GERUND, INFINITIVE AND PARTICIPLE

Basic overview-

There are certain applications of nouns which may sound like verbs, but actually function as nouns. These are called “verbals” or verbal nouns. They are gerunds, infinitives, and participles.

GERUND

1. A gerund is a verbal that ends with “-ing” and functions as a noun. The word “-ing” is attached is a verb, but the application is such that the total word becomes a noun.

 Robin is dancing. (dancing as Verb)  Robin’s hobby is dancing . (dancing as Gerund)

In the first sentence, the word “painting” is clearly the main verb in the sentence and is talking about the action of painting. But in the second sentence, the word “painting” is treated as the name of Robin’s hobby.

 Traveling is good for the mind. (Gerund — traveling)  They complimented me on my singing. (Gerund — singing)  His favorite hobby is sleeping. (Gerund — sleeping)  He has been booked for drunk driving. (Gerund — drunk driving)  Jumping is fun.  He liked skiing

2. A gerund is a verb form ending in -ing that functions in a sentence as a noun.

Although both the present participle and the gerund are formed by adding -ing to a verb, note that the participle does the job of an adjective while the gerund does the job of a noun.

3. A gerund phrase is a group of words that function as a gerund.

 Climbing Mount Everest is easier than what we are climbing right now.  Talking to my dog is more soothing to me than having a bowl of ice-cream. INFINITIVE

1. An infinitive is a verbal noun that functions either as a noun, adjective, or adverb and is formed by adding “to” + verb in its simple form. (Simple form means base form of verb like sing, eat, work , sleep(present form) don’t use past form like sung , ate , worked...etc)

 Robin hates to wait.  Robin likes to sing/paint/dance/wait/eat/study.  In these two sentences, you can see that the main verbs are “hates, likes” but the parts “to wait, to paint, to sing, to dance, to eat, to study” are infinitives.

 She had a suggestion to offer. (adjective modifying suggestion)  He called to warn her. (adverb modifying the verb called)

The gerund form of both the sentences –

 Robin hates waiting.  Robin likes singing/painting/dancing/waiting/eating/studying.

2. If the infinitive or infinitive phrase is used in the beginning of a sentence, it uses a comma.

Example

 To arrive on time, robin took the metro.  To master your aim, you must practice daily.  To jump is fun. (noun; subject of the verb is)

PARTICIPLE

1. A participle is a verbal that is used as an adjective and uses either “-ing”, “-ed”, “-en”, “-d”, “-t”, “-n”, or “-ne" as per the root word.  All present participles end in -ing.  The past participles of all regular verbs end in -ed.  Irregular verbs, however, have various past participle endings—for instance, thrown, ridden, built, and gone. Ex. The article is interesting. or The article was interesting.

2. A participle is a verb form that can be used as an adjective to modify nouns and pronouns.  The children, crying and exhausted, were guided out of the collapsed house o Crying is a present participle, formed by adding -ing to the present form of the verb (cry). o Exhausted is a past participle, formed by adding -ed to the present form of the verb (exhaust). o Both participles modify the subject, children.

 The dancing parrots entertained the crowd.  The wrecked sailboat washed up on shore.

3. A participial phrase is a group of words consisting of a participle and nouns or pronouns that together function as participles –

 Removing her shoes, Jill jumped into the river.  Robin noticed his dog running along the road

 If a sentence begins with a participial phrase, a comma should be placed after the phrase. Also, a participial phrase must be placed as close to the noun it describes, to prevent confusion.  While talking to Robin, I smiled at ritu .  I smiled at ritu, while talking to robin.

In these sentences, it’s not clear who is talking to Rohan if we miss the commas, hence when it comes to participial phrases, we need to use it as close to the noun that is doing the action.

4. A participial phrase is made up of a participle and its modifiers. A participle may be followed by an object, an adverb, a prepositional phrase, an adverb clause, or any combination of these.

 Holding the torch steadily, robin approached the monster. o in the following sentence the participial phrase consists of a present participle (holding), an object (the torch), and an adverb (steadily):

 robin waved the torch over his head, making a great ring of white light. o In the next sentence, the participial phrase consists of a present participle (making), an object (a great ring), and a prepositional phrase (of white light): SUmmARy

 Gerund, Infinitive and participle are not verb these are verbals  Gerund used as noun/pronoun by adding “ing “ in verb  Infinitive used as noun, adjective /adverb by using “TO+verb”...base form of verb  Participle used as adjective..by using “ing/ ed/en/t/d in verb”

Practice-1

1) Economics is an ever-expanding field of study.

A. Participle(ans) B. Gerund C. Infinitive

2) Swimming is good exercise.

A. Participle B. Gerund(ans) C. Infinitive

3) We drove to the mall to buy our new surround sound system.

A. Paticiple B. Gerund C. Infinitive(ans)

4) Passing this quiz with a good grade would make me happy.

A. Participle B. Gerund(ans) C. Infinitive

5) I always enjoy watching a meteor shower.

A. Participle B. Gerund(ans) C. Infinitive

6) Breaking the light barrier is simply not possible.

A. Participle B. Gerund(ans) C. Infinitive

7) They have closed the cafeteria to repair a broken steam table.

A. Participle B. Gerund C. Infinitive (ans)

8) Overwhelmed by the menu choices, I just closed my eyes and pointed with my finger.

A. Participle B. Gerund C. Infinitive(ans)

robin