To Infinitives (and beyond!)

Today in class we went over the third member of the Verbal family: infinitives.

An infinitive is a verb in its base or root form, usually preceded by the word "to"

Ex. to swim, to draw, to dance, etc.

What makes infinitives a kind of verbal? Well, just like participals and gerunds are verb forms used as different parts of speech, infinitives are also verb forms used as nouns, adjectives, and adverbs.

We're first focusing on infinitives as nouns, and just like gerunds, they can be used as subjects, subject complements, or direct objects.

HW: 73 A, 74A, 76A

QUESTION OF THE DAY:

How can you tell if a verb is being used as a participal or a gerund if it ends in -ing?



Simply look at how the word is functioning in the sentence. If the verb ending in -ing functions as a person, place, thing, or idea, you have a noun on your hands, therefore a gerund.

If the verb ending in -ing is describing a person, place, thing, or idea, then it's functioning as an adjective, a participal.