Participles, Gerunds, Infinitives, & Prepositions

Verbals forms of verbs used as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs

Participles verbs that act as adjectives –The flowing lava covered the road to Lassen Peak. –The melting glacier drained into the Kenai Fjords. –The frozen mass is slowly shrinking.

Forms of Participles present participle: ends in “ing” –The winding trail descended. past participle: usually ends in “-ed”; sometimes ends in “en” –We saw abandoned mines. –Watch out for that fallen branch. perfect participle: includes having or having been before a past participle –Having eaten, I moved on. –Having been warned, I did not litter the park.

Verb or Participle? She pitched the tent. –verb The pitched tent blew over. –participle The river is flowing north through the park. –verb The flowing river is deep. –participle

Participle Phrases participles with modifiers of their own –The fish swimming near us now are lovely. –Closing my backpack, I continued on the trail.

Gerunds a form of a verb that acts as a noun –Hiking is a pleasant activity. –I mastered rock-climbing. –Amy gave rappelling a try but found it too dangerous. –My new hobby is diving. –My favorite sport, fishing, gives me hours of pleasure.

Gerund Phrases gerunds accompanied by modifiers –Low-priced, excellent boating is available on Yellowstone Lake. –I suggested lending her my boat.

Infinitives form of a verb that generally appears with the word to and acts as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb –To go to Yellowstone is my dream. (noun) –I made the decision to go. (adjective) –I was excited to go. (adverb)

Don’t confuse prepositional phrases with infinitives! infinitives: to swim, to hike –to followed by a verb prepositional phrases: to me, to the park –to followed by a noun –Remember the rabbit and the log!!!

Prepositional Phrases most include 2 or 3 words, but can be much longer no matter how long, prepositional phrases NEVER include a verb (preposition “to” + verb = infinitive) ALWAYS include a preposition AND a noun or a pronoun (the object of the preposition) –under investigation –in the manila folder –after further review –up the long and winding staircase