Verbals / GERUNDS

Verbals 

1.  Gerunds

A verbal is a word formed from a verb but functioning as a different part of speech.

A gerund is a verbal ending in -ing that functions as a noun.

Like an ordinary single-word noun, a gerund may be used as a

   SUBJECT

        

  

    DIRECT OBJECT

        

    RETAINED OBJECT     

                

    SUBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT

        

    OBJECT OF PREPOSITION       

        

   

      APPOSITIVE

       

    DELAYED APPOSITIVE  

        In the example below, the gerund phrase renames the subject, this.

        

NOTE:  Do not confuse gerunds with verbs (predicates) in the progressive tense.

    GERUND   

        

   

    PREDICATE VERB

        

    Even though is cooking and was scratching end in -ing, they are not gerunds because they are used as predicate verbs, not as nouns.

2.  Participles

A verbal is a word formed from a verb but functioning as a different part of speech.

A participle is a verbal that functions as an adjective.

Two kinds of participles:

    A. Present participles, always ending in -ing, are created from the form of a verb used with the verb to be ( am, is, are, was, were, been)  as an auxiliary verb (progressive tense).

Removing the auxiliary verb and using the -ing form of the main verb as an adjective produces a present participle.

    B.  Past participles, usually ending  in -ed  or -en, are created from the form of a verb used with the verb to be as an auxiliary verb (passive voice).

           

Removing the auxiliary verb and using the -en form of the main verb as an adjective produces a past participle.

Past participles may also be part of a participial phrase.

Participles and participial phrases should be placed near the nouns they modify.  They may either precede or follow a noun.

         

3.  Infinitives

A verbal is a word formed from a verb but functioning as a different part of speech.

An infinitive is a verbal formed by placing to in front of the simple present form of a verb.

    Examples:

            to swim            to think           to read          to be            to cut           to turn

 Infinitives may function as adjectives, adverbs, or nouns.

A.  Adjectival infinitives

Just like a single-word adjective, an infinitive used as an adjective always describes a noun.

An adjectival  infinitive always follows the noun it describes.

    EXAMPLE

        

Like gerunds and participles, infinitives may incorporate other words as part of their phrase.

    EXAMPLE

        

B.  Adverbial infinitives

Just like a single-word adverb, an infinitive used as an adverb always describes a verb.

An adverbial infinitive usually occurs at the beginning or at the end of a sentence and does not need to be near the verb it describes.

    EXAMPLE:  Adverbial infinitive at sentence beginning

        

    EXAMPLE:  Adverbial infinitive at sentence end

        

HINT:  You can always identify an adverbial infinitive by inserting the test words in order in front of

             infinitive.  If the words in order make sense, the infinitive is adverbial.  

            

PUNCTUATION  NOTE:

    1.  Use a comma after the adverbial infinitive when it starts a sentence.

    2.  Do not separate the adverbial infinitive from the rest of the sentence if the infinitive ends the

         sentence.

C.  Nominal infinitives

Like a single-word noun, a nominal infinitive may function as a

    SUBJECT

        

   DIRECT OBJECT

           

    RETAINED OBJECT

           

    SUBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT

            

   APPOSITIVE

            

    DELAYED APPOSITIVE

            

QUALIFIERS / INTENSIFIERS

Qualifiers / intensifiers are words like very, too, so, quite, rather.

Qualifiers are function parts of speech.  They do not add inflectional morphemes, and they do not have synonyms.  Their sole purpose is to "qualify" or "intensify" an adjective or an adverb. Qualifiers / intensifiers modify adjectives or adverbs, telling to what degree.

AUXILIARY VERBS

          

Category 1:  be, have, do

                      

These forms of to be, to have, and to do are used before the main verb.

Their purpose is to change time or emphasis.

                   

Unlike other structure words, these auxiliary verbs

1.  can have inflectional endings (-s, -ing, -ed, -en)

2.  can also function as main verbs.

             

         

Category 2: Modal auxiliaries

The list below shows all of the modal auxiliaries:

Present	can	may	will	shall	must
Past	could	might	would	should	-------

                                   

                                         

Unlike the auxiliaries  be, have, and do, modal auxiliaries

1. do not use inflectional endings (-s, -ed, -ing, -en)

2. cannot function as main verbs.

