Verbs and Verbal Phrases

• Verbal – Verb that acts as another part of speech such as adjectives, adverbs, or nouns
• Verbal Phrases-It consists of verbal and modifiers.

Types of Verbal Phrases

• Infinitive
• Gerund
• Participial

1. Infinitive – Verbal that consists of the word ‘to’ plus verb (base form). (Example-to eat, to travel, to finish, to read)

Infinitive Phrase – It consists of an infinitive and a modifier. An infinitive phrase can act as an adjective, adverb, or noun.

• When an infinitive phrase acts as a noun, it functions as the subject or direct object in a sentence.
• When an infinitive phrase acts as an adjective, it modifies the noun in a sentence.
• When an infinitive phrase acts as an adverb, it modifies the verb in a sentence.

Examples:

• Traveling across Paris is my New Year’s plan. (Subject – Noun)
• She is planting a vegetable garden to eat organic food. (Adverb)
• Sam failed to finish the race. (Direct object -Noun)
• Josh wants the coach to help him become stronger. (Adjective)

2. Gerund – Verbal that functions as a noun and ends with ‘–ing’

Examples:  writing, speaking, baking, dancing

• A Gerund phrase can be used as the subject of the sentence

Example – Writing stories is my favorite hobby.

• A Gerund phrase can be used as the direct object of the sentence

Example – Infants love playing with musical toys.

• A Gerund phrase can be used as the object of a preposition

Example – Michael talks about making a baseball team.

• Gerund can be used as a subject complement- A linking verb followed by a word that completes/complements the subject

Example – Sharon’s favorite activity is dancing with an umbrella.

3. Participle – Verbal that functions as an adjective.

Two kinds of participles – Present Participle (ending with ‘–ing’) and Past Participle (ending with ‘-ed’, ‘-en’, ‘-d’, ‘-t’, or ‘-n’).

Participial Phrase – Participle combined with modifiers. A participial phrase acts as an adjective to modify a noun/pronoun in a sentence.

Examples:

• Running at high speed, Tom bumped into a biker.
• Smiling with confidence, Susie walked down the aisle.
• I opened the envelope shaking with fear.
• Cops tried to navigate the street jammed with the crowd.