Phrase
A phrase is a group of related words that is used as a single part of speech and does not contain both a predicate and its subject.
There are several different kinds of phrases: prepositional, appositive, and verbal. Understanding how they are constructed and how they function within a sentence can bolster a writer's confidence in writing sentences that are sound in structure and various in form.
There are several different kinds of phrases: prepositional, appositive, and verbal. Understanding how they are constructed and how they function within a sentence can bolster a writer's confidence in writing sentences that are sound in structure and various in form.
Prepositional Phrases
A prepositional phrase is a group of words consisting of a preposition, a noun or pronoun that serves as the object of the preposition, and any modifiers of that object.
Understand what prepositional phrases do in a sentence. A prepositional phrase will function as an adjective or adverb.
As an adjective, the prepositional phrase will modify a noun or pronoun and answer the question Which one? Read these examples:
The book on the bathroom floor is swollen from shower steam.
Which book? The one on the bathroom floor.
The sweet potatoes in the vegetable bin are green with mold.
Which sweet potatoes? The ones forgotten in the vegetable bin.
The note from Beverly confessed that she had eaten the leftover pizza.
Which note? The one from Beverly.
As an adverb, a prepositional phrase will modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb and answer questions such as How? When? or Where?
Freddy is stiff from yesterday's long football practice.
How did Freddy get stiff? From yesterday's long football practice.
Before class, Josh begged his friends for a pencil.
When did Josh do his begging? Before class.
Feeling brave, we tried the Dragon Breath Burritos at Tito's Taco Palace.
Where did we eat the spicy food? At Tito's Taco Palace.
Remember that a prepositional phrase will never contain the subject of a sentence. Sometimes a noun within the prepositional phrase seems the logical subject of a verb. Don't fall for that trick! You will never find a subject in a prepositional phrase. Look at this example:
Neither of these cookbooks contains the recipe for Manhattan-style squid eyeball stew.
Cookbooks do indeed contain recipes. In this sentence, however, cookbooks is part of the prepositional phrase of these cookbooks. Neither—whatever a neither is—is the subject for the verb contains.
Neither is singular, so you need the singular form of the verb, contains. If you incorrectly identified cookbooks as the subject, you might write contain, the plural form, and thus commit a subject-verb agreement error.
Understand what prepositional phrases do in a sentence. A prepositional phrase will function as an adjective or adverb.
As an adjective, the prepositional phrase will modify a noun or pronoun and answer the question Which one? Read these examples:
The book on the bathroom floor is swollen from shower steam.
Which book? The one on the bathroom floor.
The sweet potatoes in the vegetable bin are green with mold.
Which sweet potatoes? The ones forgotten in the vegetable bin.
The note from Beverly confessed that she had eaten the leftover pizza.
Which note? The one from Beverly.
As an adverb, a prepositional phrase will modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb and answer questions such as How? When? or Where?
Freddy is stiff from yesterday's long football practice.
How did Freddy get stiff? From yesterday's long football practice.
Before class, Josh begged his friends for a pencil.
When did Josh do his begging? Before class.
Feeling brave, we tried the Dragon Breath Burritos at Tito's Taco Palace.
Where did we eat the spicy food? At Tito's Taco Palace.
Remember that a prepositional phrase will never contain the subject of a sentence. Sometimes a noun within the prepositional phrase seems the logical subject of a verb. Don't fall for that trick! You will never find a subject in a prepositional phrase. Look at this example:
Neither of these cookbooks contains the recipe for Manhattan-style squid eyeball stew.
Cookbooks do indeed contain recipes. In this sentence, however, cookbooks is part of the prepositional phrase of these cookbooks. Neither—whatever a neither is—is the subject for the verb contains.
Neither is singular, so you need the singular form of the verb, contains. If you incorrectly identified cookbooks as the subject, you might write contain, the plural form, and thus commit a subject-verb agreement error.
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Combining and Expanding Sentences with Prepositional Phrases
This exercise will introduce you to sentence combining and sentence expanding -- that is, organizing sets of short, choppy sentences into longer, more effective ones or using prepositional phrases to add more detail to a sentence. However, the goal of sentence combining and expanding is not to produce longer sentences but rather to develop more effective sentences--and to help you become a more versatile writer. Sentence combining and expanding call on you to experiment with different methods of putting words together. Because there are countless ways to build sentences, your goal is not to find the one "correct" combination but to consider different arrangements before you decide which one is the most effective.
Prepositional phrases can be used to combine or expand sentences and can be rearranged in the sentence to add variety to the sentence's beginning and rhythm.
