They may be followed by complements such as direct objects, indirect objects, predicate nominatives, and predicate adjectives.
3. More on Verbals
However, verbals ARE NOT USED AS VERBS!!!
They ARE used as:
nouns
adjectives
adverbs
4. Participles
Aparticipleis a verb form used as anadjective .
Examples:
The rapidlydeveloping storm kept small boats in port.
Thepleased student smiled at the teacher.
5. Present Participles
Present participles are formed by addingingto the plain form of the verb.
Example:Thelaughingstudent grinned like a possum.
6. Past Participles
Past participlesare formed by adding either ed, -d-, -t, -en, or nto the plain form of the verb.Others may be formed as irregular verbs.
Ellie, my dachshund, had abewildered look on her face when the water from the nozzle in her bathtub suddenly turned cold.
7. Participial Phrases
Aparticipial phraseconsists of a participle and any complements or modifiers it may have.The phrase may be modified by adjective phrase or by an adverb phrase.The entire participial phrase acts as an adjective.
Cooking with great skill and finesse ,Emeril Lagasse amazed the audience with his culinary talents and bubbly personality.
Explanation:Cooking with great skill and finesse describes the proper noun, Emeril Lagasse.
8. Tips and Tricks
Participles may be past tense verbs or present tense verbs.
Find the main verb of the sentence first.
Cross out prepositional phrases.
Find the subject.
Now look for single participles or entire participial phrases.
Remember:participles act asadjectives. They describe nouns or pronouns.
What kind? Which one? How many?Whose?
9. Practice Problems
The train arriving on track 10 is an hour late.
A first-edition book signed by the author may become valuable.
The girl nauseated and weakened by the virus is Stephanie.
10. Practice Problems
Matt, exhausted from the practice EOCT tests, collapsed as he entered Room 603 this evening.
Gobbling his French fries and gulping his milkshake, L.J. finished his dinner before we began taking notes tonight.
Smitten by the lovebug, April decided to create an original Valentines gift for her boyfriend.
11. Practice Problems
Barking loudly and shaking their toys, the dachshunds greeted Mrs. Hamilton when she arrived home from night school.
Mandy is the girl passing out the programs.
All the seafood cooked in that restaurant is fried.
