Verbals

Verbals Edit

Verbals

Verbals are derived from verbs and retain many of the characteristics of verbs. Verbal words are used in both oral and written communication.

⚡ Jump to: Three Forms Kinds of Participles Regular Verbs Irregular Verbs Dangling Participle 30 Days

Three Verb Forms of Verbals

Participles

Gerunds

Infinitives

A. A participle is a verb form that acts as an adjective.

Four Kinds of Participles

1Present participles

Present participles end in -ing and describe a present condition. Present participles are verbals (their root words are verbs) that act as adjectives (modify nouns and pronouns) and end in -ing.

The most beguiling people come out before election.The word beguiling comes from the verb beguile.

2Past participles

Past participles may end in -ed, -d, -t, -n, or -en, or may have a different spelling in the case of irregular verbs.

Past participles of irregular verbs include: swum, drunk, gone, sung, etc.

He complained to the waiter that he was given a bent fork.bent – from the verb bend; it modifies the noun.

3Perfect participles

Perfect participles are formed by prefixing having to the past participle: having sung, having called, having driven, having seen.

Having finished his homework, Lance called his teacher.

The following tables show how verbals change form in the present, past and perfect participles.

Regular Verbs

Present Participle	Past Participle	Perfect Participle
Acting	acted	having acted
Adjusting	adjusted	having adjusted
Altering	altered	having altered
Amusing	amused	having amused
Announcing	announced	having announced
Approaching	approached	having approached
Banding	banded	having banded
Baring	bared	having bared
Bartering	bartered	having bartered
Besieging	besieged	having besieged
Boiling	boiled	having boiled
Calculating	calculated	having calculated
Chewing	chewed	having chewed
Claiming	claimed	having claimed
Daring	dared	having dared
Defining	defined	having defined
Dissolving	dissolved	having dissolved
Estimating	estimated	having estimated
Fasting	fasted	having fasted
Feigning	feigned	having feigned
Grading	graded	having graded
Glowing	glowed	having glowed
Greasing	greased	having greased
Hallucinating	hallucinated	having hallucinated

Irregular Verbs

↕ Scroll inside the table to see all verbs.

Present Participle	Past Participle	Perfect Participle
Arising	arisen	having arisen
Awaking	awaked, awoke	having awaked, having awoke
Being (am)	been	having been
Bearing (to carry)	borne	having borne
Bearing (to give birth to)	born	having born
Beating	beaten	having beaten
Becoming	become	having become
Beginning	begun	having begun
Bending	bent	having bent
Bidding	bid	having bid
Binding	bound	having bound
Bleeding	bled	having bled
Blowing	blown	having blown
Breaking	broken	having broken
Breeding	bred	having bred
Bringing	brought	having brought
Broadcasting	broadcast, broadcasted	having broadcast, having broadcasted
Building	built	having built
Bursting	burst	having burst
Buying	bought	having bought
Catching	caught	having caught
Choosing	chosen	having chosen
Coming	come	having come
Cutting	cut	having cut
Doing	done	having done
Drawing	drawn	having drawn
Drinking	drunk	having drunk
Driving	driven	having driven
Eating	eaten	having eaten
Falling	fallen	having fallen
Fleeing	fled	having fled
Flowing	flowed	having flowed
Flying	flown	having flown
Forbidding	forbidden	having forbidden
Forgetting	forgotten, forgot	having forgotten, having forgot
Forgiving	forgiven	having forgiven
Forsaking	forsaken	having forsaken
Freezing	frozen	having frozen
Getting	got, gotten	having got, having gotten
Giving	given	having given
Going	gone	having gone
Grinding	ground	having ground
Growing	grown	having grown
Hanging (a picture)	hung	having hung
Having	had	having had
Hearing	heard	having heard
Hiding	hidden	having hidden
Hitting	hit	having hit
Holding	held	having held
Hurting	hurt	having hurt
Keeping	kept	having kept
Knowing	known	having known
Laying	laid	having laid
Leading	led	having led
Leaving	left	having left
Lending	lent	having lent
Letting	let	having let
Lying (recline)	lain	having lain
Losing	lost	having lost
Making	made	having made
Meaning	meant	having meant
Meeting	met	having met
Paying	paid	having paid
Proving	proved, proven	having proved, having proven
Putting	put	having put
Quitting	quit	having quit
Reading	read	having read
Riding	ridden	having ridden
Ringing	rung	having rung
Rising	risen	having risen
Running	run	having run
Saying	said	having said
Seeing	seen	having seen
Seeking	sought	having sought
Selling	sold	having sold
Sending	sent	having sent
Setting	set	having set
Shaking	shaken	having shaken
Shining (light)	shone	having shone
Shooting	shot	having shot
Showing	shown, showed	having shown, having showed
Shrinking	shrunk	having shrunk
Shutting	shut	having shut
Singing	sung	having sung
Sinking	sunk, sunken	having sunk, having sunken
Sitting	sat	having sat
Sleeping	slept	having slept
Sliding	slid	having slid
Slinging	slung	having slung
Speaking	spoken	having spoken
Speeding	sped	having sped
Spinning	spun	having spun
Splitting	split	having split
Spreading	spread	having spread
Springing	sprung	having sprung
Standing	stood	having stood
Stealing	stolen	having stolen
Stinging	stung	having stung
Striking	struck	having struck
Striving	striven	having striven
Swearing	sworn	having sworn
Swimming	swum	having swum
Swinging	swung	having swung
Taking	taken	having taken
Teaching	taught	having taught
Tearing	torn	having torn
Telling	told	having told
Thinking	thought	having thought
Throwing	thrown	having thrown
Trying	tried	having tried
Understanding	understood	having understood
Wearing	worn	having worn
Weaving	woven	having woven
Weeping	wept	having wept
Winning	won	having won
Winding	wound	having wound
Withdrawing	withdrawn	having withdrawn
Wringing	wrung	having wrung

4Dangling participle

A dangling participle is another common mistake in English. A participle dangles if there is no word in the sentence which it could properly modify, or when it seems to be related to a word which does not convey the meaning intended.

✘ Working harder, my supervisor gave me a nod of approval.Dangling participle

The phrase working harder modifies the word supervisor. If what you mean by the sentence is "I worked harder, that is why the supervisor gave me a nod of approval," then the sentence does not properly show this intended message. The sentence will be misinterpreted as:

"The supervisor is working harder and giving me the nod of approval."

It is not clear that it is not the supervisor who is working harder. The sentence must be revised:

✔ After I worked harder, the supervisor gave me a nod of approval.No dangling participle