by Jennie Ruby
When it’s not just a stick, it might be a walking stick. When it’s not just a class, it might be a writing class, and when it’s not a verb, it might just be an adjective. The -ing form of a verb, when used as an adjective, is called a participle. And when a past-tense form of a verb is used as an adjective, that is a past participle.
Without these verbs as adjectives, we could never be a motivated employee, a devoted spouse, or an aging parent. And we are not happy to let these verbs-as-adjectives stand alone. Even while using them as adjectives, we remember that they are still, indeed, verbs, and verbs can be modified by adverbs. So we talk about the highly talented vocalists on "American Idol" and the sparsely populated areas of our planet.
Of course, we do manage to use these words incorrectly in the occasional unfortunate sentence, creating the famous dangling participle:
- Carrying a big stick, no one will mess with us.
- Built over a century ago, ivy clings to the walls of the stone house.
In these sentences, the participle acting as an adjective is either too far from the word it is describing (stone house) or has no word to modify at all (the word we is not even in the first sentence).
So, when is a verb not a verb? Answer: when it is an infinitive, a gerund, or a participle.
About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Essentials of Access 2000" and "Editing with MS Word 2003 and Adobe Acrobat 7" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.
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