I forgot how to label "no way" since it's been five years I last learned this stuff.
Anyways, "ask" is a verb. "Gerald" is a proper noun. The word "to" is a preposition and begins a propositional phase.
Everytime a preposition is used, it has to end with an object of the preposition. In laymen terms, everytime a preposition is used, it will always modify something in the sentence.
The word "to" modifies "go". What does Gerald want to accomplish? He want TO do something. What does he want to do? He wants to go somewhere.
So, "to" is the object of the preposition or what the preposition is modifying. Hopefully, that helps. Good luck!
Explanation: smattering means a little bit of something. lily was surprised that only a (smattering) of branches had fallen out of the tree into the yard after the power thunderstorms the night before.
