Adding Variety to Your Writing

1. Verbal Phrases Adding Variety to Your Writing NEC FACET Center

2. Have you ever felt as if your writing is monotonous and dull?

3. If so, bring it to life by varying your sentence structure.

4. Try Using These Special Phrases Participle Phrases Gerund Phrases Infinitive Phrases

5. What is a gerund?

6. ImportantDefinition Strange . . . It looks like a verb, but it acts like a noun. • A gerund is the -ing form of a verb functioning in the sentence as a noun.

7. Some gerunds function as the subject of the sentence. The subject identifies who or what the sentence is about. Painting is Jim’s favorite hobby. Gardening keeps Aunt Ruth busy for hours. Gerunds as Subjects

8. Gerunds as Direct Objects Direct objects follow the verb and identify the receiver of the action. • My entire family likes bowling. (The verb is likes. Bowling tells what the family likes.) • The dirty floor required mopping. (The verb is required. Mopping tells what the dirty floor required.)

9. Gerunds as Objects of the Preposition • Will Rogers was famous for roping. (Roping follows the preposition for and identifies a cause of his fame.) • Derek finished work before skateboarding. (Skateboarding follows the preposition before.)

10. above about across among around at before below, beneath beside between by for from in, into, inside of off over through to, toward under upon with Common Prepositions

11. Gerund Phrases as Subjects • Singing with a country band occupies most of my brother’s weekend. • Crying at the top of his lungs generally got little Joey what he wanted.

12. Gerund Phrases as Objects • Herrmann the Great demonstrated making a rabbit appear from an empty hat. • For our final few minutes at Frontier City, we chose riding the roller coaster.

13. Gerund Phrases as Objects of the Preposition • David enjoys the ancient Japanese art ofraising bonsai trees. • Have you ever tried relaxing bywatching tropical fish?

14. Identify the Gerund Phrase • Hitting a grand slam homerun enabled Raphael to win the game for his team. • Charles was ready for a quiet evening at home after flying a rescue mission in the mountains.

15. Gerund Phrase Identified • Hitting a grand slam homerun enabled Raphael to win the game for his team. (subject) • Charles was ready for a quiet evening at home after flying a rescue mission in the mountains. (object of the preposition after)

16. Identify the Gerund Phrases • Steve succeeded in climbing the mountain. • When the director finished yelling at the production crew, he felt much better.

17. Identify the Gerund Phrases • Steve succeeded at climbing the mountain. (object of the preposition at) • When the director finished yelling at the production crew, he felt much better. (object of the verb finished, telling what he finished.)

18. Identify the Gerund Phrases • Yelling at the production crew made the director feel much better.

19. Identify the Gerund Phrases • Yelling at the production crew made the director feel much better. (subject telling what made Jack feel better)

20. Like a participle, a gerund can sometimes be accompanied by other words that complete its meaning. • A gerund phrase consists of a gerund accompanied by an adjective, an adverb, a direct object, or a prepositional phrase.

21. Examples • (gerund + D.O.) • Wearing tight shoes hurts. (adjective + gerund) • Long-distance running is fun. (gerund + prepositional phrase) • I like dancing on ice. (gerund + adverb) • Performing alone is his dream.

22. Gerund phrases, like gerunds alone, function as nouns in a sentence. Like a noun, a gerund phrase can be a subject, a D.O., an object of the preposition, or a predicate noun.

23. Be careful not to confuse a gerund phrase with a participial phrase. If the phrase functions as a subject, an object, or a predicate noun in the sentence it is a gerund phrase. If it serves as an adjective, it is a participial phrase.

24. Identify each gerund phrase. What is each phrase’s function in the sentence? • Skating at night is my hobby. • Bart received the prize for being the best tenor. • Bart had many solo parts for playing in the orchestra. • You should try singing high C. • Humming in the background, the chorus set a mood. • Appearing with a professional cast was Kristen’s dream. • Facing the audience can be the hardest part. • Practicing day and night is a necessary ingredient for succeeding as an opera singer. • The members taking their seats began tuning their instruments. • The violin section playing the tragic melody was not doing the best job in the performance.

25. Possessives in Gerund Phrases • Always use the possessive form of a noun or pronoun before a gerund.

26. Which is correct? • 11. I warned Gino about (them, their) being late. • 12. I don’t appreciate (him, his) talking back to me. • 13. (Fran, Fran’s) leaving will solve the problem. • 14. (Me, My) being there was a help. • 15. That ended (Martha, Martha’s) disrupting the rehearsals. • 16. We are delighted by (Joe, Joe’s) sensitive acting. • 17. (Him, His) continuing with the show is essential to its success. • 18. (Us, Our) agreeing on how the other minor roles should be handled was also important.

