EXERCISE 12.11 Identifying verbals and verbal phrases

The following sentences contain participles, gerunds, and infinitives as well as participial, gerund, and infinitive phrases. First identify each verbal or verbal phrase. Then indicate whether it is used as an adjective, an adverb, or a noun.

Example:

adjective adverb

Laughing, the talk-show host prodded her guest to speak.

1.  Written in 1850 by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter tells the story of Hester Prynne.

2.  Shunned by the community, Hester endures her loneliness.

3.  Hester is humble enough to withstand her Puritan neighbors’ cutting remarks.

4.  Despite the cruel treatment, the determined young woman refuses to leave her home.

5.  By living a life of patience and unselfishness, Hester eventually becomes the community’s angel.

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