Combine the sentences in each set into a single clear sentence containing at least one prepositional phrase. Omit words that are needlessly repeated, but don't leave out any important details.
During the luncheon a mouse darted across the salad bar.
We traveled by train this summer from Biloxi to Dubuque.
Like adjectives and adverbs, prepositional phrases add meaning to the nouns and verbs in our sentences. There are two prepositional phrases in the following sentence:
The steamy air in the kitchen reeked of stale cabbage.
The first prepositional phrase--in the kitchen--modifies the noun air; the second--of stale cabbage--modifies the verb reeked.
The two phrases provide information that helps us to understand the sentence. Prepositional phrases can be added to a basic sentence to expand its meaning.
Prepositional phrases may do more than just add minor details to a sentence: they may, in fact, be needed for a sentence to make sense. Consider the vagueness of this sentence without prepositional phrases:
The workers gather a rich variety and distribute it.
Now see how the sentence comes into focus when we add prepositional phrases:
From many sources, the workers at the Community Food Bank gather a rich variety of surplus and unsalable food and
distribute it to soup kitchens, day-care centers, and homes for the elderly.
Notice how these added prepositional phrases give us more information about certain nouns and verbs in the sentence:
Prepositional phrases can be used to combine or expand sentences and can be rearranged in the sentence to add variety to the sentence's beginning and rhythm.
Combine the sentences in each set into a single clear sentence containing at least one prepositional phrase. Omit words that are needlessly repeated, but don't leave out any important details.
- A mouse darted.
It darted across the salad bar.
During the luncheon a mouse darted across the salad bar.
- We traveled this summer.
We traveled by train.
We traveled from Biloxi.
We traveled to Dubuque.
We traveled by train this summer from Biloxi to Dubuque.
Like adjectives and adverbs, prepositional phrases add meaning to the nouns and verbs in our sentences. There are two prepositional phrases in the following sentence:
The steamy air in the kitchen reeked of stale cabbage.
The first prepositional phrase--in the kitchen--modifies the noun air; the second--of stale cabbage--modifies the verb reeked.
The two phrases provide information that helps us to understand the sentence. Prepositional phrases can be added to a basic sentence to expand its meaning.
Prepositional phrases may do more than just add minor details to a sentence: they may, in fact, be needed for a sentence to make sense. Consider the vagueness of this sentence without prepositional phrases:
The workers gather a rich variety and distribute it.
Now see how the sentence comes into focus when we add prepositional phrases:
From many sources, the workers at the Community Food Bank gather a rich variety of surplus and unsalable food and
distribute it to soup kitchens, day-care centers, and homes for the elderly.
Notice how these added prepositional phrases give us more information about certain nouns and verbs in the sentence:
- Which workers?
The workers at the Community Food Bank. - What did they gather?
A rich variety of surplus and unsalable food. - Where did they gather the food?
From many sources . - Who did they distribute it to?
To soup kitchens, day-care centers, and homes for the elderly .
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Appositives and Appositive Phrases
Recognize an appositive when you see one.
An appositive is a noun or noun with modifiers that renames another noun right beside it.
The appositive can be a short or long combination of words. Look at these examples:
The insect, a cockroach, is crawling across the kitchen table.
The insect, a large cockroach, is crawling across the kitchen table.
The insect, a large cockroach with hairy legs, is crawling across the kitchen table.
Here are more examples:
During the dinner conversation, Clifford, the messiest eater at the table, spewed mashed potatoes like an erupting volcano.
Genette's bedroom desk, the biggest disaster area in the house, is a collection of overdue library books, dirty plates, computer components, old mail, cat hair, and empty potato chip bags.
Reliable, Diane's eleven-year-old beagle, chews holes in the living room carpeting as if he were still a puppy.
Punctuate the appositive correctly.The important point to remember is that a nonessential appositive is always separated from
the rest of the sentence with comma(s).
When the appositive begins the sentence, it looks like this:
A hot-tempered tennis player, Robbie charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull with a racket.
When the appositive interrupts the sentence, it looks like this:
Robbie, a hot-tempered tennis player, charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull with a racket.
And when the appositive ends the sentence, it looks like this:
Upset by the bad call, the crowd cheered Robbie, a hot-tempered tennis player.
An appositive is a noun or noun with modifiers that renames another noun right beside it.
The appositive can be a short or long combination of words. Look at these examples:
The insect, a cockroach, is crawling across the kitchen table.
The insect, a large cockroach, is crawling across the kitchen table.
