Verbs

         This week was better than last week. Don’t get me wrong, I am definitely struggling, but it’s the good kind where I can sort of feel my brain working hard.

         Let’s talk about verbals. They are sneaky little buggers, huh? They are nouns, adjectives, and adverbs pretending to be verbs. Basically, they are a pain. I don’t think these are hard to use correctly. I just think it’s really hard to identify them when you have to label each part of the sentence. A lot of the rules we have been learning about seem to be that way: easy to understand and apply, but difficult to dissect and explain. That being said, I’m not going to try to explain gerunds. Instead, I’ll provide an example and break it down (I hope I do it right).

“Performing on Broadway is my dream.” In this sentence, the gerund “performing” is the subject. "Is" is the verb. 

“I hate washing the dishes and mopping the floor.” In this sentence, the gerunds “washing” and “performing” are direct objects. “Hate” is the verb.

         Here is a mistake I found this week while doing research for another class: To be honest, I see this all the time. It always drives me crazy, mainly because spellcheck definitely points out this mistake and everyone ignores it. I mean, we have this really awesome tool available to us, but we can’t be bothered to pay attention? What’s the point?

You might never be able to afford that dress, that car, or that vacation home, but there’s satisfaction in simply saying “this defines me”.  http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/19/pinterest-ads/