old manor was rich in traditions.
Manor
The old
was
rich
in
traditions
In the next sentence an adverb phrase modifies an adverb.
Thomas Hardy wrote poetry late in life.
Thomas Hardy
wrote
late
in
poetry
life
EXERCISE 2. Number your paper 1-10. After the proper number, copy the adverb phrases in the
following sentences. After each phrase, write the word it modifies.
1. At fifteen Jascha Heifetz played like a master.
2. After years of practice, she played tennis with great ease.
3. Sarah Caldwell conducted with verve.
4. Louise dribbled across the court.
5. The Beatles sang by long-playing record to the world.
6. Television brings matter for thought into the living room.
7. Cleopatra was filled with anger when she heard about Antony's marriage.
8. Lightning never strikes twice in the same way.
9. Death Valley looks attractive in the pale moonlight.
10. Earlier in the day, its terrain casts less of a spell.
VERBALS AND VERBAL PHRASES
Verbals are so called because they are formed from verbs. Although they act like verbs in some ways —
showing action, having modifiers, taking complements —they are not used as verbs in a sentence.
Instead, they are used as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.
The three verbals are participles (verbal adjectives), gerunds (verbal nouns), and infinitives (which can
serve as verbal adjectives, verbal nouns, or verbal adverbs). A verbal phrase is a phrase consisting of a
verbal and its complements or modifiers.
The Participle
3e. A participle is a word that is formed from a verb and used as an adjective.
EXAMPLES
The shouting sailors threw their hats in the air.
Shouting, the sailors threw their hats in the air. [In these sentences, shouting, like the verb shout, expresses action; like an adjective, it modifies the noun sailors.]
The teacher saw a student sleeping. [Here sleeping expresses action, like a verb; it also modifies the noun
student.]
There are two forms of participles: present participles and past participles. The perfect tense of a
participle is formed with the helping verb having.
having given
having been given
Present participles end in -ing. Past participles end in -ed, -d, -t, -en, -n: talked, saved, crept, bitten,
seen.
PRESENT PARTICIPLE
PAST PARTICIPLE
They heard Buffy Sainte-Marie playing.
The landlord, satisfied, left the apartment.
The words playing and satisfied modify nouns and hence are used as adjectives. Notice carefully that
they show action but do not serve as verbs in the sentences. The verbs are heard and left. A participle
may, however, be part of a verb phrase when it is used with a helping verb.
The singing waiter earned many tips. [Singing modifies
waiter.]
The waiter was singing to please the customers. [The verb
phrase was singing consists of the helping verb was and the
present participle singing.]
Think of the participle in a verb phrase as part of the verb, not as an adjective modifying the subject.
Like verbs, participles may be modified by adverbs.
EXAMPLE
Struggling vigorously, she managed to swim to safety.
[The participle struggling is modified by the adverb vigorously.]
Participles, again like verbs, may take an object.
EXAMPLE
Calling the name repeatedly, she shouted, "Heathcliff, Heathcliff!" [The object of the participle calling is
name. It answers the question, Calling what? Notice that repeatedly is an adverb modifying calling.]
The Participial Phrase
3f. A participial phrase is a phrase containing a participle and any complements or modifiers it may have.
The participle1 introduces the phrase, and the entire phrase acts as an adjective to modify a noun or a
pronoun.
EXAMPLES
Nodding his head, the defendant acknowledged his guilt. [The participial phrase is made up of the participle
nodding and the complement head, which is the direct object of nodding.}
Defendant
Nodding head
his
the
acknowledged
guilt
his
Disturbed by his letter, she telephoned him. [The participial phrase is made up of the participle
disturbed and its modifier by his letter, which is an ad-verb phrase modifying disturbed.]
EXERCISE 3. List on your paper the participial phrases in the following sentences. Before each phrase,
write the number of the sentence in which it appears. After each phrase, write the word it modifies.
1
For work on the participial phrase as a sentence fragment, see pages 202-03. For exercises on the dangling participle, see pages 237-38.
