Editorial Inspirations

I spoke with her as often as I saw her, but because we were both young and couldn’t drive, it was only a few times a year. Yet, we confided in one another, told each other secrets, talked about boys and kissing. Though we were five years apart, we were good friends.

I grew up and went away to college. When I came back, she was unmarried and pregnant. I no longer knew who she was. Our childhood talks had never been about having sex or babies before marriage.

Earlier this year, federal prosecution had tried to get a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Wisconsin to approve a subpoena compelling Amazon.com to disclose the identity of thousands of people who bought used books online. They were investigating former Madison public official Robert D’Angelo, who was indicted on charges that he ran a used book business and did not report the proceeds as income.

Judge Stephen Crocker turned down the request, ruling that there is a First Amendment right to keep your reading habits private. “The subpoena is troubling,” Crocker wrote, “because it permits the government to peak into the reading habits of specific individuals without their knowledge or permission…. It is an unsettling and un-American scenario to envision federal agents nosing through the reading lists of law-abiding citizens while hunting for evidence against someone else.”

A phrase is a sequence of grammatically related words without a subject abd a verb. There are several types of phrases:

Noun Phrase: The young child walked ahead.
Verb Phrase: The parents had been worrying about where their child had gone.
Prepositional Phrase: By 3:00 am on Black Friday, the lines into the mall reached across the street.
Gerund Phrase: Playing in the yard is never a chore, but picking up sticks is.
Infinitive Phrase: Were she willing to go to the mall, I would have gone as well.
Participial Phrase: Tourists walking along the trail see statues of famous soldiers.
Appositive Phrase: She me Jack, her boyfriend, at the mall.
Absolute Phrase: The football game over, the boys slapped high fives.

Phrases can be used as nouns or modifiers. Gerund phrases are always used as nouns; infinitive phrases are often used as nouns; prepositional phrases occasionally are nouns. An appositive phrase identifies or explains the meaning of a noun it relates to. Prepositional phrases often function as adjectives or adverbs. Infinitive phrases are used as adjectives or adverbs, and participial phrases are used as adjectives.

Try It!

Identify each phrase in the following sentences. Then, determine the type of phrase and its function.

1. John expected an offer like that one only once in a lifetime.
2. Destroying many crops, storms flooded the South.
3. Jane used my closet for storing her party dresses.
4. Taking criticism from others is painful but useful.
5. My parents bought a portable DVD player, small and expensive.