A verbal is a form of a verb that is used as a noun, adjective, or adverb. There are three types of verbals: gerunds, participles, and infinitives.

Verbals

Participles

A participle is a verb form that ends in -ing, -d, or -ed and that acts as an adjective, modifying a noun or a pronoun.

​Examples:

The laughing children played in the park.

The tired baby soon fell asleep.​

​Note: "laughing" and "tired" are usually verbs, but as participles, they are describing nouns: "children" and "baby."

Verbals

Gerunds

A gerund is a verb form, that ends in -ing, and acts as a noun.

​Examples:

Being captain of the debate team is a demanding role. (subject)

He didn't particularly like being captain. (direct object)

He wrote an essay about the challenges of being captain. (object of preposition)​

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Verbals

Infinitive

An infinitive consists of the base form of the verb plus the word to, as in to walk. Infinitives may act as adjectives, adverbs, or nouns.

Examples:

To have tried was worth the trouble. (subject)

He has a tendency to dream. (adjective).

She is ready to go. (adverb)​

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