Verbals

Participles, Gerunds, and Infinitives

Verbals: What are they?

• A verbal is a word that is formed from a verb but acts as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.

• Verbals may be used alone in a sentence:

• Eating is essential to life.

• Verbals may be used as part of a verbal phrase:

• Eating healthy foods may extend your life.

Verb

I’m having an identity crisis.

Present Participles

Present participles are formed by adding –ing to the plain form of the verb. Examples: The grinning cat perched in the tree. Stretching along the branch, it proceeded to take a nap.

Past Participles

Past participles are formed by adding –ed, to the plain form of the verb. Others may be formed as irregular verbs. My dachshund had a bewildered look on her face. Soaked to the bone, she ran from the sprinkler system.

Examples: The developing storm kept small boats in port. Pleased with her acheivements, the student smiled broadly.

Gerunds

A gerund is a verb form used as a noun.

The gerund is formed by adding –ing to

the present tense of the verb:

Jog jogging

Jogging is good exercise.

Jogging at night can be dangerous.

Gerunds can be used as:

A subject:

Jogging is a popular form of exercise.

A predicate nominative:

One popular form of exercise is jogging.

A direct object:

My sister enjoys jogging. Enjoys what? jogging

An object of the preposition:

These shoes are made for jogging.

*Don’t confuse gerunds with present participles: A participle is a verb

form that acts like an adjective.

participle jogging shoes

Infinitive: An infinitive is a verb that

usually begins with the word to and acts

as a noun, and adjective, or an adverb.

to run

to see

to hear

Infinitives can be used as:

• A noun: To win the race was Joe’s only desire.

• An adjective: Lou’s attempt to answer all of the questions was successful. (What kind of attempt?)

• An adverb: To escape poverty, Tom studied hard. (Studied why?)

WARNING: The word “to” is a

preposition when it is followed by a

noun or pronoun that is its object.

I need a ride to the game. We went to Jeff’s party.

Prepositions

To check whether the phrase is an infinitive or

a preposition, look at what follows to.

to + verb = infinitive (to eat)

to + noun/pronoun = preposition (to the store)

Now let’s practice!

• Identify the type of verbal or verbal phrase underlined in the sentences below.

• 1. Swinging the bat with all his might, Will connected for a homerun.

• 2. Susan enjoyed walking along the beach in the moonlight.

• 3. We need to begin our CRCT review.

Check your answers.

• Identify the type of verbal or verbal phrase underlined in the sentences below.

• 1. Swinging the bat with all his might, Will connected for a homerun. (Participial Phrase)

• 2. Susan enjoyed walking along the beach in the moonlight. (Gerund Phrase)

• 3. We need to begin our CRCT review. (Infinitive Phrase)