Verbals - Grammar 101 - McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Grammar and Usage

McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Grammar and Usage, 2nd Edition (2013)

Part I. Grammar 101

Chapter 5. Verbals

Question: When is a verb not a verb? Answer: When it is a verbal.

A verbal is a participle or an infinitive verb form used as another part of speech—a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. A phrase headed by a verbal is a verbal phrase. Before we do anything else, we need to distinguish between verb phrases and verbal phrases.

• Verb phrases: Verb phrases must contain a “tensed” verb—either a present or past tense verb that agrees with the subject of its clause. All verb phrases, in short, must exhibit subject-verb agreement.

• Verbal phrases: Verbals do not have present or past tense forms. Therefore, verbals cannot enter into subject-verb agreements. This is true even when a verbal phrase actually does have an expressed subject (more about this later).

There are three types of verbal phrases, called gerund phrases, participial phrases, and infinitive phrases. The following table is an overview that gives all three types of verbal phrases. For each type, the table gives the verb form, its part of speech, and an example.

TYPES OF VERBAL PHRASES


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We will now turn to an examination of each of the three types of verbal phrases.

Gerund Phrases

Gerund phrases are phrases headed by a gerund, the present participle form of a verb used as a noun phrase. As with other phrases, gerund phrases can consist of just a single word (the gerund head by itself) or multiple words (the gerund head together with modifiers and/or complements). Here are examples of single-word and multiple-word gerund phrases used as subjects (gerund phrases in italics, gerunds in bold):

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Gerund phrases can be used in all four major noun roles: subjects, objects of verbs, objects of prepositions, and predicate nominatives. Here are some examples of gerund phrases in each role (gerund phrases in italics, gerunds in bold):

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Because gerund phrases always play the role of noun phrases, and gerund phrases are always singular, there is a simple and highly reliable test for them:

The It Test for Gerund Phrases

If a phrase headed by a present participle verb can be replaced by the pronoun it, then that phrase is a gerund phrase.

Here is the it test applied to the earlier sample gerund phrases (gerund phrases in italics, gerunds in bold):

Subject

Winning the game is not everything.

It is not everything.

Answering my e-mail always seems to take all morning.

It always seems to take all morning.

Object of verb

I hate cleaning out the garage.

I hate it.

The kids enjoy taking long walks in the country.
The kids enjoy it.

Object of preposition

Naturally, Fred was upset about missing his flight.
Naturally, Fred was upset about it.

After watching some TV, we went to bed.
After it, we went to bed.

Predicate nominative

His main activity is watching daytime TV.
His main activity is it.

Part of the problem is working in such poor light.
Part of the problem is it.

The importance of the it test is shown in the last two examples, where the gerund phrases are playing the roles of predicate nominatives. At first glance, the sequence is plus present participle looks like a present progressive, as in this sentence:

Ralph is ironing his shirts.

We can confirm the results of the it test by changing the supposed present progressive into a simple past tense. If the present progressive analysis had been correct, the present tense paraphrases should be grammatical, but they are not:

His main activity is watching daytime TV.

X His main activity watched daytime TV.

Part of the problem is working in such poor light.

X Part of the problem worked in such poor light.

A sentence with a true present progressive can be paraphrased using a past tense:

Ralph is ironing his shirts.
Ralph ironed his shirts.

Gerund phrases are really compacted forms of complete sentences. In all the examples we have examined so far, the original subject has been deleted, though it is often easy to tell what the implied subject of the verb underlying the gerund is. For example, in this sentence:

Spilling the soup on the guest of honor embarrassed the waiter terribly.

the subject of the verb underlying the gerund spilling is not actually stated. However, it is strongly implied that it was the waiter who did the spilling. We can rewrite the sentence and overtly state the subject:

The waiter’s spilling the soup on the guest of honor embarrassed him terribly.

When we retain the subject of the verb that underlies the gerund, that subject is called the subject of the gerund. Here are several more examples of gerund phrases with subjects of the gerund retained (gerund phrases in italics, subjects of the gerund in bold):

Alice’s finishing the report on time was greatly appreciated.
We ate Fred’s first attempt at gourmet cooking in tense silence.
I was worried about my going on too long.

Notice that the subject of the gerund in all the examples is in the possessive form. This is the normal rule for formal writing. Failure to use the possessive is a common error in formal writing. When the subject of a gerund is not used in the proper possessive form, the construction is called a fused participle.

Participial Phrases

Participial phrases are phrases headed by either a present participle or a past participle. The sole function of participial phrases is to modify nouns. Single-word participles behave like adjectives and go in front of the words they modify, for example (participles in italics):

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Notice that the participles in the last pair of examples are exact opposites in meaning. A boring teacher is a teacher who bores his or her students. A bored teacher is a teacher whose students bore him or her. Participles are derived from verbs. The nouns that the participle modify play different roles depending on which type of participle is used. With present participles, the noun being modified is the subject of the verb underlying the participle:

winning smile (The smile is doing the winning.)
blushing maidens (The maidens are doing the blushing.)
boring teachers (The teachers are doing the boring.)

