MAKING MEANING

Comparing Text to Media

In this lesson, you will read Al Gore’s Nobel Prize
acceptance speech and then watch a video of Gore
delivering the speech. First, you will complete the
NOBEL SPEECH (text) NOBEL SPEECH (video)
first-read and close-read activities for the text of
the speech. These activities will help prepare you to
compare the speech and the video.

About the Author

Nobel Speech
Concept Vocabulary
You will encounter the following words as you read the speech. Before
reading, note how familiar you are with each word. Then, rank the words
in order from most familiar (1) to least familiar (6).

Former United States WORD YOUR RANKING

Vice President Al Gore crisis
(b.1948) was practically
born into politics. His father pollution
was a senator, and after urgency
Gore served a tour of duty
in Vietnam, he went on universal
to serve in both houses of
illusion
Congress before becoming
vice president in 1993. As a environment
congressman, Gore became
active in environmental After completing your first read, come back to the concept vocabulary
issues. He has written
and review your rankings. Mark any changes to your original rankings.
several books about the
dangers of climate change,
and his campaign to
educate the public about First Read NONFICTION
climate change is the Apply these strategies as you conduct your first read. You will have an

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subject of An Inconvenient
opportunity to complete the close-read notes after your first read.
Truth, which won the
Academy Award for Best
Documentary Feature
in 2007.
NOTICE the general ideas of ANNOTATE by marking
the text. What is it about? vocabulary and key passages
Tool Kit Who is involved? you want to revisit.
First-Read Guide and
Model Annotation

CONNECT ideas within RESPOND by completing

 STANDARDS the selection to what you the Comprehension Check and
Reading Informational Text already know and what you by writing a brief summary of
By the end of the year, read and
have already read. the selection.
comprehend literary nonfiction in
the grades 6–8 text complexity band
proficiently, with scaffolding as
needed at the high end of the range.

372 UNIT 4 • PEOPLE AND THE PLANET

 ANCHOR TEXT | SPEECH

Nobel Speech Al Gore

BACKGROUND
The Nobel Peace Prize is a prestigious award granted to those who
have done outstanding work to promote peace in the world. The Nobel
Prize was established by Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist and engineer
known for inventing dynamite. The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was
awarded to Al Gore for his efforts to educate people about the threats
posed by man-made climate change and to urge people to act against
the effects of climate change.

Nobel Lecture, Oslo, December 10, 2007

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Y our Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Honorable members

of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Excellencies, Ladies and
gentlemen.
NOTES

2 I have a purpose here today. It is a purpose I have tried to serve

for many years. I have prayed that God would show me a way to
accomplish it.
3 Sometimes, without warning, the future knocks on our
door with a precious and painful vision of what might be. One
hundred and nineteen years ago, a wealthy inventor read his own
obituary, mistakenly published years before his death. Wrongly
believing the inventor had just died, a newspaper printed a harsh
judgment of his life’s work, unfairly labeling him “The Merchant
of Death” because of his invention—dynamite. Shaken by this

