I am supposed to find the infinitive phrases in sentences, then name them as subjects, direct objects, predicate nominatives, object of a prepositions, or appositives. thing is, i can barely remember what all of these mean, and whether infinitive phrases relate to them or not. here's one of the sentences:
My brother had no plans except
the infinitive phrase (i think) is "to visit the Holy Land." but i have no idea what type it is. its not the subject, but is is a preposition? or an appositive? i cant remember.
All infinitives begin with "to" and are followed by a verb form. Infinitive phrases include the infinitive and any words that go directly with it.
"to visit the Holy Land" is an infinitive phrase, yes.
Is the whole sentence this? ~~> My brother had no plans except to visit the Holy Land.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/phrases.htm#infinitive = good explanations and examples of infinitive phrases.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/index2.htm = Excellent place to look up grammar and usage terms -- either to learn or to remember.
To answer your question: The infinitive phrase in that sentence follows the word "except" -- so that phrase is the object of the preposition "except."
What others are you working on?
In order to determine the role of the infinitive phrase "to visit the Holy Land" in the sentence, we first need to review the different grammatical terms you mentioned:
1. Subject: The subject of a sentence is the noun or pronoun that performs the action or that the sentence is about. It is usually found before the verb.
2. Direct Object: The direct object is the noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb.
3. Predicate Nominative: A predicate nominative is a noun or pronoun that follows a linking verb and renames or identifies the subject.
4. Object of a Preposition: An object of a preposition is a noun or pronoun that comes after a preposition and completes its meaning.
5. Appositive: An appositive is a noun or pronoun that renames or identifies another noun or pronoun in the sentence.
Now, let's analyze the sentence "My brother had no plans except to visit the Holy Land":
The subject of the sentence is "my brother." It is not the infinitive phrase.
The infinitive phrase "to visit the Holy Land" functions as the direct object of the verb "had." It answers the question "What did my brother have?". The infinitive phrase is also the thing that the subject (my brother) had no plans for.
To understand the difference between prepositions and appositives, it's important to note that:
- Prepositions are small words (e.g., in, on, at, to) that show relationships between other words in the sentence.
- Appositives are noun phrases that provide additional information about a noun or pronoun in the sentence.
In this case, "to visit the Holy Land" is not a preposition because it does not show a relationship between other words. It is an infinitive phrase. Similarly, it is not an appositive because it does not directly rename or identify the noun or pronoun "my brother."
To summarize, in the sentence "My brother had no plans except to visit the Holy Land," the infinitive phrase "to visit the Holy Land" functions as the direct object of the verb "had."