With past participles, on the other hand, the noun being modified is the object of the verb underlying the participle:

sanded floors (Somebody sanded the floors.)
concerned parents (Something concerned the parents.)
bored teachers (Something bored the teachers.)

(Grammar factoid: many languages have only a single form of the participle, not two—a present and a past participle—as English does. When speakers of those languages learn English, they have trouble seeing the difference in meaning between the two participle types and often use the two participle forms in English interchangeably and thus often incorrectly.)

Multiword participial phrases—participles together with modifiers and/or complements—follow the nouns they modify. Here are some examples of participial phrases (participial phrases in italics, participles in bold, nouns being modified underlined):

Present participial phrases

The reporters covering the accident interviewed the survivors.

The man wearing the silly hat is my cousin.

The incident amused the people waiting in line.

Past participial phrases

The houses located on the floodplain all suffered extensive damage.

The quote was from a play written by Shakespeare.

The data required for the report was not available on the Internet.

Because participial phrases function as noun modifiers, they are easily identified by the pronoun replacement test, here slightly modified for participial phrases:

The Pronoun Replacement Test for Participial Phrases

If a noun and a following phrase containing a participle are both replaced by a pronoun, then that phrase is a participial phrase modifying that noun.

Here is the pronoun replacement test applied to the same sentences from earlier:

Present participial phrases

The reporters covering the accident interviewed the survivors.
They interviewed the survivors.

The man wearing the silly hat is my cousin.
He is my cousin.

The incident amused the people waiting in line.
The incident amused them.

Past participial phrases

The houses located on the floodplain all suffered extensive damage.
They all suffered extensive damage.

The quote was from a play written by Shakespeare.
The quote was from it.

The data required for the report was not available on the Internet.
It was not available on the Internet.

Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Participial Phrases

Participial phrases are really a kind of reduced adjective clause. Like adjective clauses, participial phrases can be used in either restrictive or nonrestrictive ways. All of the examples of participial phrases we have seen to this point have been restrictive. Here are examples of nonrestrictive present and past participial phrases (participial phrases in italics):

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As you can see, nonrestrictive participial phrases are set off with commas, just as nonrestrictive adjective clauses are.

Dangling Participles

Nonrestrictive participial phrases do have one feature that is unique among noun modifiers: participial phrases can be moved away from the nouns they modify. They are often moved to the beginning of the sentence, for example:

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The fact that participial phrases can be moved away from the nouns they modify creates the condition for a peculiar grammatical error known as a dangling participle. A participle is said to dangle when it is not properly attached to the noun that it apparently modifies. When a participial phrase is moved to the beginning of the sentence, we assume that the participial phrase modifies the subject—the nearest noun. This is the case in the two preceding example sentences. However, when the participial phrase does not literally modify the subject, then the participle is dangling. Here is an example of a dangling participle (participial phrase in italics):

X Wrapped in beautiful paper, Scrooge gave Tiny Tim his Christmas surprise.

What the writer meant to say, of course, was that Tiny Tim’s Christmas surprise was wrapped in beautiful paper. What he actually said, though, was that Scrooge was wrapped in beautiful paper. (Dangling modifiers are discussed in detail in Chapter 10.)

Infinitive Phrases

Infinitive phrases are phrases headed by an infinitive used as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. An infinitive is to plus the base form of a verb, for example:

to go
to eat
to be
to transform

An infinitive phrase consists of an infinitive head by itself or an infinitive head together with modifiers and/or complements.

The distinctive form of infinitives makes infinitive phrases easy to recognize. The catch is that infinitive phrases, unlike gerund phrases (nouns) and participial phrases (adjectives), can be used as more than one part of speech (nouns, adjectives, or adverbs).

Like gerund phrases, infinitive phrases can also have subjects. The subject of the infinitive is formed by retaining the subject of the verb as the object of the preposition for. Here are some examples of infinitive phrases with subjects in the three roles that infinitive phrases can play (infinitive phrases in italics, subjects of the infinitive in bold):

Noun: For Popeye to turn down spinach was a bit surprising.

Popeye is the subject of the infinitive to turn down. That is, Popeye is the person turning down the spinach.

Adjective: The route for you to take is I-95.

You is the subject of the infinitive to take. That is, you are the person who should take I-95.

Adverb: For the druggist to fill my prescription, I need a doctor’s note.

The druggist is the subject of the infinitive to fill. That is, the druggist is the one who will fill my prescription.

