Question

Indentify the phrase in parenthesis in each sentence.

1. (After several minutes,) I finally located my car keys.

A. prepositional
B. participial
C. gerund
D. infinitive

2. Mikayla's homeroom teacher, (Mr. Jones.) is proud of her.

A. participial
B. gerund
C. appositive
D. prepositional

3. Henry's desire (to win) is obvious.

A. gerund
B. infinitive
C. prepositional
D. participial

4. (Talking) is not allowed in class.

A. prepositional
B. gerund
C. appositive
D. infinitive

Determine if the sentence contains a misplaced modifier or a dangling modifire, or if it is correct.

5. Josie's project was a failure, having not prepared properly.

A. Misplaced Modifier
B. Dangling Modifier
C. Correct

Answer 1

1. The phrase in parenthesis is a prepositional phrase: preposition (after) + noun phrase (several minutes).

2. The phrase in parenthesis is an appositive, because it is a noun phrase that renames the teacher. The homeroom teacher and Mr. Jones is the same person, referred to in different ways.

3. This is an infinitve phrase determined by the verb desire. The pattern of the verbs is "desire TO do something".

4. This phrase is a gerund. Gerunds are typically used as the subject of a sentence, functioning as a noun.

5. This is a case of dangling modifier (B), because it is not clearly related to the word it modifies. In order to fix it, we need to make the target clear. It could be: "Josie did not prepare the project properly; consequently it was a failure".

Answer 2

Answer:

1. A. prepositional

2. C. appositive

3. B. infinitive

4. A. gerund

5.B. dangling modifier

Explanation:

1. A preposition or prepositional phrase is group of words in a sentence that do not have a verb or a subject. These group of words are made up of a preposition such as after used in the sentence above, object which could be a noun or pronoun in this case several is the pronoun and also contains an object. These group of words cannot stand on their own. They need other parts of the sentence to make it complete.

2. Apposition or appositive in a grammatical structure means placing nouns side by side or beside each other and refer to the same thing or person. In this case ''teacher'' and ''Mr Jones'' refers to the same person.

3. Infinitive is referred to as the original or base form of a verb that is used with ''to''. It is called a non-finite verb and can serve as a noun, an adjective or an adverb. This non finite verb describes or expresses and an action, purpose or an opinion. Thus ''Henry's desire is ''to win''.

4. Gerund is the verb form ending in ''ing'' and functions as a noun. It always ends with ''íng'' and it is usually or always used as a noun. ''Talking'' in this sentence is a gerund and a noun.

5. A dangling modifier or dangling participle is an adjective that modifies the wrong noun in a sentence. This is not done intentional but happens that way as a result of the sentence structure. Thus ''Josie's project was a failure, having not prepared properly''. This sentence literary means that the project failed and not Josie.