amostofi1999 wrote:
hi guys,
this is from the drill on page 58 of
MGMAT verbal foundation:
5. I feel bad for doing the job badly. Correct/ Incorrect
The official answer says that the sentence is correct since "badly" is an adverb modifying the verb "doing". My question is: how is "doing" a verb when it has no helping verb with it?
Dear
amostofi1999,
I'm happy to help. Gerunds & participles & infinitives are collectively called "
verbals" --- that is, verb-forms that are taking some other grammatical role. See this article with the links to individual articles on verbals.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/verb-forms ... orrection/All the "equipment" that comes with a verb is called the
predicate --- this can include a direct object, a predicate adjective, adverbs, prepositional phrases, participial phrases, etc. etc. Whatever "stuff" can come in the predicate of a full verb can also come in the predicate of any verbal. For example:
I throw a ball gleefully in the air.
In that sentence, the verb is in red, and the entire predicate is in green --- I chose a predicate that includes (1) a direct object
"a ball", (2) an adverb "
gleefully", and (3) a prepositional phrase "
in the air."
Now, we can change that verb, with its entire predicate, into any verbal
(a) an
infinitive ---
I want to throw a ball gleefully in the air.
(b) a
gerund ----
Throwing a ball gleefully in the air is not the most productive way to spend an afternoon.
(c) a
participle ----
The student throwing a ball gleefully in the air was chastised by the teacher.
Any grammatical structure that can accompany and/or modify a full verb can also accompany and/or modify any of the verbals.
Does all this make sense?
Mike