Gerunds & Phrases

Verbals & Phrases

Participal Phrase – can be lifted out of the sentence. Participal is an
adjective.

Gerund – Can be used as a subject - Reading is my favorite activity.
Can be used as a direct object - I enjoy reading.
Can be used as an object of a preposition – Today is a good day for
reading.
Can be used as a predicate noun – My favorite activity is reading.

Gerund Phrase – noun ending in – ing + one of the following:
an Adj.
Adv.
Direct Object
Prepositional Phrase

Infinitive – to + base form of a verb. An infinitive is either a noun, adjective or adverb.

Paul wants to leave. Is this the road to take?

Infinitive Phrase – to + base form of a verb and any of the following:
direct object, predicate noun, predicate adj.,
prepositional phrase, modifiers

1. First find the phrase
2. Take out to and the verb
3. Look at the rest of the phrase to determine if it is being uses as a noun, adj. or adverb.