Phrases – Prepositional, Participial, Infinitive

Phrases, unlike clauses, do not contain both a subject and a verb. They consist of either a single word or group of words that function as a single unit of grammar (see the examples below).

Prepositional Phrases: A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition.

A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence as in the following examples:

The book lies on the table.

The book fell beneath the table.

The book leans against the table.

The book rests beside the table.

She held the book over the table.

She read the book during class.

In each of the preceding sentences, a preposition locates the noun "book" in space or in time.

A prepositional phrase is made up of the preposition, its object and any associated adjectives or adverbs. A prepositional phrase can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. The most common prepositions are "about," "above," "across," "after," "against," "along," "among," "around," "at," "before," "behind," "below," "beneath," "beside," "between," "beyond," "but," "by," "despite," "down," "during," "except," "for," "from," "in," "inside," "into," "like," "near," "of," "off," "on," "onto," "out," "outside," "over," "past," "since," "through," "throughout," "till," "to," "toward," "under," "underneath," "until," "up," "upon," "with," "within," and "without."

In the following sentences, each of the bolded words are prepositions:

The children climbed the mountain without fear.

In this sentence, the preposition "without" introduces the noun "fear." The prepositional phrase "without fear" functions as an adverb describing how the children climbed.

People rejoiced throughout the land when the Red Sox finally won.

Here, the preposition "throughout" introduces the noun phrase "the land." The prepositional phrase acts as an adverb describing the location of the rejoicing.

The spider crawled slowly along the banister.

The preposition "along" introduces the noun phrase "the banister" and the prepositional phrase "along the banister" acts as an adverb, describing where the spider crawled.

The dog is hiding under the porch because it knows it will be punished for chewing up a new pair of shoes.

Here the preposition "under" introduces the prepositional phrase "under the porch," which acts as an adverb modifying the compound verb "is hiding."

The screenwriter searched for the manuscript he was certain was somewhere in his office.

Similarly in this sentence, the preposition "in" introduces a prepositional phrase "in his office." It acts as an adverb describing the location of the missing papers.

Participles

A participle is a form of a verb that can act as an adjective. It can end in –ing (present) or –ed (past).

EXAMPLE 1: The fluttering butterflies filled the meadow.

Modify the verb “to flutter” with the –ing ending to make fluttering and it becomes an adjective that describes the noun “butterflies.”

EXAMPLE 2: The mangled pair of sunglasses, bruised face, broken arm, and bleeding knees meant Mr. Nagro had experienced yet another unscheduled dismount from his mountain bike.

The verbs “to mangle,” “to bruise,” “to break,” and “to bleed” have been modified into participles to use as adjectives to describe the nouns “sunglasses,” “face,” “arm,” and “knees” respectively. The first three show the past tense as the sunglasses, face, and arm, are already mangled, bruised, and broken, while “bleeding” shows the present tense in order to demonstrate an ongoing state of pain for Mr. Nagro’s knees.

Participles may also act as nouns, as in the following sentence:

Biking causes pain. “To bike” typically serves as a verb, but as a participle it can serve as a noun.

Participial Phrases

Participles can attach themselves to other words to form phrases:

Sinking beneath his anguish, Harry felt ready to give up altogether.

Soaring through the sky, the hawk spied its next meal hopping innocently through the meadow.

Like other introductory elements, a comma must follow the participial phrase.

Infinitives

An infinitive phrase will begin with an infinitive [to + simple form of the verb] and include objects, modifiers or both. Here are some examples:

To smash a spider To kick the ball past the dazed goalie To lick the grease from his shiny fingers

Infinitive phrases can function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. Look at these examples:

To finish her shift without spilling another pizza into a customer's lap is Michelle's only goal tonight.

The infinitive phrase above functions as a noun because it serves as the subject of the sentence.

To get through Dr. Peterson's boring history lectures, Ryan drinks a triple espresso before class and stabs himself in the thigh with a sharp pencil whenever he catches himself drifting off.

The infinitive phrase above functions as an adjective because it modifies the proper noun “Ryan.”

Kelvin, an aspiring comic book artist, studies Anatomy and Physiology this semester to understand the interplay of muscle and bone in the human body.

The infinitive phrase above functions as an adverb because it modifies the verb “studies.”

When an infinitive phrase introduces a main clause, separate the two sentence components with a comma.

To avoid burning another bag of popcorn, Brendan pressed his nose against the microwave door, sniffing suspiciously every five seconds.

When an infinitive phrase breaks the flow of a main clause, use a comma both before and after the interrupter.

Those sneakers, to be perfectly honest, do not complement your prom dress.