Verbs can do other jobs. A verbal is a verb form used as another part of speech. The first kind is the participle: a verb form used as an adjective. Present participles end in -ing (barking); past participles usually end in -ed or -en (painted, broken). You met them inside verb phrases in Helping Verbs.
- “the barking dog”: which dog? barking describes it.
- “the broken vase”
- A participial phrase is a participle with its own object or modifiers: “Waving her hat, Mia ran to the bus.”
Key idea
A participle describes a noun. If an -ing or -ed word follows a helping verb (is, was, has), it is part of the verb phrase instead.
Why it works
Participles pack an action into a description: “the dog that was barking” becomes “the barking dog.” A participial phrase at the start of a sentence must describe the subject right after the comma, or the sentence says something silly. That is the dangling modifier you will fix in Usage and Mechanics.
Worked example: Participle or verb?
Compare “The dog is barking” and “The barking dog woke the baby.”
- In the first, barking follows the helping verb is: it is part of the verb phrase is barking.
- In the second, barking tells which dog; the verb is woke. Here it is a participle.
Answer: verb, then participle
Common mistake
Calling every -ing word a verb. In “the barking dog,” barking describes the dog, so it works as an adjective. Find the real verb of the sentence first; the other verb forms are verbals.