1. Writing with Verbal Phrases Having fun yet?

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Three Types of Verbals  Participle 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

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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