Phrase Patterns -- Creative Writing with a Theme
We will build sentences using these phrase and clause patterns.
A VERB PHRASE consists of the main verb and up to three helping verbs, which always come before the main verb.
"Sasha COULD HAVE BEEN SLEEPING, but, no, the phone kept ringing. She WAS RESTING on her bed. Her brother MIGHT HAVE REMOVED the phone.
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A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE consists of a preposition and an object (a noun or pronoun) and any modifiers. There are NO subjects or verbs in prepositional phrases, and they can be omitted without making the sentence a fragment. They usually answer how, when, where, or what kind type questions.
"Our gym class ran ACROSS THE FIELD." (across = prep, field = object of prep.; part of speech = adverb; question answered = ran where?)
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INFINITIVE PHRASES begin with infinitives and include any objects or modifiers or prepositional phrases. "I wanted TO ASK YOU A QUESTION." (to ask = infinitive, a you = indirect object, a question = direct object)
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GERUNDS are participles acting as nouns. Gerunds always end in -ING, so they are present participles. If the gerund has objects and any modifiers following it, it's a gerund phrase.
RUNNING is a great form of exercise. (gerund on its own; the gerund is the subject of the sentence.)
RUNNING THROUGH SHALLOW WATER is a great way to run. (Gerund phrase: gerund followed by a prepositional phrase)
A ZOOM (absolute) PHRASE has a subject but an incomplete or missing verb, so it's not a real clause. It has a "zooming in" quality usually, moving generally from a large noun to a smaller part of that noun. They are literary type phrases (usually seen in literature)
Ex: "The students moaned, THEIR FINGERS ACHY, as they labored in their final exams." "The pencils flew, THEIR TIPS DANCING ACROSS THE PAGES, as they plowed through miles of math problems." (Note that if it said, "Their fingers WERE achy." and "Their tips WERE dancing across the page." these would be clauses, not zoom phrases.
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