Verbal & Verb Phrases

There are only three types of verbal, and each can create a corresponding verb phrase.  First, however, let's recall the definition of a verbal.

Verbal:  a Verbal is a verb that is not being used as a verb; that is, it is not the action of a clause.

Types of Verbal:

1.  Infinitive:  The easiest verbal to spot, infinitives are merely the word "to" followed by a verb.

                    examples:  to run; to talk, to swim, to be, to think

2.  Gerund:  A Gerund ends in -ing but is only used as a noun (so it can be a subject, a direct object, a predicate nominative, or any of the wonderful things that nouns can do).  Gerunds appear in pink.

                    examples:  Swimming is fun
                                    Shopping sure takes a lot of energy.
                                    Dining out every day can be quite expensive.

3.  Participle:  A participle can be any form of a verb, but they often end in -ing; they describe actions, but are not the verb of the clause.  They can also appear anywhere in a sentence, but they seem to prefer the beginning, attached by just a comma.  Participles appear in blue.

                    examples:  Walking in the park, Jim got mugged.
                                    Ridden hard, the horses were exhausted.
                                    Hiding in the bushes, the criminal thought he had escaped.

Verb Phrases:

Once you find a verbal, it often, but not always, creates a phrase.  Sometimes a verbal includes a noun, or object.  It is common to find prepositional phrases, adjectives, and adverbs in verb phrases.  Verb phrases are named by the verbal that creates them (infinitive phrase, gerund phrase, participial phrase)..
NOTE:  Once you find a verb phrase, imagine it is functioning as only one word.  Hence, an entire verb phrase can be a noun (and therefore a subject, DO, PN, OP, OC, etc.) or an adjective, or an adverb!  Verb phrases are in brown.

                    examples:  Walking in the park, Jim was mugged. (participial phrase, acting as an
                                                adjective describing Jim)
                                    Swimming every day by the pool is fun. (gerund phrase, acting as the subject
                                                of the sentence)
                                    He likes to run marathons. (Infinitive phrase acting as a direct object)

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