When a verb phrase uses both kinds of auxiliary verbs, the modal auxiliary alwaysprecedes the be, have, or do auxiliary.

VERBS FORM

Base Form	Past Form	Past Participle Form	‘ing’ form
Abide	Abided	Abided/Abidden	Abiding
Arise	Arose	Arisen	Arising
Awake	Awoke	Awoken	Awaking
Be	Was/Were	Been	Being
Bear	Bore	Born/Borne	Bearing
Beat	Beat	Beaten	Beating
Begin	Began	Begun	Beginning
Bid	Bade	Bidden	Bidding
Bite	Bit	Bitten	Biting
Blow	Blew	Blown	Blowing
Break	Broke	Broken	Breaking
Choose	Chose	Chosen	Choosing
Do	Did	Done	Doing
Draw	Drew	Drawn	Drawing
Drink	Drank	Drunk	Drinking
Drive	Drove	Driven	Driving
Eat	Ate	Eaten	Eating
Fall	Fell	Fallen	Falling
Fly	Flew	Flown	Flying
Forbid	Forbade	Forbidden	Forbidding
Foresee	Foresaw	Foreseen	Foreseeing
Forget	Forgot	Forgotten	Forgetting
Forgive	Forgave	Forgiven	Forgiving
Forsake	Forsook	Forsaken	Forsaking
Freeze	Froze	Frozen	Freezing
Give	Gave	Given	Giving
Go	Went	Gone	Going
Grow	Grew	Grown	Growing
Hide	Hid	Hidden	Hiding
Know	Knew	Known	Knowing
Lie	Lay	Lain	Lying
Mistake	Mistook	Mistaken	Mistaking
Mow	Mowed	Mown	Mowing
Overdraw	Overdrew	Overdrawn	Overdrawing
Overtake	Overtook	Overtaken	Overtaking
Re-prove	Re-proved	Re-proven/Re-proved	Re-proving
Ride	Rode	Ridden	Riding
Ring	Rang	Rung	Ringing
Rise	Rose	Risen	Rising
Rive	Rived	Riven/Rived	Riving
Saw	Sawed	Sawn/Sawed	Sawing
See	Saw	Seen	Seeing
Sew	Sewed	Sewn/Sewed	Sewing
Shake	Shook	Shaken	Shaking
Shave	Shaved	Shaven/Shaved	Shaving
Show	Showed	Shown	Showing
Shrink	Shrank	Shrunk	Shrinking
Sing	Sang	Sung	Singing
Sink	Sank	Sunk	Sinking
Slay	Slew	Slain	Slaying
Slide	Slid	Slid/Slidden	Sliding
Sow	Sowed	Sown	Sowing
Speak	Spoke	Spoken	Speaking
Spin	Span/Spun	Spun	Spinning
Spit	Spat/Spit	Spat/Spit	Spitting
Split	Split	Split	Splitting
Spoil	Spoilt/Spoiled	Spoilt/Spoiled	Spoiling
Spread	Spread	Spread	Spreading
Spring	Sprang	Sprung	Springing
Stand	Stood	Stood	Standing
Steal	Stole	Stolen	Stealing
Stride	Strode/Strided	Stridden	Striding
Strike	Struck	Struck/Stricken	Striking
Strive	Strove	Striven	Striving
Swear	Swore	Sworn	Swearing
Swell	Swelled	Swollen	Swelling
Swim	Swam	Swum	Swimming
Take	Took	Taken	Taking
Thrive	Throve/Thrived	Thriven/Thrived	Thriving
Throw	Threw	Thrown	Throwing
Tread	Trod	Trodden	Treading
Undergo	Underwent	Undergone	Undergoing
Undertake	Undertook	Undertaken	Undertaking
Wake	Woke	Woken	Waking
Wear	Wore	Worn	Wearing
Weave	Wove	Woven	Weaving
Withdraw	Withdrew	Withdrawn	Withdrawing
Write	Wrote	Written	Writing

