Sentences

Predicate Nominative

1. man = subject, should have been = verb, leader = predicate nominative 2. toy = subject, is = verb, truck = predicate nominative 3. food = subject, must be = verb, pizza = predicate nominative 4. alarm = subject, must be ringing = verb A predicate nominative or predicate noun completes a linking verb and renames the subject. It is a complement or completer because it completes the verb. Predicate nominatives complete only linking verbs. The linking verbs include the following: the helping verbs is, am, are, was, were, be, being, and been; the sense verbs look, taste, smell, feel, and sound; and verbs like become, seem, appear, grow, continue, stay, and turn.

Infinitives

4. Adjective In "She didn't have permission to go," "to go" modifies permission — it describes what type of permission is being discussed — so the phrase serves as an adjective. 5. Adverb In "He took the psychology class to try to understand human behavior," "to understand (human behavior)" explains why the taking of the class occurred, so it's an adverb modifying the verb took.

Gerund

A gerund is a verb form that ends in -ing. A gerund phrase includes the gerund, plus any modifiers and complements. Gerunds and gerund phrases always function as nouns. They can act as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, predicate nominatives, or objects of a preposition in a sentence.

Noun Phrase

A noun and all its modifiers (articles, adjectives, adverbs modifying those adjectives). Some grammarians include prepositions that modify the noun. Noun phrase: "An entirely new culture" emerges when people can work together to build a wiki.

Noun Clause

A noun clause is a dependent clause that acts as a noun. Noun clauses begin with words such as how, that, what, whatever, when, where, whether, which, whichever, who, whoever, whom, whomever, and why. Noun clauses can act as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, predicate nominatives, or objects of a preposition.

Participial Phrase

A participial phrase is a fragment that uses a specific type of past-tense verb that is acting like an adjective.

Predicate

A predicate is the completer of a sentence. The subject names the "do-er" or "be-er" of the sentence; the predicate does the rest of the work. A simple predicate consists of only a verb, verb string, or compound verb: The glacier melted. The glacier has been melting. The glacier melted, broke apart, and slipped into the sea.

Prepositional Phase

A prepositional phrase is a fragment that starts with a preposition, such as: in, on, near, above, regarding, according to, in spite of, etc. Download a complete list of prepositions here.

Prep Phrase acts as

A prepositional phrase will function as an adjective or adverb. As an adjective, the prepositional phrase will answer the question Which one?

Sub Clause as a Unit

A subordinate clause also called a dependent clause , it cannot stand alone in a sentence because it is an incomplete thought and must have that independent clause by its side to function properly. A clause is just another word for a group of words containing one subject and one verb. There are two types of clauses: independent a

Adjective Clause

An Adjective clause uses 'who' 'which' or 'that' and is called an adjective clause because its job is to describe the noun of the main clause.

Adverb Clause

An Adverb clause uses 'because' 'if, 'although,' 'when' (and others) and is called an adverb clause because its job is to describe the verb of the main clause.

Infinitive Phrase

An Infinitive phrase is a fragment using the infinitive form of the verb 'to' (to eat, to walk, etc.). This is also not a true verb!

Adverbial Clause

An adverb clause is a group of words that function as an adverb. The clause can modify verbs, adverbs and adjectives by telling when, where, why, how, how much and under what condition. They begin with a subordinating conjunction (such as after, if, because and although) and they contain a subject and a predicate.

Appositive

An appositional phrase (explanation phrase) is a noun-based fragment (no verb in it) that explains a bit of info about the preceding noun. His dog, a beagle, is a very friendly fellow

Complex Sentences

Because my coffee was too cold, I heated it in the microwave. Though he was very rich, he was still very unhappy. She returned the computer after she noticed it was damaged. When the cost goes up, customers buy less clothing. As she was bright and ambitious, she became manager in no time. Wherever you go, you can always find beauty. The movie, though very long, was still very enjoyable.

Expletive

Expletive Words and Phrases Definition Expletives are words or phrases that do not add any structural or grammatical meaning to the sentence. These words and phrases are often referred to as empty words, meaningless phrases, or redundant pairs because they do not add any information to the sentence.

The Reason/Because/That

From Ruge Rules Incorrect: The reason I am late is because I had an accident. Correct: The reason I am late is that I had an accident. This has nothing to do with adverbial clauses or predicative nominatives or any such thing, but quite simply with the fact that 'the reason is because' gives us an unnecessary doubling. Either 'the reason is that' or 'it is because'. No complicated syntax involved here, just simple logic.

Infinitives

Give him an ornament to polish. (The infinitive modifies ornament. This means it is functioning as an adjective.) Compare it to this: Give him an ornament that he can polish. (The clause that he must polish is an adjective clause. This proves that the infinitive to polish is being used an adjective.)

