B. Foundations of Language · Foundations of Language: Listening, Speaking, Words, Fluency and ConventionsVerbals and Voice: Gerunds, Participles, Infinitives, and Active and Passive Voice
B3.2 B3.1About 65 minutes
Learning goals- I can identify gerunds, participles and infinitives and explain the job each is doing.
- I can tell a gerund from a participle and from a progressive verb.
- I can change sentences between active and passive voice.
- I can choose active or passive voice on purpose and explain how voice can highlight or hide who did something.
- I can keep verb tenses consistent, using the literary present when I write about literature.
Words to know
verbal
A form of a verb that works as another part of speech: a gerund, participle or infinitive.
gerund
An -ing verb form used as a noun: Skiing is fun.
participle
A verb form used as an adjective: present (the howling wind) or past (a frozen pond).
infinitive
to + the base form of a verb (to swim), used as a noun, adjective or adverb.
active voice
The subject does the action: The beaver chewed the tree.
passive voice
The subject receives the action: The tree was chewed (by the beaver). Formed with be + past participle.
literary present
Using present tense to discuss events in a literary work: In the novel, Lena leaves home.
Remember from earlier grades
In Grade 6 you learned that gerunds are -ing words acting as nouns, and you compared active and passive voice. In Grade 7 you added participles and participial phrases, and in Grade 8 you studied verb tenses and the literary present. In Grade 9 you'll put this together: recognizing verbals in complex sentences, and choosing voice deliberately in lab reports, essays and persuasive writing, where voice can change what readers notice.
Let's start with three -ing words
- Skating on the canal is a winter tradition.
- The skating children laughed.
- The children are skating on the canal.
All three use skating, but it does three different jobs: in 1 it's a noun (the subject: a gerund); in 2 it's an adjective describing children (a participle); in 3 it's part of the verb are skating (the progressive tense). The test is always the same: what job is it doing?
Three verbals
Gerunds act as nouns. They can be subjects, objects or objects of prepositions:
- Shovelling snow is good exercise. (subject)
- I enjoy reading. (direct object)
- She's good at solving puzzles. (object of the preposition at)
Participles act as adjectives:
- Present participles end in -ing: the howling wind, a surprising result.
- Past participles often end in -ed, -en, -t: a frozen lake, the broken window, a lost mitt.
- Participial phrases: Exhausted by the storm, the crew slept for hours.
Infinitives are to + verb, and act as nouns, adjectives or adverbs:
- I want to swim. (noun: object of want)
- She needs a place to study. (adjective: which place?)
- We went outside to shovel. (adverb: why did we go?)
| Sentence | -ing word | Job | Name |
|---|
| Skating on the canal is fun. | Skating | subject (noun) | gerund |
| The skating children laughed. | skating | describes children (adjective) | participle |
| The children are skating. | are skating | the main verb | progressive verb |
| I love skating. | skating | object of love (noun) | gerund |
Active and passive voice
In active voice, the subject does the action: The beaver chewed the tree.
In passive voice, the subject receives the action. The verb uses a form of be + a past participle, and the actor may appear after by, or disappear: The tree was chewed (by the beaver).
Use active voice most of the time: it's clearer, shorter and more direct.
Passive voice is useful when:
- the actor is unknown: My bike was stolen.
- the actor is unimportant or obvious, and the focus is on what happened: The new arena was opened in 2019.
- in science procedures, where the focus is the method, not the person: The water was heated to 80 °C. (Some teachers prefer active voice in lab reports; check your course's expectations.)
Watch for passive voice that hides responsibility. Mistakes were made doesn't say who made them. When you read news, speeches and statements, notice when an actor has disappeared, and ask why.
Worked exampleLet's analyze voice in a real-world statement
An invented company statement says: "We regret that customer data was accessed without permission and that the problem was not detected for several weeks." Analyze the voice and its effect, then rewrite in active voice.
- Find the verbs: was accessed, was not detected: both are be + past participle, so both are passive.
- Who is missing? No one is named as accessing the data, and no one is named as failing to detect it.
- Effect: the passive voice shifts attention away from who was responsible: the attacker and the company's own security team.
- Rewrite in active voice (you may need to supply the actor): "Hackers accessed customer data without permission, and our security team did not detect the problem for several weeks."
The passive verbs was accessed and was not detected leave out who did these things, which softens the company's responsibility. Active: "Hackers accessed customer data without permission, and our security team did not detect the problem for several weeks."
Writing about literature? Use the present tense
When you discuss events in a story, novel, play or poem, use the literary present: In Act 2, Juliet wonders why Romeo must be a Montague. The story happens again every time someone reads it. Switch to past tense only for events that happened before the story's "now", or for facts about the author's life.
