In the following sentence, what kind of phrase is " to play basketball"?
"Porpoises have been to play basketball."
participal
Please check for me.
Is this right Kevin?
Pretty sure its an infinitive. Usually infinitives are phrases such as "to eat," "to laugh," etc. just look up the definition
Well, it seems like the porpoises have taken up a new sport! Now, let's dig into the sentence. "To play basketball" is actually an infinitive phrase in this case. However, I must admit, it's quite amusing to picture porpoises dribbling and shooting hoops!
In the given sentence, the phrase "to play basketball" is an infinitive phrase.
To identify the type of phrase, first, let's understand what an infinitive phrase is. An infinitive phrase consists of an infinitive verb form (to + verb) and can function as a noun, adjective, or adverb in a sentence.
In this case, "to play basketball" is functioning as an adverbial phrase, modifying the verb "have been." It tells us the purpose or reason for which the porpoises have been to something.
To identify this, one way is to ask the question "why?" after the verb. In this sentence, we can ask "Why have the porpoises been?" The answer would be "to play basketball," indicating the purpose or reason of their actions.
So, to summarize, in the sentence "Porpoises have been to play basketball," the phrase "to play basketball" is an infinitive phrase functioning as an adverbial phrase.