Nobel Speech 373

 condemnation, the inventor made a fateful choice to serve the
NOTES cause of peace.
4 Seven years later, Alfred Nobel created this prize and the others
that bear his name.
5 Seven years ago tomorrow, I read my own political obituary1
CLOSE READ in a judgment that seemed to me harsh and mistaken—if not
ANNOTATE: Mark words premature. But that unwelcome verdict also brought a precious if
in the quotation in
painful gift: an opportunity to search for fresh new ways to serve
paragraph 7 that show the
two different futures to my purpose.
which Gore refers. 6 Unexpectedly, that quest has brought me here. Even though
I fear my words cannot match this moment, I pray what I am
QUESTION: Why might
Gore have chosen this
feeling in my heart will be communicated clearly enough that
quotation to show the those who hear me will say, “We must act.”
two different futures 7 The distinguished scientists with whom it is the greatest
facing society? honor of my life to share this award have laid before us a choice
CONCLUDE: What effect between two different futures—a choice that to my ears echoes the
does the inclusion of words of an ancient prophet: “Life or death, blessings or curses.
this quotation have on Therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.”
readers? 8 We, the human species, are confronting a planetary
emergency—a threat to the survival of our civilization that is
gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather
here. But there is hopeful news as well: we have the ability to
crisis (KRY sihs) n. time when solve this crisis and avoid the worst—though not all—of its
a situation is very bad or consequences, if we act boldly, decisively and quickly.
dangerous; turning point
9 However, despite a growing number of honorable exceptions,
at which a change must be
made for better or worse too many of the world’s leaders are still best described in the
words Winston Churchill applied to those who ignored Adolf
Hitler’s threat:2 “They go on in strange paradox, decided only to
be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for
fluidity, all powerful to be impotent.”
10 So today, we dumped another 70 million tons of
pollution (puh LOO shuhn) n. global‑warming pollution into the thin shell of atmosphere

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presence or introduction surrounding our planet, as if it were an open sewer. And
into a space of a substance
or thing that has harmful or
tomorrow, we will dump a slightly larger amount, with the
poisonous effects cumulative concentrations now trapping more and more heat
from the sun.
11 As a result, the earth has a fever. And the fever is rising. The
experts have told us it is not a passing affliction that will heal by
itself. We asked for a second opinion. And a third. And a fourth.
And the consistent conclusion, restated with increasing alarm, is
that something basic is wrong.
12 We are what is wrong, and we must make it right.

1. Seven years ago tomorrow . . . obituary Gore is referring to the highly contested 2000
presidential election, which he lost to George W. Bush.
2. Winston Churchill . . . threat Churchill, a British statesman at the time, gave a speech
to the House of Commons in 1937 to criticize their failure to respond to the threat of Nazi
Germany.

374 UNIT 4 • PEOPLE AND THE PLANET

 13 Last September 21, as the Northern Hemisphere tilted away
from the sun, scientists reported with unprecedented distress NOTES

that the North Polar ice cap is “falling off a cliff.” One study
estimated that it could be completely gone during summer in less
than 22 years. Another new study, to be presented by U.S. Navy
researchers later this week, warns it could happen in as little as
7 years.
14 Seven years from now.
15 In the last few months, it has been harder and harder to CLOSE READ
misinterpret the signs that our world is spinning out of kilter.3 ANNOTATE: Mark
Major cities in North and South America, Asia and Australia geographic locations in
paragraph 15.
are nearly out of water due to massive droughts and melting
glaciers. Desperate farmers are losing their livelihoods. Peoples QUESTION: Why do you
in the frozen Arctic and on low-lying Pacific islands are planning think Gore chooses to
include these details?
evacuations of places they have long called home. Unprecedented
wildfires have forced a half million people from their homes in CONCLUDE: What effect
one country and caused a national emergency that almost brought does the inclusion of these
down the government in another. Climate refugees have migrated locations have on Gore’s
argument?
into areas already inhabited by people with different cultures,
religions, and traditions, increasing the potential for conflict.
Stronger storms in the Pacific and Atlantic have threatened whole
cities. Millions have been displaced by massive flooding in South
Asia, Mexico, and 18 countries in Africa. As temperature extremes
have increased, tens of thousands have lost their lives. We are
recklessly burning and clearing our forests and driving more and
more species into extinction. The very web of life on which we
depend is being ripped and frayed.
16 We never intended to cause all this destruction, just as Alfred
Nobel never intended that dynamite be used for waging war. He
had hoped his invention would promote human progress. We
shared that same worthy goal when we began burning massive
quantities of coal, then oil and methane.
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17 Even in Nobel’s time, there were a few warnings of the

likely consequences. One of the very first winners of the Prize
in chemistry worried that, “We are evaporating our coal mines
into the air.” After performing 10,000 equations by hand, Svante
Arrhenius calculated that the earth’s average temperature would
increase by many degrees if we doubled the amount of CO24 in the
atmosphere.
18 Seventy years later, my teacher, Roger Revelle, and his
colleague, Dave Keeling, began to precisely document the
increasing CO2 levels day by day.

