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Grammar Bite: 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!!!