1. Staking her reputation on her success, Junko Tabei climbed
Mt. Everest, hoping to reach the top in May.
2. Delighted by penicillin's discovery, Fleming duplicated his
experiments with Florey.
3. Their procedure, arrived at with such great care and effort,
made their reputations.
4. Nellie Melba, thrilled by her successful career, retired repeatedly.
5. Delayed by wind and rain, the Spanish Armada arrived too late.
6. Drumming his wings wildly, the male pheasant tries to attract
the female's attention.
7. The male pheasant, once firmly convinced of the female's
interest, begins to accelerate the drumbeats expressing his excitement.
8. Socrates, preparing for a calm, self-administered death, seemed
certain that his effort to liberate others would succeed, and
that he would be remembered.
EXERCISE 4. In the following sentences, prepositional and participial phrases are italicized. Copy each
phrase and indicate which kind (prepositional or participial) it is. After each phrase, write the word it
modifies. Consider each italicized group as one phrase.
1. Delighted by the new symphony, the critic applauded with great enthusiasm.
1. Delighted by the new symphony, critic, participial with great enthusiasm, applauded, prepositional
EXAMPLE
1. Mahalia Jackson, called the greatest potential blues singer
since Bessie Smith, would sing only religious songs.
2. Her version of "Silent Night" was one of the all-time bestselling records in Denmark.
3. Acting as interpreter, Sacajawea, a member of the Shoshones,
aided the expedition mapping the Northwest Territory.
4. Having been rejected by six publishers, the story of Peter
Rabbit was finally published privately by Beatrix Potter.
5. Known for his imaginative style, architect Minoru Yamasaki
designed the World Trade Center located in New York City.
6. Elizabeth Blackwell, ridiculed by nearly everyone, became in 1849 the first woman medical
graduate in the world.
7. Maria Tallchief, an Osage, was the prima ballerina of the New York Ballet Company.
8. Dancing to unanimous acclaim in the United States and
Europe, she was known for her interpretation of Stravinsky's Firebird.
9. The street named for Mary McLeod Bethune is in New York City.
10. Widely honored as an educator, she died in 1955.
The Gerund
3g. A gerund is a word ending in -ing that is formed from a verb and used as a noun.
While both are formed from verbs, the gerund differs from the participle in that it is used as a noun,
while the participle is used as an adjective.
EXAMPLE
Editing is hard work. [Editing is formed from the verb edit and, as the subject of the sentence, is used as a
noun.]
A gerund is a verbal noun. Like any other noun, it may be used as a subject, as the direct or indirect
object of a verb, as a predicate nominative, or as the object of a preposition.
Daydreaming is her favorite pastime, [gerund as subject]
We enjoy swimming here, [gerund as direct object]
She gave her editing her full attention, [gerund as indirect object]
Roberto's greatest pleasure was composing, [gerund as predicate nominative]
By planning carefully, she managed to complete her thesis on time, [gerund as object of a preposition]
EXERCISE 5. List the numbers 1-10. From each of the following sentences, select the participles and
gerunds and write them in order after the numbers. Indicate by writing p or g whether the words you
select are participles or gerunds.
1. Using the penname "Nellie Bly," Elizabeth Seaman became
a famous journalist in the late 1800's.
2. Traveling alone around the world in seventy-two days, she
beat the hero of Jules Verne's novel.
3. A task of the Shaker women was designing furniture.
4. Being the publisher of the Washington Post has made Katharine
Graham one of the country's most influential people.
5. Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein, liked reading ghost
stories with friends at night.
6. The plot of Frankenstein came to her in a dream after a conversation
about creating life.
7. Accepting an offer to do a TV program, La Deva Davis said
she was no Julia Child but knew her way around the burners.
8. Keeping the costs of her recipes low, Ms. Davis gained wide popular appeal.
9. Sylvia Porter's Money Book, by the columnist, became a best
seller by giving sound financial advice.
10. Taking her title from the Bible, actress Ethel Waters wrote her now-famous
autobiography. His Eye Is on the Sparrow.
