Phrases -- Prepositional, Participial, Gerunds

As we grow as writers, we're sometimes confounded as we try to take our brilliant, complex thoughts and try to make them behave on paper.  We know what we want to say, but when we put it on paper, something's not quite right.What often trips us up are phrases and clauses. In the English language, we use five phrases:  prepositional, participials, gerunds, infinitives, and appositives.  These phrases can be restrictive (essential) or non-restrictive (non-essential).

The wonderful internet has some great resources for expanding our understanding.  Below are some helpful links:

Slideshare -- This site has A LOT of helpful Powerpoint presentations about so many topics.  Search their website for whatever grammar help you need.  (Prepositions and Participials and Gerunds)

eHow -- This website has a number of helpful tutorials.  This page has one that shows where to put commas.

Slideboom -- This site has Powerpoint slides along with a narrator.  (Prepositions )

Authorstream -- Another instructional website, this one has a presentation on Gerunds,

Youtube -- Of course, this is an obvious place to go for so many kinds of instructional tutorials.

Purdue OWL -- One of my favorite writing websites, this online writing lab gives full explanations of LOTS of writing topics. (Gerunds,Participials, & Infinitives)