3. out of kilter off balance; not functioning right.

4. CO2 carbon dioxide, a naturally occurring gas that is also created through human activities
such as burning oil and coal; it is considered a major cause of man-made climate change.

Nobel Speech 375

 19 But unlike most other forms of pollution CO2 is invisible,
NOTES tasteless, and odorless—which has helped keep the truth
about what it is doing to our climate out of sight and out
of mind. Moreover, the catastrophe now threatening us is
unprecedented—and we often confuse the unprecedented with
the improbable.
20 We also find it hard to imagine making the massive changes
that are now necessary to solve the crisis. And when large truths
are genuinely inconvenient, whole societies can, at least for a
time, ignore them. Yet as George Orwell reminds us: “Sooner or
later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a
battlefield.”
21 In the years since this prize was first awarded, the entire
relationship between humankind and the earth has been radically
transformed. And still, we have remained largely oblivious to the
impact of our cumulative actions.
22 Indeed, without realizing it, we have begun to wage war
on the earth itself. Now, we and the earth’s climate are locked
in a relationship familiar to war planners: “Mutually assured
destruction.”
23 More than two decades ago, scientists calculated that nuclear
war could throw so much debris and smoke into the air that it
would block life-giving sunlight from our atmosphere, causing
a “nuclear winter.” Their eloquent warnings here in Oslo helped
galvanize the world’s resolve to halt the nuclear arms race.
24 Now science is warning us that if we do not quickly reduce the
global warming pollution that is trapping so much of the heat our
planet normally radiates back out of the atmosphere, we are in
danger of creating a permanent “carbon summer.”5
25 As the American poet Robert Frost wrote, “Some say the world
will end in fire; some say in ice.” Either, he notes, “would suffice.”
26 But neither need be our fate. It is time to make peace with the

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planet.
urgency (UR juhn see) n. state 27 We must quickly mobilize our civilization with the urgency
of being very important and resolve that has previously been seen only when nations
and needing to be dealt
with right away
mobilized for war. These prior struggles for survival were won
when leaders found words at the eleventh hour6 that released
a mighty surge of courage, hope and readiness to sacrifice for a
protracted and mortal challenge.
28 These were not comforting and misleading assurances that the
threat was not real or imminent; that it would affect others but not
ourselves; that ordinary life might be lived even in the presence of
extraordinary threat; that Providence7 could be trusted to do for us
what we would not do for ourselves.

5. “carbon summer” a permanent summer caused by too much heat in the atmosphere.
6. eleventh hour latest possible moment before it is too late to make a change.
7. Providence (PROV uh duhns) n. protective care of nature or God.

376 UNIT 4 • PEOPLE AND THE PLANET

 29 No, these were calls to come to the defense of the common
future. They were calls upon the courage, generosity and strength NOTES

of entire peoples, citizens of every class and condition who were

ready to stand against the threat once asked to do so. Our enemies
in those times calculated that free people would not rise to the
challenge; they were, of course, catastrophically wrong.
30 Now comes the threat of climate crisis—a threat that is real,
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rising, imminent, and universal. Once again, it is the 11th hour. universal (yoo nuh VUR suhl)
The penalties for ignoring this challenge are immense and adj. involving everyone in
the world or in a particular
growing, and at some near point would be unsustainable and
group; true or appropriate
unrecoverable. For now we still have the power to choose our in every situation
fate, and the remaining question is only this: Have we the will
to act vigorously and in time, or will we remain imprisoned by a
dangerous illusion? illusion (ih LOO zhuhn) n.
31 Mahatma Gandhi8 awakened the largest democracy on earth something that appears
real but actually is not
and forged a shared resolve with what he called “Satyagraha”—or
“truth force.”
32 In every land, the truth—once known—has the power to set
us free.

8. Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian activist known for leading the movement against
British rule of India and for his doctrine of nonviolent protest.

Nobel Speech 377

 33 Truth also has the power to unite us and bridge the distance
NOTES between “me” and “we,” creating the basis for common effort and
shared responsibility.
34 There is an African proverb that says, “If you want to go
quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” We need to
go far, quickly.
35 We must abandon the conceit that individual, isolated, private
actions are the answer. They can and do help. But they will
not take us far enough without collective action. At the same
time, we must ensure that in mobilizing globally, we do not
invite the establishment of ideological conformity and a new
lock-step “ism.”
36 That means adopting principles, values, laws, and treaties
that release creativity and initiative9 at every level of society in
multifold responses originating concurrently and spontaneously.
37 This new consciousness requires expanding the possibilities
inherent in all humanity. The innovators who will devise a
new way to harness the sun’s energy for pennies or invent an
engine that’s carbon negative may live in Lagos or Mumbai or
Montevideo. We must ensure that entrepreneurs and inventors
everywhere on the globe have the chance to change the world.
CLOSE READ 38 When we unite for a moral purpose that is manifestly good
ANNOTATE: In paragraph and true, the spiritual energy unleashed can transform us. The
38, mark the example generation that defeated fascism throughout the world in the
Gore uses to support
1940s found, in rising to meet their awesome challenge, that they
his claim.
had gained the moral authority and long-term vision to launch
QUESTION: Why do the Marshall Plan,10 the United Nations, and a new level of global
you think Gore chooses
cooperation and foresight that unified Europe and facilitated
to include this specific
example?
the emergence of democracy and prosperity in Germany, Japan,
Italy and much of the world. One of their visionary leaders11 said,
CONCLUDE: How does
“It is time we steered by the stars and not by the lights of every
this example help to
passing ship.”
persuade readers?
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39 In the last year of that war, you gave the Peace Prize to a man
from my hometown of 2,000 people, Carthage, Tennessee. Cordell
Hull was described by Franklin Roosevelt as the “Father of the
United Nations.” He was an inspiration and hero to my own
father, who followed Hull in the Congress and the U.S. Senate and
in his commitment to world peace and global cooperation.
40 My parents spoke often of Hull, always in tones of reverence
and admiration. Eight weeks ago, when you announced this prize,
the deepest emotion I felt was when I saw the headline in my
hometown paper that simply noted I had won the same prize that

9. initiative (ih NIHSH uh tihv) n. ability to act or take the first step without being urged.
10. Marshall Plan United States–financed plan to rebuild Europe after World War II.
11. One . . . leaders Omar Bradley (1893–1981), a notable field commander in the
United States Army.

378 UNIT 4 • PEOPLE AND THE PLANET

 Cordell Hull had won. In that moment, I knew what my father
and mother would have felt were they alive. NOTES

41 Just as Hull’s generation found moral authority in rising to

solve the world crisis caused by fascism, so too can we find our
greatest opportunity in rising to solve the climate crisis. In the
Kanji characters used in both Chinese and Japanese, “crisis” is
written with two symbols, the first meaning “danger,” the second
“opportunity.” By facing and removing the danger of the climate
crisis, we have the opportunity to gain the moral authority and
vision to vastly increase our own capacity to solve other crises that
have been too long ignored.
42 We must understand the connections between the climate
crisis and the afflictions of poverty, hunger, HIV-AIDS and other
pandemics. As these problems are linked, so too must be their
solutions. We must begin by making the common rescue of the
global environment the central organizing principle of the world environment (ehn VY uhrn
community. muhnt) n. land, air, and
water in which people,
43 Fifteen years ago, I made that case at the “Earth Summit” in
animals, and plants live,
Rio de Janeiro. Ten years ago, I presented it in Kyoto. This week, I and all the natural features
will urge the delegates in Bali to adopt a bold mandate for a treaty of these places
that establishes a universal global cap on emissions and uses the
market in emissions trading12 to efficiently allocate resources to
the most effective opportunities for speedy reductions.
44 This treaty should be ratified and brought into effect
everywhere in the world by the beginning of 2010—two years
sooner than presently contemplated. The pace of our response
must be accelerated to match the accelerating pace of the
crisis itself.
45 Heads of state should meet early next year to review what
was accomplished in Bali and take personal responsibility for
addressing this crisis. It is not unreasonable to ask, given the
gravity of our circumstances, that these heads of state meet every
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three months until the treaty is completed.

