Module 11: Building Blocks of Sentences: Phrases and Clauses - Lesson 11.4: Types of Phrases - Verbal Phrases (Participial, Infinitive, Gerund Phrases)

Lesson 11.4: Types of Phrases - Verbal Phrases (Participial, Infinitive, Gerund Phrases)

Welcome to Lesson 11.4! In this lesson, we will focus on Verbal Phrases – phrases built around verbals. As we briefly touched upon in Module 9, verbals (participles, infinitives, and gerunds) are verb forms that function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. In this lesson, we will explore Participial Phrases, Infinitive Phrases, and Gerund Phrases in more detail, understanding their structures and diverse functions within sentences. Verbal phrases are powerful tools for concise and varied sentence construction.

Verbal Phrases - Built Around Verbals:

Verbal Phrases are phrases that are formed around verbals – verb forms that act as other parts of speech. The type of verbal at the center of the phrase determines the type of verbal phrase and its primary functions.

Types of Verbal Phrases we will cover:

Participial Phrases (built around participles)
Infinitive Phrases (built around infinitives)
Gerund Phrases (built around gerunds)

Participial Phrases - Acting as Adjectives and Adverbs:
Participial Phrases begin with a participle (present participle - '-ing' form, or past participle - '-ed' form for regular verbs, or irregular past participle forms) and include any modifiers, objects, or complements associated with the participle. Participial phrases function primarily as adjectives or adverbs.

Components of Participial Phrases:
- Participle (Essential): Present participle (e.g., running, barking, singing) or Past participle (e.g., broken, finished, painted). The participle is the head word.
- Modifiers, Objects, Complements (Optional): Adverbs modifying the participle, objects of the participle (if transitive), prepositional phrases related to the participle, etc. (e.g., running quickly, barking loudly, broken beyond repair, finished on time, painted by a famous artist).
Functions of Participial Phrases:
- Acting as Adjectives (Adjectival Phrases): Participial phrases can modify nouns or pronouns, acting as adjectives. They can be placed in attributive position (before the noun) or predicative position (after a linking verb), though attributive position is less common for full participial phrases, and more common for single-word participles or shorter phrases directly preceding the noun. More often they are placed after the noun they modify when acting as adjectives.
- Acting as Adverbs (Adverbial Phrases): Participial phrases can modify verbs, adjectives, or adverbs, acting as adverbs. They can indicate time, reason, manner, circumstance, result, etc., of the action in the main clause. Adverbial participial phrases often come at the beginning of the sentence or after the main clause.
Infinitive Phrases - Acting as Nouns, Adjectives, and Adverbs:
Infinitive Phrases begin with an infinitive ('to + base form of verb') and include any objects, modifiers, or complements associated with the infinitive. Infinitive phrases are very versatile and can function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.

Components of Infinitive Phrases:
- Infinitive (Essential): 'to + base verb' (e.g., to run, to study, to eat, to be, to have). The infinitive is the core of the phrase.
- Objects, Modifiers, Complements (Optional): Objects of the infinitive (if transitive), adverbs modifying the infinitive, prepositional phrases related to the infinitive, etc. (e.g., to run quickly, to study English, to eat healthy food, to be honest, to have finished on time).
Functions of Infinitive Phrases:
- Acting as Nouns (Noun Phrases): Infinitive phrases can function as nouns, acting as subjects, objects, subject complements, or appositives.
- Acting as Adjectives (Adjectival Phrases): Infinitive phrases can modify nouns or pronouns, acting as adjectives. They typically come after the noun they modify.
- Acting as Adverbs (Adverbial Phrases): Infinitive phrases can modify verbs, adjectives, or adverbs, acting as adverbs. They often express purpose, reason, result, manner, degree. Adverbial infinitive phrases are quite flexible in position.
Gerund Phrases - Acting as Nouns (Noun Phrases):
Gerund Phrases begin with a gerund (the '-ing' form of a verb used as a noun) and include any objects, modifiers, or complements associated with the gerund. Gerund phrases function primarily and almost exclusively as nouns.

Components of Gerund Phrases:
- Gerund (Essential): Verb + '-ing' form acting as a noun (e.g., swimming, reading, running, studying, being). The gerund is the head noun of the phrase.
- Objects, Modifiers, Complements (Optional): Objects of the gerund (if transitive), adjectives modifying the gerund (though less common directly modifying the gerund itself, more modifying objects within the phrase), adverbs modifying verbs within the phrase, prepositional phrases related to the gerund action, etc. (e.g., swimming in the sea, reading books, running quickly, studying English grammar, being patient).
Functions of Gerund Phrases:

Gerund phrases function as nouns, occupying typical noun positions in sentences.
- Subject: Swimming in the sea is great exercise. (Gerund phrase 'Swimming in the sea' is the subject of 'is').
- Direct Object: He enjoys reading books. (Gerund phrase 'reading books' is the direct object of 'enjoys').
- Subject Complement: His favorite hobby is collecting stamps. (Gerund phrase 'collecting stamps' complements 'hobby').
- Object of Preposition: She is good at painting portraits. (Gerund phrase 'painting portraits' is the object of the preposition 'at').
Examples of Gerund Phrases:
- Learning new languages broadens your horizons. (Subject - Gerund phrase 'Learning new languages' as subject).
- He avoids making mistakes. (Direct Object - Gerund phrase 'making mistakes' as object of 'avoids').
- One of life's pleasures is eating good food. (Subject Complement - Gerund phrase 'eating good food' as complement of 'is').
- They are interested in traveling to exotic places. (Object of Preposition - Gerund phrase 'traveling to exotic places' as object of 'in').
- Being praised by his boss made him feel valued. (Subject - Gerund phrase 'Being praised by his boss' as subject).
Gerund phrases provide a way to use verb forms as nouns, adding action or process as nominal concepts within sentences.

Key takeaway: Verbal phrases (participial, infinitive, gerund) are built around verbals and expand sentence possibilities. Participial phrases act as adjectives/adverbs, infinitive phrases as nouns/adjectives/adverbs, and gerund phrases primarily as nouns. Understanding these verbal phrase types and their functions is essential for constructing varied and sophisticated sentences in English. Next, we will move on to Clauses, starting with Lesson 11.5: Introduction to Clauses - Independent and Dependent Clauses!