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Phrases…. Part II: Verbals
Verbal Phrases
Verbals are words that are traditionally
VERBS but are acting as another part of
speech.
Hint: For participle and gerund phrases,
look to see whether the participle form of
the verb comes after a helping verb. If
there is no helping verb, you know it is a
verbal (or poor grammar). Your next task is
to figure out whether the phrase is acting
as a noun or adjective…
Participles – What are they?
Basically, a participle is a form of a verb
that acts as an adjective.
– Present Participles are formed by adding –
ing to a verb
– Past Participles are (USUALLY) formed by
adding –ed to a verb
Participles are SNEAKY… these words look
just like verbs! See the examples on the next
page…
Participles – Examples
– Present Participle as a verb: I am wearing
glasses.
– Present Participle Phrase: Wearing glasses,
she looked years older.
– Past Participle as a verb: I was dressed in my
finest outfit for the awards dinner.
– Past Participle Phrase: Dressed in high heels
and a long, black dress, Edna looked her best
for the awards ceremony.
Participle Phrases
A participle phrase consists of a participle
and the other words that complete its
meaning.
– Wearing a sheet with eyeholes, Troy went
trick-or-treating.
– My neighbor owns a stray cat covered with
fleas.
Remember: A participle phrase looks like a
verb ending in –ing or –ed, but it lacks a
helping verb and acts as an adjective!!!
Gerunds
A Gerund is a verb acting like another part
of speech.
A Gerund is a present participle form of a
verb acting as a noun.
– Present Participle verb: I am drooling.
– Gerund: Drooling is very rude. (Drooling
becomes the noun and the subject of the
sentence.)
Gerunds can be subjects, direct objects, or
objects of the preposition (all nouns!!!)
Gerund Phrases
A Gerund Phrase is made up of a gerund
and all the other words that complete its
meaning.
– Gerund: Walking is good for the health.
– Gerund Phrase: Walking across a busy
freeway is very dangerous.
Gerund Phrase Possibilities
Remember, a gerund (or gerund phrase),
can act as a subject, direct object,
predicate noun (a.k.a. predicate
nominative), or object of the preposition.
– Exercising daily builds strength. (subject)
– My favorite activity is exercising. (predicate
noun predicate nominative)
– Some people enjoy exercising daily. (direct
object)
– What are the benefits of exercising daily?
(object of the preposition)
Infinitives
An infinitive consists of the word to followed by a
verb:
–
–
–
–
to run
To jump
To giggle
To scare
HOWEVER: it is easy to confuse a prepositional
phrase beginning with to with an infinitive!
The difference? A prepositional phrase includes
a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun,
whereas an infinitive is only the preposition to
followed by a verb!!!
Infinitives – If they aren’t verbs…
What are they? Infinitives function as
nouns, adjectives, and adverbs in a
sentence.
– Adjective: Molly made the decision to sleep.
– Adverb: Bears are happy to sleep. (modifying
the adjective “happy”)
– Adverb: Patsy politely left the party to sleep.
(modifying the adverb “left”)
– (continued…)
(continued…)
– Noun (subject): To belch is rude.
– Noun (direct object): Truman tried to belch.
(to belch is the object of the verb “trying”)
– Noun (predicate noun/ predicate nominative):
Laura’s favorite activity is to belch. (to belch
is referring back to the activity)
Infinitive Phrases
An infinitive phrase, then, consists of the
word to plus a verb (a.k.a. the infinitive)
and the other words that complete its
meaning.
An infinitive may be modified by either a
single adverb or a prepositional phrase,
and it may have its own direct object.
Infinitive Phrases with Adverbs,
Prepositional Phrases, and Direct
Objects
– To write well was Alice’s ambition. (well is an
adverb describing the writing)
– Alice’s ambition was to write for fame and
glory. (for fame and glory is a prepositional
phrase)
– Alice wanted to write a great novel. (a great
novel is the direct object of the direct object to
write – it receives the writing. The writing,
however, is the D.O. to “wanted”)
Are you confused yet? I hope not!!!