Question

what does y=2 sin (x-pi/ .5) -1 look like on a graph with the 3 phases of the function?

Answer 1

You might want to do this with coloured pencils

start with
y = sinx

now change the amplitude to 2, stretch y = sinx to have
y = 2 sinx

look at the (x - π/.5) or (x - 2π)
that means the whole graph will be moved 2π units to the right.
Strange, since that would transform the graph on itself, and you would not see any change.
Are you sure there is no typo here ?

Anyway, the last step would be to move the entire graph one unit down.