The American Horror Story Book of Writing

Section 3 PHRASES and CLAUSES Phrases – groups of words that function as a part of speech.

Noun Phrase: A group of words consisting of nouns or pronouns and their modifiers that function as a noun.

All of The Countess’ children really wanted some fresh blood.

Verb Phrase: A group of words consisting of verbs working together and that function as a verb.

The Harmon family was preparing to do a lot of redecorating to try and sell the Murder House.

Prepositional Phrase: A group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun, and functions as an adjective or an adverb.

Zoe was warmly welcomed into the coven.

Appositive Phrase: A group of words that include all the words that modify an appositive and function as an adjective - IT MUST BE SURROUNDED BY COMMAS. Sister Mary Eunice, the new nun, worked diligently to help Dr. Arthur Arden with his experiments.

Verbal Phrases: A group of words that begin with a verbal and ends with a noun. ● Gerund Phrase verb ending in -ing that functions as a noun.

Strolling down New Orleans, the coven finally stopped at the cemetery. ● Participial Phrase word ending in -ing (present participle) or -ed (past participle) that functions as an adjective.

The interviewer Lana Winters returned to the abandoned asylum. ● Infinitive Phrase verb preceded by the word “to” (to read, to study, to write) that function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.

The coven knew it was time to test the seven wonders.

CLAUSES Clauses – groups of words with BOTH a subject and a verb that function as parts of speech. There are TWO kinds: Independent and Dependent (called “Subordinate”) INDEPENDENT – CAN stand alone as a complete sentence, known as a simple sentence pattern.

Elsa Mars requires the “freaks” to work really hard for the show.

DEPENDENT (SUBORDINATE) – CANNOT stand alone as a complete sentence and MUST begin with a SUBORDINATE CONJUNCTION. There are seven (7) kinds: Noun Clause: Used as the noun in a sentence and may function as a subject, a predicate noun, a direct object, an object of a preposition, an indirect object, or an appositive. ○ Where she learned firmly made her the witch she is. ○ Kindly give whoever asks a drink at the bar. ○ The aliens thought Kit was special and that was totally obvious. ○ Brooke wisely checked what the camp nurse had for medical supplies.