Verbs in which all two forms are identical

Base Form	Past Form	Past Participle Form	‘ing’ form
Alight	Alit/Alighted	Alit/Alighted	Alighting
Bend	Bent	Bent	Bending
Become	Became	Become	Becoming
Behold	Beheld	Beheld	Beholding
Bleed	Bled	Bled	Bleeding
Bring	Brought	Brought	Bringing
Buy	Bought	Bought	Buying
Bind	Bound	Bound	Binding
Broadcast	Broadcast/Broadcasted	Broadcast/Broadcasted	Broadcasting
Burn	Burnt/Burned	Burnt/Burned	Burning
Build	Built	Built	Building
Breed	Bred	Bred	Breeding
Catch	Caught	Caught	Catching
Cost	Cost	Cost	Costing
Clap	Clapped/Clapt	Clapped/Clapt	Clapping
Clothe	Clad/Clothed	Clad/Clothed	Clothing
Come	Came	Come	Coming
Creep	Crept	Crept	Creeping
Dare	Dared	Dared	Daring
Deal	Dealt	Dealt	Dealing
Dig	Dug	Dug	Digging
Dream	Dreamt/Dreamed	Dreamt/Dreamed	Dreaming
Dwell	Dwelt	Dwelt	Dwelling
Feed	Fed	Fed	Feeding
Feel	Felt	Felt	Feeling
Fight	Fought	Fought	Fighting
Find	Found	Found	Finding
Fit	Fit/Fitted	Fit/Fitted	Fitting
Foretell	Foretold	Foretold	Foretelling
Flee	Fled	Fled	Fleeing
Fling	Flung	Flung	Flinging
Forecast	Forecast/Forecasted	Forecast/Forecasted	Forecasting
Get	Got	Got/Gotten	Getting
Grind	Ground	Ground	Grinding
Hang	Hung/Hanged	Hung/Hanged	Hanging
Have	Had	Had	Having
Hear	Heard	Heard	Hearing
Hold	Held	Held	Holding
Inlay	Inlaid	Inlaid	Inlaying
Input	Input/Inputted	Input/Inputted	Inputting
Interlay	Interlaid	Interlaid	Interlaying
Keep	Kept	Kept	Keeping
Kneel	Knelt/Kneeled	Knelt/Kneeled	Kneeling
Knit	Knit/Knitted	Knit/Knitted	Knitting
Lay	Laid	Laid	laying
Lead	Led	Led	Leading
Lean	Leant/Leaned	Leant/Leaned	Leaning
Leap	Leapt/Leaped	Leapt/Leaped	Leaping
Learn	Learnt/Learned	Learnt/Learned	Learning
Leave	Left	Left	Leaving
Lend	Lent	Lent	Lending
Lie	Lied	Lied	lying
Light	Lit	Lit	Lighting
Lose	Lost	Lost	Losing
Make	Made	Made	Making
Mean	Meant	Meant	Meaning
Meet	Met	Met	Meeting
Melt	Melted	Molten/Melted	Melting
Misunderstand	Misunderstood	Misunderstood	Misunderstanding
Miswed	Miswed/Miswedded	Miswed/Miswedded	Miswedding
Mislead	Misled	Misled	Misleading
Overhear	Overheard	Overheard	Overhearing
Pay	Paid	Paid	Paying
Preset	Preset	Preset	Presetting
Prove	Proved	Proven/Proved	Proving
Rid	Rid/Ridded	Rid/Ridded	Ridding
Run	Ran	Run	Running
Say	Said	Said	Saying
Seek	Sought	Sought	Seeking
Sell	Sold	Sold	Selling
Send	Sent	Sent	Sending
Shear	Shore/Sheared	Shorn/Sheared	Shearing
Shine	Shone	Shone	Shining
Shoe	Shod	Shod	Shoeing
Shoot	Shot	Shot	Shooting
Sit	Sat	Sat	Sitting
Sleep	Slept	Slept	Sleeping
Sling	Slung	Slung	Slinging
Slink	Slunk	Slunk	Slinking
Smell	Smelt/Smelled	Smelt/Smelled	Smelling
Sneak	Sneaked/Snuck	Sneaked/Snuck	Sneaking
Soothsay	Soothsaid	Soothsaid	Soothsaying
Speed	Sped/Speeded	Sped/Speeded	Speeding
Spell	Spelt/Spelled	Spelt/Spelled	Spelling
Spend	Spent	Spent	Spending
Spill	Spilt/Spilled	Spilt/Spilled	Spilling
String	Strung	Strung	Stringing
Strip	Stript/Stripped	Stript/Stripped	Stripping
Stick	Stuck	Stuck	Sticking
Sting	Stung	Stung	Stinging
Stink	Stank	Stunk	Stinking
Sweat	Sweat/Sweated	Sweat/Sweated	Sweating
Sweep	Swept/Sweeped	Swept/Sweeped	Sweeping
Sunburn	Sunburned/Sunburnt	Sunburned/Sunburnt	Sunburning
Swing	Swung	Swung	Swinging
Teach	Taught	Taught	Teaching
Tell	Told	Told	Telling
Think	Thought	Thought	Thinking
Tear	Tore	Torn	Tearing
Understand	Understood	Understood	Understanding
Vex	Vext/Vexed	Vext/Vexed	Vexing
Wed	Wed/Wedded	Wed/Wedded	Wedding
Weep	Wept	Wept	Weeping
Wend	Wended/Went	Wended/Went	Wending
Wet	Wet/Wetted	Wet/Wetted	Wetting
Win	Won	Won	Winning
Wind	Wound	Wound	Winding
Withstand	Withstood	Withstood	Withstanding
Wring	Wrung	Wrung	Wringing
Withhold	Withheld	Withheld	Withholding
Zinc	Zinced/Zincked	Zinced/Zincked	Zincking

