Page 13 - DENG103_English - I

English–I

Notes Verb phrases: eat pizza, chasing a wild goose

Appositive phrases: my strange brother, his overbearing mother
Absolute phrases: These modify an entire clause, like “He yelled at her, his eyes glaring.” or
“They came into the principal’s office, their heads down.”

Verb Phrase Examples

A verb phrase can be the predicate of the clause or sentence. A verb phrase can also be a
phrase that contains a verb and its complements, objects, or modifiers. Following are further
explanations and examples.
Here are some verb phrase examples where the verb phrase is the predicate of a sentence. In
this case, the verb phrase consists of the main verb plus any auxiliary, or helping, verbs.
She was walking to the mall.
Ted might eat the cake.
You must go right now.

Words were spoken.
The teacher is writing a report.
You have woken up everyone in the neighborhood.
Next are some verb phrase examples of verb phrases where the phrase has a single function
which means it can act like an adverb or an adjective. The phrase would include the verb and
any modifiers, complements, or objects.
She came across some old love letters.

The small dog was reluctant to learn new things.
Finally, we can afford to buy a new house.
Walking on the ice, she slipped and fell.
Open the door to let the fresh air in.

To make lemonade, you first need some lemons.

Notes Appositive It renames noun as a pronoun and is always placed between commas
(e.g. “Bob, my annoying neighbor, is short”)

Absolute Modifies the entire sentence and is linked with commas. (e.g. “Mike threw the book,
his eyes are red”)

Complexity
A complex phrase consists of several words, whereas a simple phrase consists of only one
word. This terminology is especially often used with verb phrases:
simple past and present are simple phrases, which require just one verb.
complex verbs have one or two aspects added and hence require additional two or three
words.

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