Writing with Verbal Phrases Having fun yet?

Why Care? Verbals will add variety and panache to your sentences People will think that you’re sophisticated and well educated It will make your teacher happy, and as crabby as she’s been lately, that might be worth something.

Definition A verbal is a word formed from a verb but is used as a noun, adjective, or adverb. Although it started out as a verb, a verbal is not a verb.

Three Types of Verbals Participle Gerund Infinitive Present: seeing, being, possessing Past: talked, fried, known, frozen Gerund Always ends in –ing and always functions as a noun: his singing, their talking Infinitive Always begins with to: to sleep, to dream, perchance to wake

Usage Can be used anywhere in a sentence, but are especially effective at the beginning of a sentence. Can be the subject of a sentence, an object, or a modifier (adj or adv). Just like subordinate clauses at the beginning of a sentence, use a comma if it is extra information, but no comma if it is serving as the subject of the sentence.

Participial Phrases Being possessed of a sharp tongue, Beatrice cannot find a man who is a worthy adversary. Known as a misogynist, Benedick swears that he’ll never hang his bugle in an invisible baldric. Having the Prince as your suitor might be a highly desirable situation, but Beatrice finds him too costly for daily wear.

Gerunds Singing is not one of the talents for which Benedick is known. Reading Shakespeare is a breeze once you get used to the language. Possessing the key to the mystery is the only way you will solve it.

Infinitive Phrases To avoid being late, Joey ran all the way to class. To be or not to be, that is the question. To try with all your might is the only acceptable course of action. To possess the heart of joy is to be wealthy indeed.

Give it a Try Take any sentence that you’ve written; Find the verb. By adding –ing or –ed, are you able to move it to the beginning of your sentence and have it still make sense? Try using one of the be verbs at the beginning: being, having been, to be

Let the Adventure Begin! Slogging through the dense humidity of the rainforest,