The Gerund Phrase
3h. A gerund phrase is a phrase consisting of a gerund and any modifiers or complements it may have.
EXAMPLE
Boiling an egg properly is not easy for an inexperienced cook. [The gerund boiling has egg as its direct object
and is modified by the adverb properly.]
Boiling
Properly
egg
an
Is
easy
not
for
cook
An inexperienced
Like the gerund alone, the gerund phrase may be used in any place that a noun would fit.
EXAMPLES
Playing the piano was his greatest accomplishment, [gerund phrase as subject]
Playing
piano
the
was
accomplishment
his
greatest
The general admitted sending the order, [gerund phrase as object of the verb admitted—order is the
object of the gerund sending]
Sending
general
the
order
the
admitted
The judge warned him about telling lies, [gerund phrase as object of preposition about]
judge
the
warned
him
about
telling
lies
Voting regularly is accepting a responsibility of citizenship, [gerund phrases as subject and predicate
nominative]
The Infinitive
3i. An infinitive is a verb form, usually preceded by to, that is used as a noun or a modifier.
to explore
to worry
to live
An infinitive is generally used as a noun, but it may also be used as an adjective or as an adverb.
THE INFINITIVE USED AS A NOUN
To err is human, [infinitive as subject]
Samuel Johnson liked to argue, [infinitive as direct object]
The soldier's duty is to obey orders, [infinitive as predicate nominative]
THE INFINITIVE USED AS AN ADJECTIVE
The surgeon had not a minute to lose. [The infinitive modifies the noun minute.]
THE INFINITIVE USED AS AN ADVERB
Radium in its pure state is hard to find. fies the adjective hard.]
> NOTE Do not confuse the infinitive, which is a verbal be-ginning with to, and the prepositional phrase
beginning with to, which consists of to plus a noun or pronoun.
INFINITIVES
to smile
to predict
to walk
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
to them
to the theater
to the museum
The word to, the sign of the infinitive, is sometimes omitted.
I saw her [to] raise her hand.
Let me [to] give this to Sophia.
Please [to] stay here.
Will you help me [to] pack?
EXERCISE 6. Number your paper 1-20. From each of the following sentences, select the participles,
gerunds, and infinitives and list them in order. After each, tell what it is. For each participle, state the
word it modifies. For each gerund, state whether it is used as the subject, direct object, predicate
nominative, or object of a preposition. For each infinitive, indicate whether it is used as a noun,
adjective, or adverb.
EXAMPLES
I. Earhart spoke of flying across the ocean.
1. flying, gerund, object of preposition
2. Cordelia hoped to help her father.
2. to help, infinitive, noun
3. Rosalind went to the Forest of Arden to escape
her menacing cousin.
3. to escape, infinitive, adverb menacing, participle, cousin
1. Each of Portia's suitors wanted to choose the right casket.
2. To incite the Roman mobs, Antony praised Caesar.
3. The dying Hamlet begged Horatio for literary immortality.
4. Reading Shakespeare is a creditable pastime.
5. Juliet did not wish to survive Romeo.
6. Desdemona was eager to keep the love of Othello.
7. Frowning and spreading its arms, the ghost of Hamlet's father
disappeared.
8. Amiens enjoyed entertaining his fellow musicians.
9. Calpurnia tried to discourage the ambition of her husband.
10. We who now behold these present days have eyes to wonder,
but lack tongues to praise.
11. To win retribution was her insoluble problem of justice.
12. We admire Katharina for showing her conviction to marry
only for love.
13. To compose effective drama is quite difficult.
14. Falling to utter disaster left Olivia nothing but hope.
15. Lady Macbeth wanted to understand herself, but she failed to
succeed.
16. A perfect bowling score is difficult to achieve.
17. Mercutio's strong point was spinning fairy tales.
18. When the time came for courting Miranda, Ferdinand was
carrying logs.
19. Shakespeare knew acting from his own personal experience.
20. Have you seen him performed?
The Infinitive Phrase
3j. An infinitive phrase consists of an infinitive and any complements or modifiers it may have.
