VERBALS WHEN VERBS ACT LIKE OTHER PARTS OF

VERBALS WHEN VERBS ACT LIKE OTHER PARTS OF SPEECH

WHAT IF VERBS WANT TO BE NOUNS? • Verbs sometimes get tired of being verbs; so, in some sentences the can act like nouns. When this happens, they are not called nouns, they are called GERUNDS and they have an “—ing” at the end of them • Swimming • Thinking • Walking • Cooking

SO HOW ARE GERUNDS CONSIDERED NOUNS? • When the gerund (ing form of a verb) becomes a THING in a sentence, then the verb is acting like a noun. • Ex. • Swimming is my favorite sport. • Cooking relaxes me. • Working can make you tired. • In each of these sentences the gerund, the ing form of the verb, is the subject and is acting like a noun.

WHY USE GERUNDS? • Gerunds---“Writers sometimes want to indicate that a particular action takes on a noun role in a sentence and gerunds represent a way to communicate that information clearly and accurately” (Ruday, 97).

VERBS CAN ACT LIKE ADJECTIVES TOO! • If a verb wants to act like an adjective it needs to become a participle. A participle can have a “—ing” ending or a past tense form of the verb ending in “-en” or “ed”. • If the verb is describing a noun or a pronoun, it becomes like an adjective and we call it a participle. • Ex. • Swimming in the pool, he imagined the gold medal. • Amazed, John stared at his new car.

WHY USE PARTICIPLES? • Participles— “Participles and participle phrases can help add important details to a piece of writing, as they allow writers to include information that helps readers clearly picture a situation” (Ruday, 97).

AND WHAT DO WE DO WITH INFINITIVES? • Infinitives are formed by combining the base form of the verb with the word “to”. • To drive • To run • To think • Infinitives can act like nouns, adjectives, or adverbs!

INFINITIVES AS NOUNS • Infinitives function as nouns when the action being described takes on a noun role in a sentence. • Ex. • Josh wants to fly in a hot air balloon. – To fly is the THING Josh wants

INFINITIVES AS ADJECTIVES • Infinitives function as adjectives when they are used to describe nouns. • Ex. This is the best restaurant to eat pizza. “to eat” pizza is the adjective describing the noun restaurant

INFINITIVES AS ADVERBS • Infinitives are sometimes used to provide additional detail about a previously used verb (making it an adverb because it is describing a verb) • Ex. – Chris exercised to improve his health – “To improve” is describing the verb exercised, so it is an adverb

WHY USE INFINITIVES? • Infinities– “The versatility of infinitives lies in the way they can not only function as nouns, but also adjectives and adverbs, grammatical tools that provide additional detail to a piece of writing” (Ruday, 98).

WHY ARE VEBALS GOOD IN WRITING? • “Verbals are important tools for writing because they allow writers to make their works as clear and accurate as possible” (Ruday, 97).