LESSON 15: COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS … · ... COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS (COMPOUND VERB & PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES) ... • Prepositional phrases start with a preposition and end with
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• Coordinating Conjunctions = for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
• Verb phrases consist of one main verb and one or more helping verbs.
• Prepositions are always in prepositional phrases.
• Prepositional phrases start with a preposition and end with a noun or a pronoun. They act as single parts of speech (adjectives or adverbs).
Lesson
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to diagram compound verb phrases and prepositional phrases. You can already diagram compound subjects, verbs, direct objects, adjectives, and adverbs! Wow!
Diagramming Compound Verb Phrases
Remember that verb phrases consist of one main verb and one or more helping verbs.
There are two possible scenarios when you’re dealing with verb phrases and coordinating conjunctions.
Possibility # 1: The two phrases don’t share any helping verbs.
Diagram these the same way you diagram regular compound verbs.
He can run well and will win the race.
can run = verb phrase will run = verb phrase
Notice that the two main verbs in the verb phrases are different types of verbs. Run is intransitive complete, and win is transitive active. Race is its direct object.
* Notice that the prepositional phrase is modifying both crawl and walk. (Can the baby crawl across the room? Can the baby walk across the room?) We need to put it on a place in the diagram that shows it’s modifying both words. Do you see that both the helping verb can and the prepositional phrase across the room are applying to both of the main verbs?
If something modifies just one main verb, it goes on a line directly under that verb. We’ll see an example of that in # 4.
Key
Can the baby crawl or walk across the room?
sentence – question
The baby can crawl or walk across the room.
sentence – statement
baby subject (noun)
Can crawl, walk verb phrase- compound main verbs
Can helping verb
crawl, walk compound main verbs (intransitive complete)
or coordinating conjunction
across the room prepositional phrase (adverb) (modifying Can crawl, walk)
4. Mrs. Greengold’s students will perform well and earn excellent grades.
In this diagram, we have the adverb well modifying only one of the main verbs, perform. The students performed well, they did not earn well.
If well modified both perform and earn, we would put it under the helping verb will as we did with the prepositional phrase in #2. Since it only modifies perform, it goes directly under it.
Be sure to THINK about each word and its function in the sentence as you diagram. J
Key
Mrs. Greengold’s students will perform well and earn excellent grades.
sentence - statement
students subject (noun)
Mrs. Greengold’s adjective
will perform, earn verb phrase- compound main verb