Auxiliary Verbs

Helping verbs

Infinitive Phrase

Her plan to subsidize child care won wide acceptance among urban politicians. [modifies plan, functions as an adjective] She wanted to raise taxes. [noun-object of the sentence] To watch Uncle Billy tell this story is an eye-opening experience. [noun-subject of the sentence] To know her is to love her. [noun, predicate nominative] Juan went to college to study veterinary medicine. [tells us why he went, so it's an adverb]

Adverb Clauses

In the first sentence, "yesterday" is a one-word adverb, "on Friday" is an adverb phrase, and "before I left for Calgary" is an adverb clause. All of them answer the question "When?", but the adverb clause has a subject ("I") and a full verb ("left"). It is introduced by "before", so it is a dependent clause. This means that it cannot stand alone: "Before I left for Calgary" would not be a full sentence. It needs a main clause ("I saw the movie"). An adverb clause, then, is a dependent clause that does the same job as an adverb or an adverb phrase

As if vs Like

Like is used to compare only nouns. (i.e. use like to say two things are similar, and let the clause that follows tell how they are similar) The earth, like other planets, spins on an axis. Like other planets, the earth spins on an axis. As is used to compare clauses. (i.e. use as if two actions are similar) A globe spins around an axis, as does the Earth itself.

Modifiers

Modifiers can be adjectives, adjective clauses, adverbs, adverb clauses, absolute phrases, infinitive phrases, participle phrases, and prepositional phrases. The sentence above contains at least one example of each: Adjective = poor. Adjective clause = who just wanted a quick meal. Adverb = quickly. Adverb clause = as a tarantula wiggled out of his cheese omelet. Absolute phrase = a sight requiring a year of therapy before Stephen could eat eggs again. Infinitive phrase = to get through his three-hour biology lab. Participle phrase = gagging with disgust. Prepositional phrase = on the cafeteria tray. Without modifiers, sentences would be no fun to read. Carefully chosen, well-placed modifiers allow you to depict situations with as much accuracy as words will allow.

Participial

Participial phrase. A participial is an -ing or -ed form of a verb—not functioning as a noun. Instead, it and the phrases or clauses associated with it function as a modifier in a sentence. Participial phrase: Instead of physical objects, pages in a wiki are electronic virtual objects created by the wiki engine.

Participial Phrase

Participial phrases always act as adjectives. When they begin a sentence, they are often set off by a comma (as an introductory modifier); otherwise, participial phrases will be set off by commas if they are parenthetical elements.

Infinitives

Richard braved the icy rain to throw the smelly squid eyeball stew into the apartment dumpster. To throw functions as an adverb because it explains why Richard braved the inclement weather.

Participial

The stone steps, having been worn down by generations of students, needed to be replaced. [modifies "steps"] Working around the clock, the firefighters finally put out the last of the California brush fires. [modifies "firefighters"] The pond, frozen over since early December, is now safe for ice-skating. [modifies "pond"]

Into vs in

The word "into" is a preposition that expresses movement of something toward or into something else. I made it into work a few minutes early today. The tooth fairy tucked the tooth into her pocket before placing a $1 bill under my daughter's pillow. "In to," on the other hand, is the adverb "in" followed by the preposition "to." They aren't really related and only happen to fall next to each other based on sentence construction. My boss sat in to audit the meeting. The tooth fairy came in to collect my daughter's tooth.

From vs Than

The word than suggests some sort of comparison. Hence, we use the comparative adjective plus the word than. The expression is usually followed by a noun, pronoun, or other noun form. The word different is an adjective, but it is not a comparative adjective. As a result, among some stylists you'll find a distinct preference for the expression different from. You would thus say: These shirts are different from the ones I bought last year. Or you would say: His car is different from mine.

Absolute Phrase

Their reputation as winners secured by victory, the New York Liberty charged into the semifinals. The season nearly finished, Rebecca Lobo and Sophie Witherspoon emerged as true leaders. The two superstars signed autographs into the night, their faces beaming happily.

Relative Clauses

Who, which, that are relative clauses. They are dependent clauses. Because they cannot stand alone as sentences. They function as adjectives.?Describe noun or pronoun. Who ... People. Which... Things. That... People and things.

Adjective Clauses

pronouns. An adjective clause nearly always appears immediately following the noun or pronoun. To test for adjective clauses there are a couple of questions that you can ask. Which one? What kind? Most adjective clauses begin with "who," "whom," "which," or "that." Sometimes the word may be understood. The words "that" or "who," for example, might not specifically be in the sentence, but they could be implied. To determine the subject of a clause ask "who?" or "what?" and then insert the verb. Example: The book that is on the floor should be returned to the library. Occasionally, an adjective clause is introduced by a relative adverb, usually "when," "where," or "why."

Like vs as if

state comparisons. For example: • Amy takes care of the children in the day care like a mother. • Amy takes care of the children in the day care as a mother does. Both sentences are correct. Both the sentences above convey the meaning that Amy takes care of the children "in the same way" as a mother takes care of her children. But notice the usage here - 'like' is followed by a noun and 'as' is followed by a clause. This grammatical construction should be kept in mind. Mostly I know which to use by ear, but there's a grammar-based reason behind the usage, and it's not complicated. Like is a preposition. As (or as if or as though) is a conjunction. Use like if it is followed by noun/object. Use as if it is followed by a verb/clause.

Adverb Clause

ways meet three requirements: First, an adverb clause always contains a subject and a verb. Second, adverb clauses contain subordinate conjunctions that prevent them from containing complete thoughts and becoming full sentences. Third, all adverb clauses answer one of the classic "adverb questions:" When? Why? How? Where?