‘... to play tennis’ is theobjectof the sentence. It is also an
infinitive phrase.
Her ambition wasto write a novel.‘... to write a novel’ is thecomplementof the sentence. It
refers to ‘ambition’. It is also an infinitive phrase.
Using a gerundive phrase
A gerund is the present participle used as a noun. Agerun-
dive phrasebegins with a gerund.
Swimming every day helped him to recover.‘Swimming’ is a gerund and ‘Swimming every day’ is the
subject of the sentence.
Learning about prepositions
Aprepositionis a word that indicates the relationship of a
noun or pronoun to some other part of the sentence. The
word ‘preposition’ means to be ‘placed before’. Prepositions
are usually placed before the noun and are often used in
phrases.
Some prepositions are:
above after at before by down
for from in into near on
opposite past towards through to under
with without
Some of these words can also be used as other parts of
speech. It will depend on their role in the sentence.
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