Gerunds and Infinitives

Verbals

A verbal is a word that looks like a verb, but it’s used as something other than a verb. There are three kinds of verbals:

1. Gerunds

2. Infinitives

3. Participles

A gerund is a verbal that ends with ing or ed and is used as a noun. A gerund is always an activity of some kind. Here are two examples:

1. Fishing is a popular pastime.

2. He likes fishing.

“He is fishing.” (This is a verb—not a verbal. If it’s a verb, it always has a helping verb before it.)

     An infinitive is a verbal that begins with the word to.  It may be used as a noun or as an adverb. Here are two examples: “To know him is to love him.”

“He took a bath to smell better.” (“To smell better tells why he took a bath. It's an adverb.)

Infinitive phrases: A phrase is a group of words that does not have both a subject and verb, and it doesn’t express a complete thought. An infinitive phrase is a phrase that is used as an infinitive.

Example:

“He uses Photoshop to make pictures of his friends look funny.”

“To swim in this pond is against the law.”

When you try to make sense of a sentence, look for the verb. Then answer the question, “Who or what?”That will tell you what the noun is.  Then you can more easily identify the other parts of speech in the sentence.