VERBALS

A prepositional phrase includes a preposition, a noun or pronoun called the object of the preposition, and any modifiers of that object.  A PREPOSITION is a word that shows the relationship between two things.

A prepositional phrase that modifies a noun or pronoun is called an adjective phrase.

AN ADJECTIVE PHRASE TELLS WHAT KIND OR WHICH ONE

A prepositional phrase that modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb is called an adverb phrase.

**An adverb phrase tells

 how, when, where, why, or to what extent**

Verbals are a verb form that does not function as a verb, but as a noun, adjective, and adverb.  There are three kinds of verbals:

• Participles (and participial phrases)

• Gerunds (and gerund phrases)

• Infinitives (and infinitive phrases)

• Participles a verb form that acts as an adjective.  There are two main forms:

  • Present participle  -- ends in -ing

  • Past participle -- ends in -ed

  • Irregular past tense verb forms are also verbals!

A GERUND is a verb form that ends in -ing and is used as a noun.

As a noun, it has five functions:

• Subject

• Direct object

• Object of the preposition

• Predicate nominative (noun)

• Indirect object

  An infinitive is a verbal consisting of the word “TO” plus a verb (in its simplest “stem” form).  A verbal infinitive functions as:

  • An adjective

  • A noun

  • An adverb