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« on: June 02, 2010, 12:13:10 AM »
Before reading this chapter, I had some idea about what a phrase is, but didn't know there were so many and what purpose they serve. If I understood it correctly, the many types of phrases are there to simply modify something else. This chapter served as a spring board for me to search on further. Very interesting stuff.
I have a few questions I'd like to ask regarding these phrases.
1) Prepositional Phrase - The woman, although uncomfortable with the idea, wore a starkly red dress and red high-heels to the costume party last nigh.
I initially thought the prepositional phrase was: "although uncomfortable with the idea" but although is a conjunction right? Does that make it a conjunction phrase if such exists?
2) I had gathered some examples (on the net) of an Absolute Phrase, (at least that's what the source claims to be as an absolute phrase) and then started thinking, "What makes an absolute phrase different from the other phrases that it bears resemblance to?"
a) The question still unanswered, , the teacher decided to address the confusion of her students more closely. (looks like a noun phrase)
b) There are many industries in California vital to its economy, with technology being one of the most important. (looks like a prepositional phrase)
c) Chosen to head the committee, Angus Ng thought about how he could help raise money for his chess club at Harvard. (looks like a participial phrase)
3) One website says that an appositive phrase is a noun-phrase that renames another noun.
If that is so, the following example should be correct:
# I took a cookie from Gretel, who is the woodcutter's daughter.
The author said that this isn't an appositive, but an adjectival phrase.
a) My basis for knowing if it is an adjectival phrase is to first look at the start of the phrase, if it starts with an adjective. If it's not that apparent, then I ask the subject: Which? (eg. Which Gretel?) or what kind. The phrase doesn't fit.
b) This looks like a noun phrase to me, since it begins with a pronoun, "who" as noun phrases can have pronouns at the head of the phrase right?
c) If this is so, then can this also be considered an appositive? if not, what kind of phrase is this?
# I took a cookie from Gretel, the woodcutter's daughter.
The website said that this is the correct answer, and based on other examples I gathered from other websites, they all followed a similar structure with the example you shared (The woman, a stunning beauty with a rebellious streak, wore a starkly red dress and red hihg-heels to the costume party last night).
Other examples:
a) The insect, a cockroach, is crawling across the table.
b) Reliable, Diane's eleven-year-old beagle, chews holes in the living room carpeting as if he were still a puppy.
c) Upset by the bad call, the crowd cheered Robbie, a hot-tempered tennis player who charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull with a racket.
So in this case, this is an appositive, modifying Gretel as an adjective, and not an adjectival phrase. Am i right or am i just confusing myself?
4) How do we differentiate a Participial from a Gerund phrase? The Gerund phrase looks very similar to the present participle of a verb.
Example for Participial Phrase:
Feeling uncomfortable about the whole thing, the woman wore a starkly red dress and red high-heels to the party last night.
Example for Gerund Phrase:
Wearing a starkly red dress and red high-heels was the woman's idea of getting attention during the costume part last night.
5) Since the phrases serve to put the emotional texture into an otherwise non-descript narrative or extemporaneous speech, as far as knowing the "technical names" for the phrases, is it the kind of information that is --good to know from a teaching standpoint or should we try to keep the technical names in mind as we formulate our thoughts even in free speech?
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