Verbals Worksheets
About Our Verbals Worksheets
Verbals are verbs in clever disguises-words that look like verbs but moonlight as nouns (gerunds), adjectives (participles), or adverbs/nouns/adjectives (infinitives). They keep sentences nimble: Running clears my head (gerund), the broken cup (participle), to learn is exciting (infinitive). Once students see how these forms shift roles, writing stops sounding choppy and starts sounding composed. Think of verbals as Swiss-army verbs-compact tools that do more with less.
Why learn them? Because verbals condense ideas, cut repetition, and add texture to everything from narratives to lab reports. A single verbal phrase can fuse two sentences into one clear, stylish line: After finishing the draft, Maya shared it. Readers get cleaner logic, tighter pacing, and a voice that sounds intentionally crafted. That's a lot of payoff for a few small forms.
This collection turns the concept into habits you can trust. Students identify each type, pick the right role for the job, and fix common pitfalls like dangling participles or clunky "for + verb" constructions. With lively contexts and short, targeted reps, they'll move from spotting verbals to using them on purpose. The result: sentences that work hard and read easy.
A Look At Each Worksheet
Gerund Challenge
Spot gerunds acting as subjects, objects, and complements, then justify the choice in a quick note. Students learn to ask "Is this -ing word naming a thing?" and answer with confidence. Identification turns into instinct.
Gerund Genius
Level up with transformations: swap clunky noun phrases for sleek gerunds without losing meaning. A few lines later, "the act of describing" becomes "describing." Elegance meets accuracy.
Guide on Verbals
A friendly reference sheet that lays out gerunds, participles, and infinitives at a glance. Side-by-side examples clear up look-alikes and near-misses. Students keep it handy; teachers love the consistency.
Identify the Verbal
Mixed sentences hide all three types-learners circle the verbal and label its function. The "what job is it doing?" question drives every decision. Clarity goes up, guesswork goes down.
Infinite Combinations
Infinitives take the spotlight in noun, adjective, and adverb roles. Students test to + verb in tight contexts until each use feels obvious. Possibilities multiply-confusion does not.
Infinitive Adventure
Mini-quests ask learners to choose the best infinitive phrase to complete meaning. The result is natural-sounding sentences with purposeful rhythm. Grammar and style travel together.
Infinitive Connection
Link ideas cleanly by picking infinitives that show purpose, result, or intent. Learners hear why to finish beats for finish every time. Tiny fixes, major polish.
Infinitive Spotter
A short passage becomes a treasure hunt for infinitives and their functions. Students underline, label, and rewrite one line for extra clarity. Reading skill + grammar skill = double win.
Participle Picker
Choose the right participle-present or past-to describe nouns precisely. Glowing lights and broken jars finally feel different on the page. Description gets sharper and shorter.
Participle Practice
Build and place participial phrases without creating danglers. Learners keep modifiers close to the nouns they modify and hear the difference immediately. Meaning stops wandering.
Phrase Fusion
Fuse two short sentences into one strong line using a verbal phrase. The exercise proves how economy and clarity can coexist. Fewer words, better flow.
Verbal Builders
Given prompts, students construct sentences around a required verbal and then reposition it for emphasis. Craft meets control in quick reps. Flexibility becomes a skill, not a guess.
Verbal Choices
Pick the best verbal for the job-gerund, participle, or infinitive-and explain why. The micro-explanations lock in understanding. Decision-making turns into fluency.
Verbal ID
Rapid-fire IDs with close calls that force careful reading. Learners label type and function in seconds. Speed without sloppiness.
Verbal Quiz Quest
A mixed assessment: identify, correct, and compose with all three forms. It's a tidy checkpoint that shows what stuck. Confidence goes up; errors go down.
What Are Verbals?
Verbals are verb forms that don't serve as the main verb of the clause. Instead, they act as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs to pack information into compact, flexible phrases. The three types are gerunds (noun jobs, ending in -ing), participles (adjective jobs, present -ing or past -ed/-en forms), and infinitives (to + base verb, doing noun/adjective/adverb work). Spotting the role-not just the ending-is the winning move.
You'll hear verbals everywhere. Signs and schedules use infinitives for purpose (To enter, scan your badge), stories lean on participles for quick description (startled birds), and reflections prefer gerunds to name actions (Thinking helped). In each case, a verbal compresses meaning so the sentence reads cleaner and quicker. That's real-world utility, not just workbook trivia.
Core concepts make usage simple. Gerunds behave like nouns: they can be subjects (Swimming is fun), direct objects (I enjoy swimming), or complements (Her hobby is swimming). Participles behave like adjectives and must sit near what they modify to avoid danglers (Smiling brightly, Liam waved). Infinitives are versatile: noun (To lead is hard), adjective (a plan to win), or adverb (came to help).
Form matters, too. After certain verbs or expressions, English prefers a gerund (enjoy, avoid, consider) or an infinitive (decide, hope, plan). Choose the form that matches the pattern: She enjoys reading but She hopes to read. When purpose is the meaning, use to + verb (or for + gerund), not for + base verb.
Clarity beats cleverness. Keep participial and infinitive phrases attached to the right noun to avoid ambiguity, and don't overpack sentences with stacked modifiers. Read aloud: if the doer of the action isn't obvious, move or rename it. Used well, verbals make prose sound intentional-tight, vivid, and precise.
Common Mistakes with Verbals
Sentence - "I enjoy to swim in the lake."
Corrected Sentence - "I enjoy swimming in the lake."
Why Is That Correct? - After enjoy (and similar verbs like avoid, consider), English takes a gerund, not an infinitive. The -ing form acts as a noun object and fits the verb's pattern.
Sentence - "To finish the report on time, it was decided to work late."
Corrected Sentence - "To finish the report on time, the team decided to work late."
Why Is That Correct? - The opening infinitive phrase must logically modify the subject that follows. Naming the team removes the dangling modifier and restores clear meaning.
Sentence - "She went for buy snacks."
Corrected Sentence - "She went to buy snacks." or "She went for buying snacks."
Why Is That Correct? - Purpose is expressed with to + base verb (infinitive) or for + gerund, not for + base verb. Choosing a correct structure keeps the sentence grammatical and natural.