Gerunds, infinitive, and participle

participle examples

The grinning boy made me smile, too. (present participle) A dusty lace curtain, tattered and torn, swung in the lazy breeze. (past participle)

Gerunds

Gerunds are verbals that function as nouns and have an -ing ending. Since gerunds are derived from verbs and have an -ing ending, they do express action. However, because gerunds function as nouns, they occupy slots traditionally held by nouns in sentences such as subjects, direct objects and objects of prepositions. Gerunds may occur as one word, or they may be part of a gerund phrase.

Gerund examples

Smiling for too long makes my face hurt. He was sent to the principal's office for going to the gym without permission. Terrence was upset by our leaving the party early

Infinitives

Infinitives are verbals that are made up of the word to and a verb. Infinitives may function as nouns, adjectives or adverbs. Since infinitives are derived from verbs, they do express actions or states of being. When infinitives function as adjectives and adverbs, they are usually found preceding nouns and pronouns in sentences, and when they function as nouns, they are used as subjects, direct objects and objects of prepositions. Infinitives (to + verb) should not be confused with prepositional phrases (to + noun or pronoun). Infinitives may occur as to + one verb, or they may be part of an infinitive phrase.

infinitive examples

My goal is to smile for a total of three hours every day. (noun) Displaying all your teeth is the best way to smile widely. (adjective) To smile genuinely, a person must be truly happy. (adverb)

Participles

Participles are verbals that usually function as adjectives and occasionally function as adverbs. Participles generally end with an -ed or -ing ending. Since participles are derived from verbs, they do express actions or states of being. When participles function as adjectives, they are usually found preceding the nouns and pronouns in a sentence. When participles function as adverbs, they are typically found following the verb in a sentence. There are two types of participles: present participles and past participles. Present participles have an -ing ending. Past participles may have one of several past tense endings, including -ed, -en, and -d. As with gerunds, participles may occur as one word, or they may be part of a participial phrase