Download Parts of Speech, Phrases, and Clauses

Parts of Speech
noun—the name of a person, place,
thing, or idea—creates a “picture” in
the mind
pronoun—takes the place of a
noun—creates no “picture” in the
mind
verb—an action or state of being
adjective—modifies (makes clearer,
more specific) the noun or pronoun
adverb—modifies the verb (clarifies
the circumstances of an action)—and
can also modify a modifier
Answers to the question who? or
what?
Answers to the question who? or
what?
Answers the question what kind of?
(person, place, thing, or idea)
Answers any of the following
questions: how? when? where?
why? under what conditions? to
what degree?
preposition—a linking word (and a
pointer word) that joins a noun or
pronoun to the clause as an adjective
or an adverb
conjunction—a joining word, either
coordinating (joining exactly equal
units) or subordinating (joining an
adverb clause to some other clause,
usually the independent clause)
Clauses
(1) independent clause—a group of words containing a subject and a
predicate working to express a complete idea.
Raul kicks the ball.
Raul is a man.
(2) noun clause—a group of words containing a subject and a predicate
working as a noun. It answers either the question who? or what?
That Raul kicks the ball pleases his coach.
what? pleases his coach: That Raul kicks the ball
This noun clause is working as the subject of the entire independent clause:
That Raul kicks the ball pleases his coach.
(3) adjective clause—a group of words containing a subject and a predicate
working together to modify some noun or pronoun. It answers the question
what kind of? (person, place, thing, or idea)
The man who kicks the ball is Raul.
who kicks the ball is a clause. It has the subject who and the predicate kicks.
What is this clause doing? It answers the question what kind of? (man)—
the who kicks the ball man. It is an adjective clause.
(4) adverb clause—a group of words containing a subject and a predicate
working together to modify a verb. It usually answers any of three
questions: when?(it happens); why? (it happens); under what conditions?
(does it happen).
Whenever Raul kicks the ball at the goalie, everybody expects a score.
Whenever Raul kicks the ball at the goalie is a clause. It contains the subject
Raul and the predicate kicks. What is this clause doing? It is modifying the
verb expects (the predicate of the independent clause “everybody expects a
score.” It answers the question when? (does everybody expect a score)—
Whenever Raul kicks the ball at the goalie. Please notice that since this
adverb clause comes at the beginning of the sentence, it is set off with a
comma.
Phrases
(1) prepositional phrase. In the sentence above, “Whenever Raul kicks the
ball at the goalie, everybody expects a score,” at the goalie is a prepositional
phrase. All prepositional phrases work as either adjectives or adverbs. If the
entire phrase answers the question “what kind of?,” it’s an adjective phrase.
If it answers how? or when? or where? or why? or under what conditions?
or to what degree? it is an adverb prepositional phrase.
In the sentence above, “at the goalie” is answering the question
where? (does he kick the ball). It is modifying the verb kicks so that it is an
adverb prepositional phrase. You already know a lot of prepositional
phrases: “in the room,” “to Jim,” “over the hill,” “by the river,” “down the
long, slick slope.” Notice that most prepositional phrases contain three
words: “during the war.” But they can contain two words or many words.
But there must be a preposition and at least one noun or pronoun (the object
of the preposition).
(2) infinitive phrase. You recognize an infinitive by its structure. It is the
preposition to followed by a verb rather than by a noun. “To run” is an
infinitive; “to Jim” is a prepositional phrase. “To run the show” is an
infinitive phrase. And just as the prepositional phrase works as a part of
speech (adjective or adverb), an infinitive phrase works as a part of speech
(noun, adjective, or adverb).
Here are examples:
noun infinitive phrase:
To run the show gives him pleasure.
what? gives him pleasure: “To run the show.” It’s working as the subject of
the clause and is therefore a noun.
adjective infinitive phrase:
The desire to run the show caused him to be impatient with others.
what kind of? desire—“to run the show” desire. Please notice that an
infinitive phrase working as an adjective is written right after the noun or
pronoun it modifies.
adverb infinitive phrase:
He was assigned to run the show.
how? was he assigned—“to run the show.” It is an adverb infinitive phrase
modifying the predicate of the clause.
(3) gerund phrase. It is always the –ing form of the verb working as a
noun—no exceptions.
Singing a lullaby gives him pleasure.
What? gives him pleasure: “Singing a lullaby.” “Singing a lullaby” is a
gerund phrase. It can appear in a clause in any of the noun positions:
subject, predicate noun, direct object, indirect object, object of a preposition,
or object of a verbal.
(4) participle phrase. The present participle is the –ing form of the verb.
The past participle is the form of the verb that is used with the helping verb
“have”: “have talked,” “have spoken,” “have swum.” “Talked,” “spoken,”
and “swum” are past participles. The perfect participle contains the helping
verb “having” followed by the past participle of the main verb: “having
talked,” “having spoken,” “having swum.” Any of these three forms,
present participle, past participle, or perfect participle, can be used to create
a participle phrase (which usually works as an adjective but can work as an
adverb).
Talking his heart out, Jim convinced her.
Talked out, he had no more to say.
Having talked his heart out, he remained silent.
The highlighted participle phrases in the sentences above are all working as
adjectives:
Talking his heart out modifies the noun Jim.
Talked out modifies the noun heart.
Having talked his heart out modifies the pronoun he.
Infinitive phrases, gerund phrases, and participle phrases are called
verbal phrases because they contain a verb along with any modifiers of that
verb and any object or objects of that verb. They don’t occur in English
sentences as frequently as prepositional phrases do, but they occur often
enough to be relevant units for use and discussion.