46 We also need a moratorium13 on the construction of any new
generating facility that burns coal without the capacity to safely
trap and store carbon dioxide.
47 And most important of all, we need to put a price on
carbon—with a CO2 tax that is then rebated back to the people,
progressively, according to the laws of each nation, in ways that
shift the burden of taxation from employment to pollution. This is
by far the most effective and simplest way to accelerate solutions
to this crisis.

12. universal global cap on emissions . . . market in emissions trading type of law that
uses the market to limit how much pollution factories can emit.
13. moratorium (mawr uh TAWR ee uhm) n. law to stop or delay something.

Nobel Speech 379

 48 The world needs an alliance—especially of those nations that
NOTES weigh heaviest in the scales where earth is in the balance. I salute
Europe and Japan for the steps they’ve taken in recent years to
meet the challenge, and the new government in Australia, which
has made solving the climate crisis its first priority.
49 But the outcome will be decisively influenced by two nations
that are now failing to do enough: the United States and China.
While India is also growing fast in importance, it should be
absolutely clear that it is the two largest CO2 emitters—most of all,
my own country—that will need to make the boldest moves, or
stand accountable before history for their failure to act.
50 Both countries should stop using the other’s behavior as an
excuse for stalemate and instead develop an agenda for mutual
survival in a shared global environment.
51 These are the last few years of decision, but they can be the
first years of a bright and hopeful future if we do what we must.
No one should believe a solution will be found without effort,
without cost, without change. Let us acknowledge that if we wish
to redeem squandered time and speak again with moral authority,
then these are the hard truths:
52 The way ahead is difficult. The outer boundary of what we
currently believe is feasible is still far short of what we actually
must do. Moreover, between here and there, across the unknown,
falls the shadow.
53 That is just another way of saying that we have to expand the
boundaries of what is possible. In the words of the Spanish poet,
Antonio Machado, “Pathwalker, there is no path. You must make
the path as you walk.”
54 We are standing at the most fateful fork in that path. So I want
to end as I began, with a vision of two futures—each a palpable
possibility—and with a prayer that we will see with vivid clarity
the necessity of choosing between those two futures, and the

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urgency of making the right choice now.
55 The great Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen, wrote, “One
of these days, the younger generation will come knocking at my
door.”
56 The future is knocking at our door right now. Make no mistake,
the next generation will ask us one of two questions. Either they
will ask: “What were you thinking; why didn’t you act?”
57 Or they will ask instead: “How did you find the moral courage
to rise and successfully resolve a crisis that so many said was
impossible to solve?” We have everything we need to get started,
save perhaps political will, but political will is a renewable
resource.
58 So let us renew it, and say together: “We have a purpose. We are
many. For this purpose we will rise, and we will act.” ❧

380 UNIT 4 • PEOPLE AND THE PLANET

 Comprehension Check
Complete the following items after you finish your first read.

1. Why has Al Gore been asked to give this speech?

2. What is the planetary emergency about which Gore is so concerned?

3. According to Gore, how much global-warming pollution was added to the

atmosphere on the day he gave the speech?

4. Which American poet does Gore quote in his speech?

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5. Notebook Write a brief summary of paragraphs 7–21 of the speech.