The insect, a large cockroach with hairy legs, is crawling across the kitchen table.
Here are more examples:
During the dinner conversation, Clifford, the messiest eater at the table, spewed mashed potatoes like an erupting volcano.
Genette's bedroom desk, the biggest disaster area in the house, is a collection of overdue library books, dirty plates, computer components, old mail, cat hair, and empty potato chip bags.
Reliable, Diane's eleven-year-old beagle, chews holes in the living room carpeting as if he were still a puppy.
Punctuate the appositive correctly.The important point to remember is that a nonessential appositive is always separated from
the rest of the sentence with comma(s).
When the appositive begins the sentence, it looks like this:
A hot-tempered tennis player, Robbie charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull with a racket.
When the appositive interrupts the sentence, it looks like this:
Robbie, a hot-tempered tennis player, charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull with a racket.
And when the appositive ends the sentence, it looks like this:
Upset by the bad call, the crowd cheered Robbie, a hot-tempered tennis player.
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Combining and Expanding Sentences with Appositive Phrases
An appositive provides more information about a noun. Consider, for example, how the following two sentences can be combined:
Jimbo Gold, a professional magician, performed at my sister's birthday party.
The appositive a professional magician serves to identify the subject, Jimbo Gold.
An appositive most often appears directly after the noun it identifies or renames:
Arizona Bill, "The Great Benefactor of Mankind," toured Oklahoma with herbal cures and a powerful liniment.
Note that this appositive, like most, could be omitted without changing the basic meaning of the sentence. In other words, it's nonessential and needs to be set off with a pair of commas.
Occasionally, an appositive may appear in front of a word that it identifies:
A dark wedge, the eagle hurtled earthward at nearly 200 miles per hour. An appositive at the beginning of a sentence is usually followed by a comma.
Combine the two sentences below into a single clear sentence using an appositive.
St. Valentine is the patron saint of lovers.
St. Valentine was never married.
Solution: St. Valentine, patron saint of lovers, was never married.
Lewis Carroll is the author of Alice in Wonderland.
Lewis Carroll was a mathematics lecturer at Oxford University.
Solution: Lewis Carroll, a mathematics lecturer at Oxford University, is the author of Alice in Wonderland.
Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, was a mathematics lecturer at Oxford University.
These sentences could be combined two different ways, each using an appositive. The difference lies in which idea the writer wants to be more important. The less important idea forms the appositive.
Appositives can be used to expand a sentence by adding information about a noun in the sentence.
For two years I lived in a one-room basement apartment.
(Add an appositive that further describes this apartment.)
Solution: For two years I lived in a one-room basement apartment, a rat’s nest with a depressing view of shoes, paws, and dog
poop.
- Jimbo Gold is a professional magician.
- Jimbo Gold performed at my sister's birthday party.
Jimbo Gold, a professional magician, performed at my sister's birthday party.
The appositive a professional magician serves to identify the subject, Jimbo Gold.
An appositive most often appears directly after the noun it identifies or renames:
Arizona Bill, "The Great Benefactor of Mankind," toured Oklahoma with herbal cures and a powerful liniment.
Note that this appositive, like most, could be omitted without changing the basic meaning of the sentence. In other words, it's nonessential and needs to be set off with a pair of commas.
Occasionally, an appositive may appear in front of a word that it identifies:
A dark wedge, the eagle hurtled earthward at nearly 200 miles per hour. An appositive at the beginning of a sentence is usually followed by a comma.
Combine the two sentences below into a single clear sentence using an appositive.
St. Valentine is the patron saint of lovers.
St. Valentine was never married.
Solution: St. Valentine, patron saint of lovers, was never married.
Lewis Carroll is the author of Alice in Wonderland.
Lewis Carroll was a mathematics lecturer at Oxford University.
Solution: Lewis Carroll, a mathematics lecturer at Oxford University, is the author of Alice in Wonderland.
Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, was a mathematics lecturer at Oxford University.
These sentences could be combined two different ways, each using an appositive. The difference lies in which idea the writer wants to be more important. The less important idea forms the appositive.
Appositives can be used to expand a sentence by adding information about a noun in the sentence.
For two years I lived in a one-room basement apartment.
(Add an appositive that further describes this apartment.)
Solution: For two years I lived in a one-room basement apartment, a rat’s nest with a depressing view of shoes, paws, and dog
poop.
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Time-Out!Before moving on to verbal phrases, we are going to assess our understanding of prepositional and appositive phrases.
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Prepositional & Appositive Phrases Assessment
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