Verbs in which all three forms are identical

Base Form	Past Form	Past Participle Form	‘ing’ form
Bet	Bet	Bet	Betting
Burst	Burst	Burst	Bursting
Bust	Bust	Bust	Busting
Bid	Bid	Bid	Bidding
Cast	Cast	Cast	Casting
Cut	Cut	Cut	Cutting
Hit	Hit	Hit	Hitting
Hurt	Hurt	Hurt	Hurting
Let	Let	Let	Letting
Put	Put	Put	Putting
Quit	Quit	Quit	Quitting
Read	Read	Read	Reading
Set	Set	Set	Setting
Shed	Shed	Shed	Shedding
Slit	Slit	Slit	Slitting
Shut	Shut	Shut	Shutting
Sublet	Sublet	Sublet	Subletting
Thrust	Thrust	Thrust	Thrusting
Upset	Upset	Upset	Upsetting

VERBS

Verbs have traditionally been defined as words that show action or state of being.

            

            

Verbs can also sometimes be recognized by their position in a sentence.

In the following two sentence frames, only a verb can be put into the empty slot.

            NOUN __________                            THERE ________ NOUN

                            (verb)                                                        (verb) 

         

Often, prefixes and suffixes (affixes)  will signify that a word is a verb.  For example, the suffixes -ify, -ize, -ate, or -en usually signify that a word is a verb, as in typify, characterize, irrigate, and sweeten.  Prefixes such as be-, de-, or en-  may signify that a word is a verb, as in bestow, dethrone, and encourage.  

These affixes, often inconsistent from verb to verb, are called derivational affixes. Added to a word, they either change the word's part of speech

     Example: 

      

or change the word's meaning

     Example: 

The base form of a verb is derived from the verb’s infinitive:  to  +  verb

               

          

Four suffixes consistently added to a verb’s base create all forms of a verb used in all tenses:

1. -s          creates 3rd person singular / present tense  (He talks.)

2. -ing       creates the present participle / used with be  (He is talking.)

3. -ed        creates the simple past  (He talked.)

4. -en        creates the past participle / used with have  (He has talked.)

Note:

The -en verb ending used with a form of to have as an auxiliary is generally written -ed, as in has talked.

      

Unlike the derivational affixes, these inflectional suffixes are consistently used with all verbs, even though their form may look different from verb to verb.

Because many verbs in English are irregular; as result, their –ed and/or –en  endings may not follow any obvious pattern.