She offered to cook breakfast. [Breakfast is the object of the infinitive to cook.]
Actors must learn to speak clearly. [Clearly is an adverb modifying to speak.]
Like infinitives alone, the infinitive phrase may serve as the subject of a verb or as the direct object of a
verb. It may also be used as an adjective or an adverb.
EXAMPLES
To write a good term paper is a difficult task, [infinitive phrase as subject]
To
write
term paper
a
good
is
task
a
difficult
Rosetta decided to attend business school, [infinitive phrase as object of verb]
She had a great desire to see Paris, [infinitive phrase used as adjective, modifying the noun desire]
The attorney labored to free her client, [infinitive phrase as adverb modifying the verb labored]
The Infinitive Clause
Unlike other verbals, an infinitive may have a subject as well as complements and modifiers.
EXAMPLES
The judge ordered the district attorney to drop the charges. [The district attorney is the subject of the
infinitive to drop. The entire group of words the district attorney to drop the charges is the object of the
verb ordered.]
The police officer asked them to leave quietly. [Them is the subject of the infinitive to leave.]
When an infinitive has a subject, as in the preceding examples, the construction is called an infinitive
clause. Notice that the subject of the infinitive in the second sentence (them) is in the objective case.1
REVIEW EXERCISE A. Number your paper 1-15. In the following sentences most of the phrases have
been numbered and italicized. After each number, write the kind of phrase: prepositional, participial,
gerund, or infinitive.
EXAMPLE
(1) Winning a scholarship is the result (2) of hard work.
1.
gerund
2.
prepositional
a.
(1) Shocked by his mother's illness, Gian made reservations
(2) to return home (3) on Monday.
b.
c.
d.
e.
(4) Running down the steps, she discovered that the burglar had
tried (5) to open the safe (6) in the library.
(7) Hoping for an early victory, the general decided (8) to
attack the enemy (9) before midnight.
(10) Understanding the position, the dean granted a delay
for (11) filing the application (12) for Annapolis.
She decided (13) to wait for the results (14) of the exam before
(15) giving a party.
THE APPOSITIVE2
3k. An appositive is a noun or pronoun that follows another noun or pronoun to identify or explain it. An
1
2
For rules concerning the use of the objective case, see pages 108-10.
For rules on the punctuation of appositives, see page 437. For the use of
appositives in the subordination of ideas, see pages 252-53.
appositive phrase is made up of an appositive and its modifiers.
In the following sentences the appositives and appositive phrases are in bold-faced type.
Her sister Nancy was a year older.
We stopped at Stonehenge, an historic site.
George Washington, our first President, was a great military
leader.
George Washington (President)
our
first
was
leader
a
great
military
REVIEW EXERCISE B. Number your paper 1-20. In the following sentences most of the phrases have
been numbered and italicized. After each number, write the kind of phrase: prepositional, participial,
gerund, infinitive, or appositive.
1
Searching for energy has become more complex 2 in recent years. 3 Sobered by the energy crunch,
governments have been urged 4 to take careful planning measures. 5 To ensure future supplies, new
sources have been sought 6for raw materials. 7 Preparing for the next century, the Canadian National
Energy Board and the United States Federal Power Commission,8 agencies with jurisdiction in such
matters, guided the Arctic Pipeline project from Prudhoe Bay across Alaska to the fjord of Valdez. 9
Building the pipeline at all, said some consumer groups, would be equivalent 10 to ecological suicide.
Cost-cutting, 11a euphemism for exploitation of the land surface, would again lead to drastic destruction
of the natural chain 12 of life disrupted by the pipeline. 13 After long and complicated negotiations
between all parties, the various ecological, industrial, and governmental agencies managed to agree 14
to the basic principles 15 governing the construction project. 16 Depleting the earth's natural resources is
not an unimportant affair that can be ignored 17 by any single group 18 with an interest in the future. 19
Enlightened by our new understanding of the global web of life, all of us must cooperate 20 to give the
whole earth what it requires for its health.