Verbals: Gerunds, Participles and Infinitives
Explain what gerunds, participles and infinitives are and the job each does in a particular sentence: a gerund acting as a subject ('Swimming is fun'), a participle describing a noun, an infinitive expressing purpose
What a learner can do afterwards
- Identify a gerund and explain its role (e.g. 'running' as the subject of 'Running keeps me fit')
- Spot a participle used as an adjective (e.g. 'the broken window', 'a barking dog')
- Explain what an infinitive is doing in a sentence (e.g. 'to win' showing purpose in 'She trained to win')
The lesson
A verb can step out of its usual job. Add -ing to a verb and use the new word as a noun, and you get a gerund. In 'Running keeps me fit,' running names the activity - it works as the subject, just like a noun would.
A participle is a verb form used as an adjective, describing a noun. In 'the barking dog,' barking tells you what kind of dog it is, not what the dog is doing right now. 'A broken window' and 'tired children' work the same way: verb forms doing an adjective's job.
An infinitive is 'to' plus the base verb. It often shows purpose - the reason behind an action. In 'She trained to win,' to win answers the question 'why did she train?' The infinitive points to the goal.
To tell the three apart, ask what job the verb form is doing: naming a thing (gerund), describing a thing (participle), or explaining why (infinitive).
Gerunds name, participles describe, and infinitives explain why - same verb, three different jobs.
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