VERBALS

• A verb is a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forms the main part of the predicate of a sentence
• A verbal is a word, or words functioning as a verb
• Examples of verbs and verbals


  • She slept in.
  • Jogging three miles every day is good for you.
• Verbals


  Verb forms used as one of the following: Gerund, Participle, Infinitive
• Types of verbals


  • Gerund
  • Participle
  • Infinitive
• Examples of verbals


  • She is running to catch the bus. (VERB)
  • Running is her favorite summertime activity. (GERUND)
  • He is always forgetting to set his alarm clock. (VERB)
  • Forgetting to bring in your homework is a major problem in Upper School. (GERUND)
  • George is flying to London tomorrow. (VERB)
  • Flying across the ice, George stunned his teammates and scored a goal at the end of the period. (PARTICIPLE)
  • David wanted to be the lead singer of the band. (INFINITIVE)
• Examples of verbals


  • Our helpers waxed the floors. (VERB)
  • The waxed floors were slippery and dangerous. (PARTICIPLES)
  • Water was flowing over the rocks in the stream. (VERB)
  • Flowing water carries a great deal of potential energy. (GERUND)
• Gerund


  Verbs that function as nouns, formed by adding -ing
• Ways in which gerunds function


  • Subject
  • Direct object
  • Indirect object
  • Subject complement
  • Object of the preposition
  • Appositive
• Examples of gerunds functioning as nouns

  • Dancing is a good form of exercise.
  • Swimming makes the lungs stronger.
  • Many young people nowadays love filming.
  • Mark takes acting seriously.
  • Mary gave driving her best effort.
  • Missy made studying her priority.
  • His favorite pastime is reading.
  • The most tiring activities for today were jumping and crawling.
  • Micah finds pleasure in hiking.
  • He lost weight by running.
  • Her hobby, baking, became her main source of income.
  • The most extreme sport, skydiving, is a priceless experience I will never regret doing.
• Participle


  A verbal ending in -ing (present tense) or -ed, -en, -d, -t, -n, or -ne (past tense) that functions as an adjective
• There are two major types of participles: present participles and past participles. The perfect participle is a combination of a specific present participle and a past participle
• Types of participles


  • Present participles
  • Past participles
  • Perfect participles
• Past Participles


  Verb form typically formed by adding -ed to the end of the root form of the verb
• Irregular verbs have past participles that don't follow the -ed rule, for example, the past participle of eat is eaten
• Major uses for Past Participles


  • Adjectives
  • Participle phrases
  • Perfect verb tenses
• Perfect verb tenses


  Use the helping verb have and a past participle, perfect continuous tenses also use the past participle of the verb be (been)
• Past Participle Examples


  • Regular verbs: acted, borrowed, hopped, mumbled, paused, studied, wandered
  • Irregular verbs: caught, done, gotten, had, ridden, seen, understood, worn
• Present Participles


  Verb form formed by adding -ing to the root form of the verb
• Present Participle Uses


  • Adjectives
  • Participle phrases
  • Continuous verb tenses
• Participle phrases


  Present participles can be used in participle phrases
• Participle phrase example


  • Thinking quickly, Heather threw a pillow under the vase before it hit the ground
• Continuous verb tenses


  Present participles are used to form six different verb tenses
• Continuous verb tenses


  • Present continuous: We are eating lunch
  • Past continuous: We were eating lunch
  • Future continuous: We will be eating lunch for a little while yet
  • Present perfect continuous: We have been eating lunch for only a few minutes
  • Past perfect continuous: We had been eating lunch when the whistle blew
  • Future perfect continuous: We will have been eating lunch for only 10 minutes by the time the boss tells us to pack it up
• Present Participle


  • arriving, biting, carrying, doing, entertaining, flying, guessing, hoping, inching, jutting, kissing, learning, mixing, napping, opening, putting, quieting, running, seeing, talking, uncovering, visiting, waiting, xeroxing, yelling, zipping
• Perfect participles are used to indicate that one event happened before another
• Perfect Participle


  • having studied, having known, having finished, having run
• Infinitives are verb forms that play the role of a different part of speech in a sentence
• Infinitives do not convey a sense of tense on their own and must include at least one finite main verb in the sentence
• Infinitives are formed by placing "to" in front of the base form of a verb and can be negated by placing "not" in front of them
• The infinitive can act as a noun, appearing as the subject or direct object of a sentence, or as a subject complement following a linking verb
• Infinitives can also act as adjectives, placed after any noun in a sentence
• Direct object


  • He wanted to cry
• Subject complement


  • Our aim is to improve
• Infinitive as an Adjective

  Infinitives can be placed after any noun in a sentence, acting as an adjective
• Describing a Subject


  • The best person to consult is your counselor
• Describing an Object


  • The teacher assigned several exercises to complete
• Infinitive as an Adverb


  Infinitives can be adverbial, modifying any verb in a sentence to explain why the action is necessary
• Before Main Clause


  • To do well in college, one must study diligently
• After Main Clause


  • We tell stories to teach lessons