Gerunds, Participles, Infinitives, and Other Shallow, Pedantic AP Stuff

Gerunds, Participles, Infinitives, and other shallow, pedantic AP stuff

I. GERUNDS: A gerund is a verbal that ends in -ing and functions as a noun (subjects and objects).

·  Traveling might satisfy your desire for new experiences.

·  They do not appreciate my singing.

·  My cat's favorite activity is sleeping.

·  The police arrested him for speeding.

II. PARTICIPLES: A participle is a verbal that is used as an adjective and most often ends in -ing or -ed. However, since they function as adjectives, participles modify nouns or pronouns. There are two types of participles: present participles (ing) and past participles (ed).

·  The crying baby had a wet diaper.

·  Shaken, he walked away from the wrecked car.

·  The burning log fell off the fire.

·  Smiling, she hugged the panting dog.

Participle phrases:

·  Removing his coat, Jack rushed to the river.

·  Delores noticed her cousin walking along the shoreline.

·  Children introduced to music early develop strong intellectual skills.

III. INFINITIVES: An infinitive is a verbal consisting of the word to plus a verb (in its simplest "stem" form) and functioning as a noun, adjective, or adverb.

·  To wait seemed foolish when decisive action was required. (subject)

·  Everyone wanted to go. (direct object)

·  His ambition is to fly. (subject complement)

·  He lacked the strength to resist. (adjective)

·  We must study to learn. (adverb)

Be sure not to confuse an infinitive—a verbal consisting of to plus a verb—with a prepositional phrase beginning with to, which consists of to plus a noun or pronoun and any modifiers.

·  Infinitives: to fly, to draw, to become, to enter, to stand, to catch, to belong

·  Prepositional Phrases: to him, to the committee, to my house, to the mountains, to us, to this address

·  We intended to leave early.

·  I have a paper to write before class.

·  Phil agreed to give me a ride.

·  They asked me to bring some food.

IV. ADVERBIAL CLAUSE: An adverbial clause is a clause that functions as an adverb

·  If they lose weight during an illness, they soon regain it afterwards.

·  They had to take some of his land so that they could extend the churchyard.

·  I couldn't feel anger against him because I liked him too much.

·  He said he was happy where he was.

V. FOUR TYPES OF SENTENCES

1. Simple Sentence: Subject + Verb + Complete thought

A simple sentence can also be called an independent clause (IC).

·  Michael had to take the bus to Cabrillo.

2. Compound Sentence: Independent Clause (IC) + Independent Clause (IC)

·  Michael lost his car keys, so he had to take the bus to Cabrillo.

3. Complex Sentence: Dependent Clause (DC) + Independent Clause (IC) (or vice versa)

A phrase that has a subject, verb and complete thought, but does not make sense by itself is called a dependent clause.

·  Since Michael lost his car keys, he had to take the bus to Cabrillo.

4. Complex-Compound Sentence: Dependent Clause (DC) + Independent Clause (IC) + Independent Clause (IC)

A complex-compound sentence is formed by having at least one dependent clause before or after two independent clauses.

·  Since Michael lost his car keys, he had to take the bus to Cabrillo, and he was late for his friend’s birthday party.

·  Michael lost his keys, but Bradley, who thought he was superior, couldn’t find his either.