Verbals
Verbals (and Deverbals) are words that have verbs as their root, but undergo changes to fill a different role in a sentence, such as the head of a noun phrase or a modifier phrase. Verbals include PARTICIPLES, which may end in an -ing suffix (Active) or an -ed/en suffix (Perfect/Passive); and INFINITIVES, which are usually preceded by ‘to’ (making them Full Infinitives; Bare Infinitives do not have the ‘to’ in front). Verbals retain the properties of verbs (while Deverbals do not), even while serving as a different part of speech.
Infinitives
The Bare Infinitive is the same as the “base form” that we find in dictionaries. In practice, it’s most often used after modals. As verbals, they can be found in select Verb Patterns.
The Full Infinitive is the combination of ‘to’ before the base word. As a verb, it’s used in future forms like be going to. As a verbal, it can have several applications. It’s commonly the second part of Verb Patterns. Less frequently, we can find or use them as nouns or modifiers.
The Full Infinitive typically denotes a prospective (future-facing) meaning, and it often implies purpose, intention, or result.
Active Participles
The Active Participle has the -ing suffix. As a verb, it’s found in Progressive or Continuous tenses, but it has plenty of verbal applications as well.
There are many variations of Verb Patterns, but the most common form to serve as the second part is the Active Participle. These participles can also serve as active adjectives or as verbal nouns.
A special brand of -ing verbal nouns are Gerunds, which maintain the properties of both verbs and nouns.
Active Participles show actions in progress or the cause of some effect.
Perfect Participles
The Passive Participle — aka the Perfect Participle — has the -ed suffix for the majority of verbs, though some have an irregular form. As a verb, it’s found in Perfect tenses as well as in Passive Voice.
As a verbal, the Passive Participle is found in a subset of Verb Patterns known as Causatives. They are also used as passive adjectives.
Perfect Participles are retrospective (past-facing) and show the lingering effects of a verb that began previously, either because the verb continues into the relevant time or because it has a results that is more pertinent than the original verb.
When to Use Verbals
Gerunds
Verb Patterns
Reporting Verb Patterns
RECOMMENDATION: Visit the Verb Patterns page first.
Participle Adjectives
Causative Structure
RECOMMENDATION: Visit the Verb Patterns page first.
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General Notes
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Our videos feature selective colored text. Colors stand out and help students know what to pay attention to. We’re rather consistent with our color choices so that students learn to expect certain things from certain colors. We recommend using this same technique yourself. Read our article to learn more.
Focus on Structure & Usage
Most of our methods are all about either sentence structure or usage. We touch on forms of individual words less often, and we hardly ever address infection or pronunciation. All five of these are important, but form and pronunciation tend to be more straightforward, so we let teachers decide for themselves how to present those. We dedicate our resources to the trickier stuff.
Working in Phrases
Most of the time when we say ‘noun’, we actually mean ‘noun phrase’, which typically includes determiners (like articles, possessives, and quantifiers) and sometimes adjectives. We often do the same with verb strings; auxiliary verbs, ‘not’, and sometimes adverbs are included when we say ‘verb’.
Within the framework of a sentence, combining all those individual words into one block is generally helpful, as they act together to serve a single purpose.
American English
We mostly use American English, although most ESOL books primarily use British English. We do this because our founder and lead content creator is American, so it’s what comes natural to him. Just think of this as an excuse to teach your students some of the differences between British English and American English.