Examples:
(to write)	Smith writes short stories at home. (-s ending)
	Smith is writing short stories at home. (-ing ending)
	Smith wrote short stories at home. (-ed ending)
	Smith has written short stories at home. (-en ending)
	*
(to buy)	Jones buys a newspaper each day.  (-s ending)
	Jones is buying a newspaper today.  (-ing ending)
	Jones bought a newspaper yesterday. (-ed ending)
	Jones has bought newspapers every day.  (-enending)
	*
(to go)	Students go to the library often. (-s ending)
	Students are going to the library often. (-ing ending)
	Students went to the library often. (-ed ending)
	Students have gone to the library often. (-en ending)

    

      

The majority of verbs are regular and consistently use -ed and -en to form their simple past tense and past participles. (e.g. talked, has talked)

    

Many verbs are irregular, however, and follow no consistent pattern in creating their -ed and/or -en forms.  A list of the major irregular verbs is shown below.

Present	Past (-ed form)	Past Participle (-en form)
arise	arose	arisen
ask	asked	asked
attack	attacked	attacked
awaken	awakened OR awoke	awakened
bear	bore	borne/born
begin	began	begun
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
burst	burst	burst
choose	chose	chosen
cling	clung	clung
come	came	come
dive	dived OR dove	dived
do	did	done
drag	dragged	dragged
draw	drew	drawn
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
drown	drowned	drowned
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
fly	flew	flown
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got OR gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grow	grew	grown
hang (things)	hung	hung
hang (people)	hanged	hanged
happen	happened	happened
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
lie	lay	lain
loosen	loosened	loosened
lose	lost	lost
pay	paid	paid
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
see	saw	seen
set	set	set
shake	shook	shaken
shrink	shrank OR shrunk	shrunk OR shrunken
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank OR sunk	sunk
sit	sat	sat
speak	spoke	spoken
spin	spun	spun
spit	spat	spat
spring	sprang OR sprung	sprung
steal	stole	stolen
sting	stung	stung
stink	stank OR stunk	stunk
strive	strove	striven
study	studied	studied
swear	swore	sworn
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
tear	tore	torn
throw	threw	thrown
wake	woke OR waked	woken OR waked
wear	wore	worn
weave	wove	woven
wring	wrung	wrung
write	wrote	written

    

A verb phrase is defined as the main verb together with all its auxiliaries (helping verbs).

Auxiliary verbs always precede the main verb.

There are two types of auxiliary verbs:

1. Inflected auxiliary verbs: 

be

have

do

2. Modal auxiliaries (considered more fully under (auxiliary verbs)

present	past	no tense
will	would	must
shall	should
can	could
may	might

    

Examples of verb phrases:

He has taken the test.	(auxiliary has  +  main verb  take.)
He is taking the test.	(auxiliary is  +  main verb  take)
He did take the test.	(auxiliary do  +  main verb take)
He has been taking the test.	(auxiliaries has been + main verb take)

Verbs may be divided into three types:

A.     Action verbs - show an action -- either physical or mental

               

B.   Verbs of being (forms of be - is, are, was, were, has/have/had been, will be) - show a state of existence:

            

C.  **Linking verbs - link a subject with its complement 

            (A subjective complement "completes" / "equals" the subject.)

            Linking verbs:  appear, taste, smell, feel, look, sound, grow, seem, remain, become

    

        NOTE:  Most linking verbs can also be used as action verbs.

    
            

Action verbs may be either transitive or intransitive.

A.  A transitive verb is one that is followed by a direct object.

  Example: 

  
        

B.  An intransitive verb is one that is NOT followed by a direct object.

   Example:
   

              

Caution:  An intransitive verb may be followed by adjectives, adverbs, and/or prepositional phrases.  As long as the verb is not followed by a noun or pronoun functioning as the direct object, the verb is intransitive.

   Example:   

    

          

NOTE:  Some action verbs may be either transitive or intransitive.

  Example:  (left) 

         
        

          Another example (read):                   

             
              
          

Verbs have three moods:  indicative, imperative, and subjunctive.

A. The indicative mood states a fact, asks a question, or exclaims.

          

B. The imperative mood gives a command.  The subject is always "you" understood.

          

C. The subjunctive mood occurs in two instances:

1. The sentence indicates a situation contrary to fact.

          

2. The sentence

shows a wish, desire, or demand

in a nominal clause beginning with that

following verbs such as desire, demand, request, suggest