Hands-on activityVoice detectives at the breakfast table
You need: a newspaper or news website (with a parent), a pencil and paper.
- Find 5 sentences in news stories that use passive voice (look for was/were/has been/is + past participle).
- For each, ask: Is the actor named? If not, why might the writer have left it out (unknown, unimportant, or avoiding blame)?
- Rewrite two of them in active voice. You may need to invent or infer the actor; say so.
- Find one gerund, one participle and one infinitive in the same articles. Label each and explain its job.
Just for funA classic example of passive voice dodging responsibility is a kid explaining a broken lamp: "The lamp got broken." Notice how the lamp, apparently, broke itself. In active voice, the story gets a lot more interesting.
Your turn
1Identify the verbal and its type: Snowshoeing through the forest was peaceful.
Snowshoeing (with the phrase through the forest): a gerund, acting as the subject.
2Identify the verbal and its type: The melting snow flooded the path.
melting: a present participle, acting as an adjective describing snow.
3Identify the verbal and its type: We stopped to rest.
to rest: an infinitive acting as an adverb (why we stopped).
4Is running a gerund, participle or verb in She is running late?
Part of the verb (progressive tense: is running).
5Change to passive: The students organized the fundraiser.
The fundraiser was organized by the students.
6Change to active: The final goal was scored by Mia.
Mia scored the final goal.
7Why might a writer choose passive voice in My locker was broken into last night?
The actor (whoever broke in) is unknown, so passive voice focuses on what happened.
More practice: warm-up
1What are the three verbals?
Gerunds, participles and infinitives.
An -ing verb form used as a noun.
3How is passive voice formed?
A form of be + a past participle.
4Give a past participle used as an adjective.
Any of: frozen lake, broken window, lost mitt, tired team, written report.
5Which voice is usually clearer and more direct?
More practice: on your own
1Label each verbal: To win the tournament, the exhausted team kept practising.
To win: infinitive (adverb: why they kept practising). exhausted: past participle (adjective describing team). practising: gerund (object of kept).
2Rewrite this lab step in passive voice: I added 50 mL of water to the beaker.
Fifty millilitres of water were added to the beaker. (or 50 mL of water was added to the beaker, since a quantity is often treated as singular)
3A news headline reads "Mistakes were made, says mayor." What question should a critical reader ask?
Who made the mistakes? The passive voice leaves out who was responsible.
4Fix the tense to use the literary present: In the story, the narrator found a key and opens the door.
In the story, the narrator finds a key and opens the door.
5Explain the difference: I stopped to talk to her vs I stopped talking to her.
Stopped to talk: I stopped (what I was doing) in order to talk to her (infinitive of purpose). Stopped talking: I quit talking to her (gerund as object). The verbals give opposite meanings.
Challenge
1Rewrite this paragraph in active voice, keeping its meaning: The decision to close the library was made last week. Concerns were raised by many residents. The plan will be reviewed by council.
Council decided to close the library last week. Many residents raised concerns. Council will review the plan. (The actor in the first sentence isn't stated in the original; council is a reasonable inference and should be flagged as one.)
2Write a sentence that contains a gerund, a participle and an infinitive. Label each.
Sample: Hoping to win, the team practised passing every day. Hoping (present participle, describing team), to win (infinitive, object of hoping), passing (gerund, object of practised).
3Argue for when passive voice is the better choice in a science report, and when it isn't.
Passive suits procedures where the action matters more than who did it (The solution was filtered), and it keeps focus on the method. But when the actor matters (Our group made an error in measuring), or when the writing becomes vague or wordy, active voice is clearer and more honest. The best choice depends on what the reader needs to know.
Quiz
1. In Skiing is my favourite sport, skiing is a:
2. In the howling wind, howling is a:
3. Which sentence is in passive voice?
4. Passive voice is most appropriate when:
5. In We went out to shovel the driveway, to shovel acts as:
6. Which uses the literary present correctly?
Big idea: B3.2 asks students to consolidate and refine their understanding of grammar and use it to support comprehension and communicate meaning clearly and precisely. Verbals and voice are where grammar and meaning meet most clearly.
How to help at home: When you hear passive voice in the news ("was arrested", "were made"), ask together, "Who did it? Why might they leave that out?" When your teen writes about a book, check for the literary present.
Common difficulties:
- Calling every -ing word a gerund. Ask what job it's doing.
- Thinking passive voice is wrong. It's a tool; the problem is using it when it makes writing vague or hides responsibility.
- Tense shifts in literary essays (switching between past and present).