Phrases

Question

What types of phrases are these: Prepositional, Participial, Gerung, Infinitive or Appositive?

Preserving rare and valuable books and documents is one of the challenges FACING THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

Refreshed by the cool breeze, I didn't object to GOING BACK TO WORK.

The United States, a true "melting pot," has been greatly enriched BY MANY DIVERSE CULTURES.

THANKS!

Miriam · Accepted Answer

Hi, Malory.

1. "Preserving rare and valuable books and documents is one of the challenges FACING THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS."
The construction in capital letters is a participial clause (present participial); it functions as post modifier of "challenges". It is what's also called a "reduced relative clause"; the complete clause would be "... the challenges (that are facing the library of Congress)". There, you have a relative pronoun introducing the clause, and also a conjugated verb (are facing).
"Preserving rare and valuable books" is a gerundial clause, acting as subject of the sentence.

2. "Refreshed by the cool breeze, I didn't object to GOING BACK TO WORK."
Here, you have (in capitals) a gerundial clause acting as direct object of the main verb.
"Refreshed by the cool breeze" is a past participial clause.

3. "The United States, a true 'melting pot', has been greatly enriched BY MANY DIVERSE CULTURES."
"by many diverse cultures" is a prepositional phrase acting as agent (the sentence has a verb in the passive voice).
"a true 'melting pot'" is a noun phrase acting as apposition of 'the United States'.

There aren't any examples of infinitive clauses in these sentences.

Miriam.

Malory · Answer

THANK YOU!! Can you tell me what kind of sentences these are? I'm checking my work on an independent study course! (Simple, Compound, Complex or Compound-Complex)

1-A familiar proverb states that the longest journey begins with a single step; another tells us that little strokes fell great oaks.

2-Many people have heard these wise sayings but haven't applied them to their own lives.

3-For example, suppose you are required to read a 400-page novel before a test at the end of the school year.

4-If you don't start reading the book until the last possible weekend, you will probably not read it well; furthermore, you may not have time to finish the book, and you will almost certainly not enjoy it!

5-Instead, if you start now and read just ten pages a day, you'll be finished within six weeks.

6-The championship golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez knows this technique for completing a large project in small sections.

7-When Rodriguez was a child in Puerto Rido, he learned this approach from his father, who wanted to plant corn in a small field that was thickly overgrown with bamboo.

8-Mr. Rodriguez could not afford to take several weeks off from his job to clear the whole field, so every evening after work, he would cut down a single bamboo plant.

9-Gradually, the field was cleared, and by the following spring, the Rodriguez family was eating corn for dinner.

10-Today, Chi Chi Rodriguez and his dedicated staff at the Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation help hundreds and hundreds of disadvantaged youngsters--one child at a time.

THANKS.

Miriam · Answer

You're welcome, Malory

Here we go now with the new sentences:

1. Compound-complex.
2. Simple (what is compound in that sentence is the predicate, which has two heads or main verbs for the same subject).
3. Complex.
4. Compound-complex.
5. Complex.
6. Complex.
7. Complex.
8. Compound-complex.
9. Compound.
10. Simple.

Do you know the difference between those type of sentences?

- Simple: only one main/independent clause (in other words, only one subject and one predicate). No subordinate clauses.
A compound subject or a compound predicate don't make a compound sentence:
"John, Mary and Tom were singing and dancing in the backyard" is still a simple sentence, just like "John was singing in the backyard."

- Compound: two or more main clauses (that is, like two or more sentences within the main sentence: "(John sings) and (Mary dances)."

- Complex: a sentence that has one main/independent clause and which also contains at least one subordinate clause (of any type).
"I'll call you (when I get home tonight)."

- Complex-compound: a combination of the two previous types. A complex-compound sentence has more than one main clause and it also has at least one subordinate clause:
"(John sings) and (Mary dances [while she listens to him])."

If that's not clear, please let me know?

Miriam

Miriam · Answer

Hello again, Malory.
Last night, I couldn't get one of the sentences you posted out of my mind. Rather, what I couldn't get out of my mind was the answer I gave you. So this morning I did some "research" and found out why I was feeling uncomfortable with my response.
The sentence in question is number 6.
Yesterday, I said it's a complex sentence.
According to what I've founf now, that was not wrong.
"... (for completing a large project in small sections)", can be considered a subordinate clause.
But there is another possibility: you can also consider that structure as a prepositional phrase in which the object of the preposition (what comes after it) is a gerundive phrase, not a clause. In this case, you would have a SIMPLE sentence, not a COMPLEX one.

