How do phrases function

Like us on Facebook. All rights reserved. Skip to navigation Personal tools. Search Site only in current section. Advanced Search…. A phrase may function as a verb, noun, an adverb, or an adjective. The predicate of a clause or sentence is always a verb phrase: Corinne is trying to decide whether she wants to go to medical school or to go to law school. After she had learned to drive , Alice felt more independent. We will meet at the library at p.

Noun Phrases A noun phrase consists of a pronoun or noun with any associated modifiers, including adjectives, adjective phrases, adjective clauses, and other nouns in the possessive case. Like a noun, a noun phrase can act as a subject, as the object of a verb or verbal, as a subject or object complement, or as the object of a preposition, as in the following examples: subject Small children often insist that they can do it by themselves.

Noun Phrases using Verbs Since some verbals -- in particular, the gerund and the infinitive -- can act as nouns, these also can form the nucleus of a noun phrase: Ice fishing is a popular winter pass-time.

A gerund phrase or infinitive phrase , then, is a noun phrase consisting of a verbal, its modifiers both adjectives and adverbs , and its objects: Running a marathon in the Summer is thirsty work. I am planning to buy a house next month.

A noun phrase consists of a pronoun or noun and any associated modifiers , including adjectives, adjective phrases, adjective clauses and other nouns in the possessive case.

As is the case with nouns, a noun phrase may act as a subject , the object of a verb or verbal , a subject complement or object complement , or the object of a preposition , as in the following examples:. Since some verbals—in particular, the gerund and the infinitive —may act as nouns, they may also form the nucleus of noun phrases:. However, since verbals are formed from verbs, they may also take direct objects and be modified by adverbs. Gerund phrases and infinitive phrases are noun phrases consisting of a verbal, its modifiers both adjectives and adverbs and objects:.

An adjective phrase modifies a noun or pronoun. Adjective phrases are often constructed from participles or prepositions together with their objects, as in the following:. A prepositional phrase may also be an adverb phrase that functions as an adverb, as in the following:. Passer au contenu Passer aux liens institutionnels. Liens de la barre de menu commune English.

Rechercher dans Canada. Avis important Bonne nouvelle! Introduction Glossaire Index de termes grammaticaux Structure du contenu. The predicate of a clause or sentence is always a verb phrase: Corinne is trying to decide whether she wants to go to medical school or to go to law school. If your prepositional phrase could cause ambiguity, put it next to whatever it's modifying.

Join the adverb "well" to any adjective it's modifying with a hyphen. If "in order to" adds no clarity and you're not looking for emphasis on the reason, delete "in order. Placed at the front of a sentence , a participle phrase is offset with a comma. A participle phrase placed immediately after the noun its modifying is not offset with commas unless it's nonessential.

Use gerund phrases to write shorter, better-flowing sentences. Ready for the Test? Here is a confirmatory test for this lesson. This test can also be: Edited i.