27. Identify each gerund phrase. Does each gerund phrase act as a subject, a direct object, an object of a preposition, or a predicate noun? • 19. The program’s goal is providing students with a variety of artistic opportunities. • 20. Few question the benefits of encouraging talents. • 21. The problem is obtaining the necessary money. • 22. People find different ways of raising funds. • 23. Asking for funds is an important activity. • 24. Supporters must continue advertising the program.

28. Identify each gerund phrase and participial phrase. Does each gerund phrase act as a subject, a direct object, an object of a preposition, or a predicate noun? • 25. Now the group will try campaigning on a large scale. • 26. Starting such a campaign is a challenging task. • 27. Requesting funds and other forms of assistance from large corporations will be the first strategy. • 28. Contacting firms is the director’s role. • 29. Companies find different ways of being helpful. • 30. Helping young artists is a worthwhile cause.

29. What is a participle?

30. ImportantDefinition Strange . . . It looks like a verb, but it acts like an adjective. • A participle is a verb form used as an adjective (a descriptive word).

31. Present & Past Participles • Present participles end in -ing. • Past participles end in -ed or have irregular endings. Remember this:

32. Thelaughingchild held up herbrimmingpiggy bank. With acramped leg, thescreamingboy waded out of the pool. Notice that each of these -ing or -ed words acts as an adjective by describing another word. Laughing describes child. Brimming describes the bank. Cramped describes leg. Screaming describes boy. Examples

33. Outside the Halloween spook house, dozens of grinning skeletons greeted the visitors. Tired, I spilled the steaming coffee. Identify the Descriptive Participles

34. Descriptive Participles Identified • Outside the Halloween spook house, dozens ofgrinningskeletons greeted the visitors. • Tired, I spilled thesteamingcoffee.

35. Identify the Descriptive Participles • After the torrential rain, I returned home to a flooded basement. • I read the gripping spy novel until 2:00 a.m.

36. Irregular Participles • Although most participles end in -ing and -ed, some are irregular. To identify the verbs with irregular participles, think of the form correctly used with the helping verbs have, has, and had. • Example: Built to last, the great pyramids of Egypt may be around for the next millenium.

37. Built to last, the great pyramids of Egypt may be around for the next millenium. • Notice that the phrase “built to last” works as an adjective to describe the word pyramids; therefore, it is a participial phrase. • However, you’ll see that the participle form, in this case, doesn’t end in -ed or -ing.

38. To indicate past tense, as in the following sentence, we don’t say builded: The two children builded an elaborate sand castle. • Instead, we would write “The two children built an elaborate sandcastle.” • This is one of many irregular verbs.

39. Descriptive Participles Identified • After the torrential rain, I returned home to a floodedbasement. • I read the gripping spy novel until 2:00 a.m.

40. Participial Phrases • You have seen several examples of single word participles ending with -ing and -ed. • Some participles do not appear alone, but instead as the first word of a phrase. • This phrase still serves as an adjective and, therefore, describes a noun.

41. How to Identify the Correct Past Participle Form • If you are not sure what the correct past participle form is, pick the form that would be correctly used following the helping verbs has, have, or had. • For example, the past participle of the verb take is taken. • You can tell by trying the verb with the words listed above: has taken, have taken, had taken.

42. begin-begun blow-blown bring-brought catch-caught choose-chosen draw-drew eat-eaten fall-fallen fly-flown forget-forgotten forgive-forgiven freeze-frozen go-gone hear-heard hold-held ride-ridden rise-risen speak-spoken think-thought wear-worn A Few Examples of Irregular Verbs and Their Past Participles

43. Laughing gleefully, the child held up her piggy bank. Notice that “Laughing gleefully” works as a participial phrase describing the noun child. Attacked by a sudden leg cramp, the screaming boy waded out of the pool. Notice that “Attacked by a sudden leg cramp” acts as a participial phrase describing the noun boy. Examples of Participial Phrases

44. Identify the Participial Phrase • Listening intently, the students translated Spanish sentences into English. • Using a hoe and a rake, Steve cleared the dead plants from the garden.

45. Participial Phrases Identified • Listening intently, the students translated Spanish sentences into English. (describes the noun students) • Using a hoe and a rake, Steve cleared the dead plants from the garden. (describes the noun Steve)

46. What is an Infinitive?

47. ImportantDefinition Strange . . . It looks like a verb, but it’s preceded by the word to. • An infinitive is the word to plus the base form of the verb.

48. Examples of Infinitives • We started to practice for the concert. • It’s time to rake the yard. • I asked Jeff to go sailing on Grand Lake.

49. Note • When followed by anything other than a verb, the wordto forms a prepositional phrase rather than an infinitive. • Examples: • I took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. • I went to the post office to mail the package. (Notice that the sentence also contains the infinitive “to mail.”) • I gave the gift to Michael • I need to talk to her. (This sentence also contains the infinitive “to talk.”)

50. Identify the Infinitives. • Sally decided to enter the Tulsa Run. • Brad learned to operate the new photocopier.