Verbals (participles, gerunds and infinitives) are verb forms doing other jobs, so they never go on the baseline as the main verb. Each has its own line shape. This builds on prepositional phrases and complements.
| Verbal | Its job | Its line |
|---|---|---|
| participle | adjective | a slant that bends into a flat line, under the noun it modifies |
| gerund | noun | a stepped line, raised on a forked stand in a noun’s place |
| infinitive | noun, adjective or adverb | to on a slant and the verb on a flat line; on a forked stand when it does a noun’s job |
Key idea
Find the real verb first and put it on the baseline. Then give each verbal the line of its job: bent (participle), stepped (gerund), or to on a slant (infinitive).
Why it works
The shapes show that these words are still verbs inside (they can have objects and modifiers) but do a noun’s or an adjective’s job outside. The forked stand lifts a whole verbal phrase into a single noun place.
Worked example: A participial phrase
Diagram “Waving her hat, Mia ran.”
- The real verb is ran; the subject is Mia.
- Waving her hat describes Mia, so it hangs under Mia on a bent line.
- hat is the object of waving; her hangs under hat.
Answer: Mia | ran, with waving | hat under Mia
Common mistake
Putting a verbal on the baseline as if it were the main verb. In “Swimming cools the hikers,” the verb is cools; swimming is the subject, so it stands on a stand in the subject’s place.