RESEARCH
Research to Clarify Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the text. Briefly research
that detail. For example, you might want to find out more about Alfred Nobel, the United
Nations, or “Earth Summit.” In what way does the information you learned shed light on
an aspect of the speech?

Nobel Speech 381

 MAKING MEANING

Close Read the Text

1. This model, from paragraph 11 of the text, shows two sample
annotations, along with questions and conclusions. Close read the
passage and find another detail to annotate. Then, write a question
and your conclusion.
NOBEL SPEECH

ANNOTATE: Gore uses the word

fever twice.
QUESTION: Why does Gore emphasize
this word?
ANNOTATE:
CONCLUDE: Gore is personifying the earth These short bursts
as being vulnerable and feverish—due to of thought are
global warming. interesting.
QUESTION: What
is the purpose
As a result, the earth has a fever. And
behind this
the fever is rising. The experts have passage?
told us it is not a passing affliction
CONCLUDE:
that will heal by itself. We asked for Gore creates
a second opinion. And a third. And a a metaphor of
fourth. And the consistent conclusion, earth as a patient
restated with increasing alarm, is that and scientists
as doctors. The
something basic is wrong. shortness of the
passages creates a
sense of urgency.

Tool Kit 2. For more practice, go back into the text and complete the
Close-Read Guide and close-read notes.
Model Annotation 3. Revisit a section of the text you found important. Read this section
closely and annotate what you notice. Ask questions such as “Why
did the author make this choice?” What can you conclude?
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CITE TEXTUAL EVIDENCE

Analyze the Text to support your answers.

Notebook Respond to these questions.

1. Compare and Contrast How does Gore compare Alfred Nobel’s
intentions and goals with those of modern society?
2. (a) Interpret What does Gore mean by “mutually assured
destruction”?
 STANDARDS (b) Make a Judgment Do you think Gore is correct? Explain.
Reading Informational Text
Trace and evaluate the argument and 3. Essential Question What effects do people have on the
specific claims in a text, assessing environment? What have you learned about the effects people have
whether the reasoning is sound and on the environment by reading this selection?
the evidence is relevant and sufficient
to support the claims.

382 UNIT 4 • PEOPLE AND THE PLANET

 ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What effects do people have on the environment?

Analyze Craft and Structure

Argument: Persuasive Speech A persuasive speech is a work of
nonfiction that presents a series of arguments to convince people to
think or act in a certain way. When you read or listen to a persuasive
speech, be alert to the use of persuasive techniques. Then, decide
whether a particular technique provides reasonable and relevant support
that persuades you to accept or act on the author’s ideas.

• Appeals to authority use the statements of experts and well-known

people.
• Appeals to emotion use words that convey strong feelings.
• Appeals to reason use logical arguments backed by facts.

Most arguments will combine these techniques to appeal to their

audience on many levels. As you read Gore’s speech, analyze his use of
persuasive techniques.

CITE TEXTUAL EVIDENCE

Practice to support your answers.

Notebook Respond to these questions.

1. Review the speech. Then, use the chart to identify at least one example
of each type of persuasive technique.
Persuasive Technique EXAMPLE

2. Analyze the examples of persuasive techniques that you identified in

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the chart. Determine whether each example is relevant and reasonable

support for Gore’s argument.

3. (a) What “massive changes” does Gore say must be made to solve
the climate crisis? (b) Has Gore persuaded you that these changes are
possible? Why or why not?

4. (a) According to Gore, what is “shared responsibility”? (b) Is the

support he provides to highlight this idea persuasive and convincing?
Why or why not?

5. Write a paragraph in which you briefly summarize Gore’s overall

argument, and evaluate whether his reasons, evidence, and appeals
convinced you of his claims.

Nobel Speech 383

 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Concept Vocabulary
crisis urgency illusion
pollution universal environment
NOBEL SPEECH
Why These Words? The concept vocabulary words describe situations
or settings. For example, in paragraph 10 of his speech, Gore states that
“we dumped another 70 million tons of global-warming pollution into
the thin shell of atmosphere surrounding our planet, as if it were an
open sewer.” The word pollution describes a poisonous component of a
setting—Earth’s atmosphere.

