8 th ELA-Schreiber

 English verbs have four moods: indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and infinitive.  Mood is the form of the verb that shows the mode or manner in which a thought is expressed.

 expresses an assertion, denial, or question ◦ Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas. ◦ Ostriches cannot fly. ◦ Have you finished your homework?

 expresses command, prohibition, entreaty, or advice: ◦ Don’t smoke in this building. ◦ Be careful! ◦ Don’t drown that puppy!

 expresses doubt or something contrary to fact.  Modern English speakers use indicative mood most of the time, resorting to a kind of “mixed subjunctive” that makes use of helping verbs:

◦ If I should see him, I will tell him. ◦ Americans are more likely to say: ◦ If I see him, I will tell him. (ind) ◦ The verb may can be used to express a wish: ◦ May you have many more birthdays. ◦ May you live long and prosper.

 The verb were can also indicate the use of the subjunctive: ◦ If I were you, I wouldn’t keep driving on those tires. ◦ If he were governor, we’d be in better fiscal shape.

 expresses an action or state without reference to any subject. It can be the source of sentence fragments when the writer mistakenly thinks the infinitive form is a fully- functioning verb.

 When we speak of the English infinitive, we usually mean the basic form of the verb with “to” in front of it: to go, to sing, to walk, to speak. (dictionary form)

 Verbs said to be in the infinitive mood can include participle forms ending in -ed and -ing. Verbs in the infinitive mood are not being used as verbs, but as other parts of speech: VERBALS

 A verbal is a word that is formed from a verb that act as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.  There are three types of verbals ◦ Gerunds ◦ Infinitive ◦ Participles

 A gerund is a verbal that ends in –ing and acts as a noun  Like nouns gerunds may be subject, predicate nominatives, direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions.

 Subject- ◦ Calling the monster Frankenstein is a mistake.  Predicate Nominative- ◦ Frankenstein’ s error was creating the monster

 Direct Object- ◦ I like watching horror movies.  Object of a preposition- ◦ The monster was responsible for killing three people

 A gerund phrase consists of a gerund plus it modifier and complements ◦ Writing Frankenstein must have given Mary Shelly goose bumps!

 A participle is a verb form that acts as an adjective. It modifies a noun or a pronoun. ◦ The exhausted campers found a crumbling schoolhouse.

 There are two kinds of participles  The present participle always ends in –ing ◦ Creaking eerily, the door swung open.

 The past participle ends in – ed or the simple past tense form of the verb. ◦ The deserted building was old and decrepit. ◦ Fallen brick blocked the entryway

 A participle phrase consist of a participle plus it modifiers and complements ◦ They spied a shape lurking in the dark shadow. ◦ Frightened by the sight, they stopped cold.

 Verbs in the infinitive mood are not being used as verbs, but as other parts of speech:  To err is human; to forgive, divine. Here, to err and to forgive are used as nouns.

 He is a man to be admired. Here, to be admired is an adjective, the equivalent of admirable. It describes the noun man.  He came to see you. Here, to see you is used as an adverb to tell why he came.

 An infinitive phrase is an infinitive plus its modifiers and complement.  The entire phrase functions as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. ◦ To believe in life on Mars was common in the 1930s. (noun) ◦ Martians might use flying saucers to invade Earth. (adverb) ◦ I took time to read an old science fiction book. (adjective)

TypeEndingNounAdjectiveAdverb Gerund-ingYes Participle-ing (present) Yes -ed (past) Yes Infinitives“to” + verb Yes