In the case of the complex sentence, "for" would be considered within the clause itself and the whole construction would no longer be seen as a prepositional phrase. I'm not sure this last part is clear enough.
To expalin it differently, it would be similar to certain cases in which relative clauses, for example, have a preposition before the relative pronoun that introduces the clause, and that preposition is considered part of the clause:
"The house (in which I was born)."
You don't analyse "in which I was born" as a prepositional phrase in this case.

I hope that made some sense to you, and that it's not too late

Miriam

Taiwandave · Answer

Miriam,

I agree with you: "completing a large project in small sections" is a gerund phrase which is the object of the preposition "for".

The entire phrase "for completing a large project in small sections" is a prepositional phrase that acts as an adjective modifying "technique".

DA.

Malory · Answer

Yikes. . . I'm confused.  What is the FINAL ANSWER?  This is for 11th grade English, so I'm not sure how technical to go.  What do you think is the correct answer?  THANKS!!!

Miriam · Answer

Thank you, Dave.

Sometimes things are not that clear, are they?
I talked about this with other grammar teachers at work this morning, and I dot different "opinions". The books I consulted also provided different explanations. I think both options make sense, depending on how you look at them.

Malory,
Now you have a team doing your homework! ~laughs~
It seems the final answer is (if we take "for...." as a prepositional phrase):

Sentence number 6 is a SIMPLE sentence.

Good luck!!

Miriam

Malory · Answer

Miriam:

There seems to be debate on this issue too?

"Who shall I say is calling?" or "Whom shall I say is calling?"
"Who did you talk to at the information desk?" or "Whom did you talk to at the information desk?"

I looked under the who/whom thread, but got mixed responses!

Miriam · Answer

Malory,
I don't think I can give you a response different from the one I posted to the WHO/WHOM/WHOSE thread... because that's what I know about these words! ~L~

"who" will be the subject of a clause (nominative form), while "whom" will be the object (objective form). This is as simple as I can put it, but honestly I don't believe it will help much.

In your post, "Who shall I say is caling?" is correct, but not "whom".
The clause in question is "who is calling?", and the answer will be the subject of the sentence: "John (is calling)."

In the second example, both forms are correct. The only form that is not correct is
"To who did you talk at the...?"

But remember that "whom" is rather formal and it isn't used in actual speech often.
It will be used in conversation, however (instead of 'who'), if it follows a preposition:
"The man to whom (not 'to who') I sent the letter hasn't written back yet."
or --> "The man who(m) I sent the letter to..."

"For whom (not 'for who') are you baking that cake?"
or --> "Who(m) are you baking that cafe for?"

I hope it helps. If it doesn't... you know, just ask again! ~makes a funny face~

Miriam

Taiwandave · Answer

The distinction between "who" and "whom" has significantly eroded in American English. But if you really want to know, the following are correct:

Whom shall I say is calling?
Whom did you talk to?

"Whom" is used when it is the object of the verb. In an interrogative sentence, identifying the object may be confusing. Let's look at another example.

Who do you trust?
Whom do you trust?

Which of the two is correct? To decide, you must determine whether "who/whom" is the subject or object of the verb "trust". The answer becomes clear if you imagine the question being answered:

I trust Fred.

In the answer, "Fred" is the object of the verb "trust". But before the question was answered, "Fred" was unknown. In the question, his name is replaced by "who/whom". Because "Fred" is the object in the answer, "who/whom" must be the object in the question. Therefore the correct sentence is:

Whom do you trust?

Similarly, you can turn the sentence, "Whom shall I say is calling?" into declarative form:

I shall say that Bob is calling.

Clearly Bob (or, more properly, the subordinate clause "that Bob is calling") is the object of the verb "say".

"Who" is used when it is replacing the subject. For example:

Who is sitting over there?
My friend is sitting over there.

In the second sentence, "my friend" is the subject of the verb "sit". In the question, "my friend" is replaced by "who".

Either "who" or "whom" can introduce a relative clause:

The man who is sitting over there is my friend.
The man whom you saw yesterday is sitting over there.

In both sentences, who/whom represents "the man". In the first sentence, "the man" is the subject of the verb "sit". In the second sentence, "the man" is the object of the verb "see".

Note that the "whom" in the second sentence is optional and can be omitted without grammatical error or loss of meaning:

The man you saw yesterday is sitting over there.

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