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Name__________________________
Littell
English ____________ Period______
Date___________________________
Verbals

These are the words that look like verbs, but they are not. There are three kinds of verbals.

1. Participles
Act like an adjective
Example: Smiling, he ate another fried chicken wing.
Notice that the verbs are in present and in past forms.
There are two types of participles:
1. Present participles
2. Past participles
Participles can be in phrases.

2. Gerunds
Act like a noun
Ends in –ing
Example: Flying an airplane while tired can be dangerous.
Like nouns, gerunds can be subjects, complements, or
objects of prepositions.
Function Example
Subject Flying got Icarus into trouble.
Direct object Icarus tried using wings made of wax.
Indirect object He wanted to give flying like a bird a chance.
Subject complement His mistake was straying too close to the sun.
Object of preposition The result of doing so was melted wings and a dip in the sea.
Hint: A gerund can always be replaced with the word something. Don’t mix it up with a present
participle.
Why are gerunds important?
Gerunds allow you to turn verbs into nouns so that you can talk about actions and activities as
things.

3. Infinitives
Act like nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.
Example: To find water striders, look in a freshwater pond.
Function Example
Noun To skate along the surface of the water is easy for the water strider.
(Subject)
Noun Water striders need to find food in the water without sinking
(Direct object) themselves.
Noun The trick is to use surface tension for support.
(Subject complement)
Adjective The water strider is an interesting insect to watch on a calm summer
day.
Adverb To detect insects falling into the water near them, water striders use
sense organs on their legs.
Why are infinitives important in writing?
You can combine sentences and sharpen the relation between ideas.
Example:
Many moth species have evolved with an owl- Many moth species have evolved with an owl-
face pattern on their wings. The pattern scares away face pattern on their wings that serves to scare
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birds. away birds.

I. Participles

A. Directions: In each sentence, find and circle a participle or underline its phrase that modifies the
boldfaced noun or pronoun. On the blank, write what kind of participle it is: pre for present and pa for
past.

1. Writing quickly, the students took the exam. ___________

2. The travelers saw a huge stone castle perched on the rocky cliff. ___________

3. The boy performing a solo on the trumpet is my brother. ____________

4. Swimming with a friend, Frances made it to the float. ____________

5. The stolen briefcase contained valuable documents. ____________

6. Ed’s sailboat, damaged near the stern, was unusable. ____________

7. I could not open the box with the hinges rusted shut. ____________

8. The Statue of Liberty shows a woman holding a lighted torch. ____________

B. Directions: Underline the participle or its phrase and circle the word it modifies.

1. The refusal to obey laws one considers unjust is called civil disobedience.

2. Susan B. Anthony, arrested for voting, was struggling for women’s rights.

3. Objecting to the Mexican War, the writer Henry David Thoreau refused to pay a tax.

4. A night spent in jail was his penalty.

5. Thoreau wrote an essay, “Civil Disobedience,” inspired by this incident.

C. Directions: On the blank to the right of each participle or its phrase below, write what kind of
participle it is. Then write a sentence using the participle or phrase. Use a comma after each participial
phrase that begins a sentence. Underline the words the participles and participial phrases modify.

1. laughing ______________

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2. searching for the treasure ______________

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3. painted on the wall ______________

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4. displayed in the museum ______________

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II. Gerunds
A. Directions: Underline each gerund or gerund phrase. In the blank, write how it is used: S for subject,
SC for subject complement, DO for direct object, or OP for object of a preposition.

1. Many people enjoy playing on sports teams. ____________

2. Others prefer participating in sports individually. ____________

3. Skateboarding is an individual sport that began in California in ____________

the early 1960s.

4. This activity requires balancing skillfully on a short board on wheels. ____________

5. One of the oldest sports in the United States is surfing, a skill ____________
from Hawaii.

B. Directions: Use gerund phrases to combine each set of sentences into one sentence.

1. His goal became an obsession. He wanted to run a four-minute mile.

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2. Frank liked many activities in shop class. He especially liked to work with the jigsaw.

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3. Nancy received recognition from her fellow designers. The experience gave her more
confidence.

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4. He wore green every St. Patrick’s Day. Doing so reminded him of his Irish heritage.

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5. Can you hear the waves? They are pounding on the rocks.

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C. Directions: Underline the infinitive phrase in each sentence. On the blank, write how it is used: N for
noun, ADJ for adjective, or ADV for adverb.

1. For his job, Janine’s father needed to do research in Spain for a year.__________

2. However, to leave the family that long would be difficult. ____________

3. The family met to decide the best course of action. ____________

4. Everyone in the family decided to spend a year in Madrid. ____________

5. Now they are all working to study a new language. ____________

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D. Directions: Combine each pair of sentences below, changing one of the sentences into an infinitive
phrase. Add, drop, or change words as necessary.
Example: The library board hired an architect. He will design a new building.
The library board hired an architect to design a new building.

1. The spy plane flies low. That way it avoids showing up on radar.

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2. Ted will get up very early tomorrow. That is what he expects.

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3. Anita found the right costume. She will wear it to the Halloween party.

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4. The dog barked loudly. Its action frightened the intruder.

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5. Ludwig lost an important ability. He could no longer hear his own music.

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