Infinitive Phrases Used as Nouns

Infinitive phrases (with or without subjects) can play three of the major noun phrase roles (infinitive phrases in italics):

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As was the case with the gerund phrases, infinitive phrases are always singular and can thus be replaced by the pronoun it. Here is the it test for infinitive phrases:

The It Test for Infinitive Phrases Used as Nouns

If an infinitive phrase can be replaced by it, then that infinitive phrase is being used as a noun phrase.

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(Grammar factoid: the one common noun role that infinitives cannot play is the object of a preposition. For example, compare the following sentences, one with a gerund phrase used as the object of a preposition, and one with an infinitive phrase as the object of a preposition [phrases in italics]:

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The gerund phrase seems perfectly acceptable as the object of a preposition, but the infinitive phrase is totally unacceptable. Probably the reason that infinitive phrases cannot be used after prepositions is that historically the to that begins an infinitive is itself a preposition. So, a preposition plus to would give us two noncompounded prepositions in a row—a linguistic no-no.)

Infinitive Phrases Used as Adjectives

Infinitive phrases (with or without subjects) can be used to modify nouns. Here are some examples (infinitive phrases in italics, infinitives in bold, nouns being modified underlined):

The need to sleep was nearly overpowering.
We marked the items to be put on sale.
Here is a list of drugs for women to avoid during pregnancy.

As you would expect, the modifying infinitive phrases can be readily identified by the pronoun replacement test, here slightly modified for infinitive phrases:

The Pronoun Replacement Test for Infinitive Phrases Modifying Nouns

If a noun and a following infinitive phrase are both replaced by a pronoun, then that phrase is an infinitive phrase modifying that noun.

Here is the pronoun replacement test applied to the preceding example sentences:

The need to sleep was nearly overpowering.
It was nearly overpowering.

We marked the items to be put on sale.
We marked them.

Here is a list of drugs for women to avoid during pregnancy.
Here is a list of them.

Infinitive Phrases Used as Adverbs

Infinitive phrases (with or without subjects) can be used to modify verbs or predicate adjectives. Both adverb uses are quite common.

Adverb Infinitive Phrases Used to Modify Verbs. Here are several examples of adverb infinitive phrases modifying verbs (infinitive phrases in italics, infinitives in bold):

I stayed up all night to finish my book.

They sold the bonds to invest in Tootsie Roll stock.

We finally moved into a hotel for the kids to get some sleep.

Adverb infinitive phrases modifying verbs behave just like all other adverbs modifying verbs: they answer adverb questions (especially why questions), and they can be moved to the beginning of the sentence:

Answer why questions

Why did I stay up all night? To finish my book.

Why did they sell the bonds? To invest in Tootsie Roll stock.

Why did we finally move into a hotel? For the kids to get some sleep.

Moved to the beginning of the sentence

To finish my book, I stayed up all night.

To invest in Tootsie Roll stock, they sold the bonds.

For the kids to get some sleep, we finally moved into a hotel.

A particularly easy and reliable test for adverb infinitive phrases that modify verbs is to put in order in front of the infinitive (in order is underlined):

I stayed up all night in order to finish my book.

They sold the bonds in order to invest in Tootsie Roll stock.

We finally moved into a hotel in order for the kids to get some sleep.

Though they are not nearly as common as dangling participles, infinitives used as adverbs can also dangle. The cause of the problem with adverb infinitives is exactly the same as with dangling participles. When an adverb infinitive is moved to the beginning of the sentence, the implied subject of the infinitive must be the same as the subject of the independent clause. Here are several examples of dangling adverb infinitives (in italics):

X To sail a small boat safely, the weather must be stable.

It sounds like the weather is sailing the boat.

X To qualify for the election, a valid ID card must be shown.

It sounds like the ID card is doing the qualifying.

Adverb Infinitives Used to Modify Predicate Adjectives. Here are several examples of adverb infinitive phrases modifying predicate adjectives (infinitive phrases in italics, infinitives in bold, predicate adjectives being modified underlined):

We are ready to go.

I am anxious to start packing for our trip.

They are ready for us to come in for dinner now.

There is no positive test for identifying infinitive phrases that modify predicate adjectives. The only thing that infinitives modifying predicate adjectives could possibly be confused with is infinitive phrases modifying verbs. However, infinitive phrases modifying verbs have several positive tests that infinitives modifying predicate adjectives will fail. The easiest way to distinguish between the two uses of adverb infinitives is to see if the adverb infinitive can move. If it can, it modifies the verb; if it cannot, it modifies the predicate adjective. Infinitive phrases modifying predicate adjectives are locked into position following the predicate adjectives they modify, for example:

We are ready to go.
X To go, we are ready.

I am anxious to start packing for our trip.
X To start packing for our trip, I am anxious.

They are ready for us to come in for dinner now.
X For us to come in for dinner now, they are ready.