ERRORS

WITH
VERBALS
MICHELLE CERVANTES, DIEGO
NOLASCO AND DANIELA MARTINEZ
What are verbals?

A verbal is a verb form which functions as a noun or an adjective. In English,

there are three types of verbals:

● Participles (past participles and present participles).

● Gerunds
● Infinitives
Participles

A participle is a word formed from a verb, usually by adding -d, -ed, or -ing.

There are two kinds of participle in English, as follows:

The present participle : It ends with -ing, e.g.:

We are going to Italy.

The past participle: It ends with -d or -ed for regular verbs, e.g.:

She had decided to go to Italy.

 Gerunds
A gerund is a noun formed from a verb.

All gerunds end -ing. For example:

● swimming
● running
● drinking

Even though a gerund is a noun, a gerund can still take a direct object (like a verb).
This is known as a gerund complement. For example:

● swimming the lake

● running a mile
● drinking a beer
 Infinitives
Consist of the word “To” and the simple use

form of the verb.

Infinitive as noun: Consider “Jen loves to sing in the rain.” To sing is the object of the verb loves. What does Jen
love? She loves to sing.
Infinitive as adjective: In “Lucy always takes a book to read on the subway,” to read modifies the noun book.
What kind of book does Lucy take? One to read.
Infinitive as adverb: In “The school requires perfect attendance to graduate,” to graduate is an adverb modifying
the verb requires.
Don’t confuse an infinitive with a prepositional phrase. Infinitives are always the word “to” plus a verb, as in to
love, to sing, to shout, to wear, and so on. On the other hand, prepositional phrases are the word “to” plus a noun
or pronoun and any modifiers, as in to him, to our house, to the beach, and to my office.