Week Five

Handout on Identifying Gerunds, Participial, Infinitive and Prepositional Phrases

Use this chart to guide you in identifying the phrases of the homework.

Phrase	Identifying Features	How it functions in a sentence	Its role in the sentence
Gerund	always a verb word with an -ing ending	always works as a noun	Subject, any kind of object, or subject complement
Participle (participial phrase)	always a verb word with an -ing, -ed, or -en ending	always works as an adjective	Describer of a noun or pronoun
Infinitive	always to + a verb	noun, adjective or adverb	Namer or describer
Prepositional	begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun	adjective, adverb or noun	Most often as a describer but sometimes as a namer

Italicized Phrase	Kind of Phrase	Function (Part of Speech)	Sentence Part
21. Knowing the problem	Participial phrase	adjective
22. on the floor	Prepositional phrase	Adjective
23. hunting big game	Gerund	Noun	Direct object
24. Expecting more than eight guests	Participial phrase	adjective
25. through the window	Prepositional phrase	adverb
26. To avoid taxes	Infinitive phrase	Noun	Subject
27. your answering	Gerund phrase	Noun	Direct object
28. by the surprise party	Prepositional phrase	Adverb
29. Having unsaddled the horse	Participial phrase	Adjective
30. breaking the lock	Gerund phrase	Noun	Object of the prep. “Before”
31. to study the French language	Infinitive phrase	Adverb
32. during his second year	Prepositional phrase	adverb
33. selected yesterday	Participial phrase	adjective
34. After five minutes	Prepositional phrase	adverb
35. to present a new peace plan	Infinitive phrase	Noun	Subject complement
36. to help the stenographer	Infinitive phrase	adverb
37. Waiting patiently	Participial phrase	adjective
38. Having knitted three sweaters	Participial phrase	adjective
39. in the hall	Prepositional phrase	Adjective
40. to do	Infinitive phrase	adjective