1. Select two concept vocabulary words other than pollution. Explain

how each word describes a setting or a situation.

2. What other words in the selection might describe a setting or

a situation?

Practice
Notebook Confirm your understanding of the concept vocabulary
 WORD NETWORK
words by using them to complete the sentences.
Add interesting words
related to people and the 1. Environmental groups work to educate the public and eliminate the
planet from the text to your ___________ that the earth is perfectly healthy.
Word Network
2. Despite scientific evidence, many world leaders have yet to consider
the health of the environment a ___________.
3. Water shortages are common across the world, making the
problem ___________.
4. Leaders such as Gore work with a variety of organizations to create a
sense of ___________ about environmental issues.
5. Increased instances of wildfires show how the ___________ is changing.

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6. ___________ can affect all parts of our environment, from the water
we drink to the air we breathe.
 STANDARDS
Language
• Demonstrate command of the Word Study
conventions of standard English
grammar and usage when writing or Latin Prefix: uni- The Latin prefix uni- means “one.” In his speech,
speaking. Gore defines the climate crisis as universal because it affects everyone in
a. Explain the function of phrases
and clauses in general and their
the world similarly, as if all people were one entity.
function in specific sentences.
• Determine or clarify the meaning
1. Write your own sentence that correctly uses the word universal.
of unknown and multiple-meaning
words and phrases based on grade 7
reading and content, choosing 2. Using a dictionary, find three other words with the prefix uni-. Record
flexibly from a range of strategies. a definition for each word and write a sentence using it.
b. Use common, grade-appropriate
Greek or Latin affixes and roots as
clues to the meaning of a word.

384 UNIT 4 • PEOPLE AND THE PLANET

 ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What effects do people have on the environment?

Conventions
Infinitive Phrases and Gerund Phrases Writers and speakers, such as
CLARIFICATION
Al Gore, use various types of phrases to add detail to sentences and to
clarify the relationships among ideas. Two types of phrases are infinitive In each example, the
infinitive or gerund is
phrases and gerund phrases. An infinitive is a verb form that acts as a
underlined, and the
noun, an adjective, or an adverb. An infinitive usually begins with the
infinitive phrase or gerund
word to. An infinitive phrase is an infinitive plus its own modifiers, phrase is italicized. Refer
objects, or complements. to the Grammar Handbook
to learn more about these
• Noun (functioning as a subject): To speak Spanish fluently is my goal.
terms.
• Noun (functioning as an object): I want to learn other languages.
• Adjective (modifying one): She is the one to see immediately,
• Adverb (modifying waited): Everyone waited to hear the news.

A gerund is a verb form that ends in -ing and acts as a noun. It can
function as a subject, an object, a predicate noun, or the object of
a preposition. A gerund phrase is a gerund plus its own modifiers,
objects, or complements.

• Subject: Remodeling the building was a good idea.

• Direct Object: Mischa enjoys painting with watercolors.
• Predicate Noun: Her favorite sport is cross-country skiing.
• Object of a Preposition: Nina never tires of singing holiday songs.

Read It
1. Reread these sentences from the selection. Mark each infinitive or
infinitive phrase and each gerund or gerund phrase. Identify the
function each performs in the sentence.
a. It is a purpose I have tried to serve for many years.

b. This new consciousness requires expanding the possibilities inherent

in all humanity.
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c. It is time to make peace with the planet.

d. Indeed, without realizing it, we have begun to wage war on the

earth itself.

Write It
Notebook Write an example of each sentence named below.
1. A sentence that uses an infinitive as a noun
2. A sentence that uses a gerund as a subject
3. A sentence that uses an infinitive as an adverb
4. A sentence that uses a gerund as an object

Nobel Speech 385