Verbs - Participle, Gerund and Infinitive

In English language, there are verb forms that perform the role of other parts of speech. These are:

(i) Present Participle: In this form, the root form of a verb is joined with ‘−ing’. It acts as both a verb and an adjective.

As a verb, it represents an action in progress or incomplete action.

For example:

They are playing scrabble. (Here, the present participle form of the verb ‘play’ indicates that the game of scrabble is in progress.)

It also acts as an adjective, and like any adjective, it modifies a noun or a pronoun.

For example:

Fatima was fighting a losing cause. (Here, the present participle of the verb ‘lose’ is modifying the noun ‘cause’. Ask the question ‘what kind of cause?’ and you get the answer ‘losing cause’. Hence, ‘losing’ is working as an adjective.)

(ii) Past Participle: This form usually ends in ‘−ed’, ‘−d’, ‘−t’, ‘−en’ or ‘−n’. It acts as both a verb and an adjective.

As a verb it represents a completed action, with the emphasis on the completion of the action.

For example:

I have eaten my lunch. (Here, the past participle form of the verb ‘eat’ indicates the completion of action.)

It also acts as an adjective, and like any adjective, it modifies a noun or a pronoun.

For example:

His polished look gave him an edge over his competitors. (Here, the past participle form of the verb ‘polish’ is modifying the noun ‘look’. Ask the question ‘what kind of look?’ and you get the answer ‘polished look’. Hence, ‘polished’ is working as an adjective.)

(iii) Perfect Participle:This form is used for simply referring to an action completed at some time in the past.

For example:

Having sized up the problem at hand, Ravi went forward and took hold of the situation. (Here, the entire phrase containing the perfect participle form of the verb ‘size up’ is modifying the noun ‘Ravi’, thereby acting as an adjective phrase.)

(iv) Gerund: In this form, the root form of a verb is joined with ‘−ing’. However, unlike present participle, a gerund acts as a noun. Hence, like a noun, it can be the subject or the object of a sentence.

For example:

Playing cricket is not allowed here. (Here, the gerund ‘playing’ is working as a noun. Ask the question ‘what is not allowed?’ and you get the answer ‘playing cricket’.)

You can see here that ‘playing’ (like a noun) is the subject of the sentence, but at the same time it also has an object (like a verb), and this object is ‘cricket’. This is why a gerund is called a verbal noun, or a noun that has the qualities of a verb.

(v) Infinitive: In this form, the root form of a verb is preceded by the preposition ‘to’. Like a gerund, it acts as a noun. Hence, like a noun, it can be the subject or the object of a sentence.

For example:

Yash likes to play cricket. (Here, the infinitive ‘to play’ is working as a noun. Ask the question ‘likes what?’ and you get the answer ‘to play cricket’.)

You can see here that ‘to play’ (like a noun) is the object of the sentence, but at the same time it also has an object (like a verb), and this object is ‘cricket’. This is why an infinitive is called a verbal noun, or a noun that has the qualities of a verb.

Sometimes, the infinitive form of a verb functions as an adverb.

For example:

Nidhi has gone to see her friend. (Here, the infinitive ‘to see’ is modifying the verb ‘gone’. Hence, it is acting as an adverb.) The mangoes of this tree are good to eat. (Here, the infinitive ‘to eat’ is modifying the adjective ‘good’. Hence, it is acting as an adverb.)

Sometimes, the infinitive form of a verb functions as an adjective.

For example:

I have no time to listen to your cock-eyed theories. (Here, the infinitive ‘to listen’ is modifying the noun ‘time’. Hence, it is acting as an adjective.)