Verbials

Question

what is verbial? verbal and verbial are same or not ?

RandomGuy · Accepted Answer

AnonymousWhat is a verbial? Are verbals and verbials ~~are~~ the same or not?

I’ve never heard the term ‘verbial’. There’s ‘adverbial’, which refers to an expression used to modify a verb or VP in clause structure, as in I talked to him this morning.

This site defines ‘verbal’ as “a verb-form that functions in a sentence as a noun or a modifier rather than as a verb” and applies the term to infinitives, ·ing forms, and participles. This is misleading, however, since these forms do "function as verbs"; it’s the expressions they head that function like a noun or as a modifier. In Watching TV is bad for you, for example, watching TV functions like a noun, not just watching.

GPY · Answer

Assuming that "verbial" is not simply a mistake for "verbal", it seems to be an obscure and highly technical term. At the link below it is defined as "any expression belonging to the semantic category of a functor of a propositional function having exclusively nominal arguments" ... whatever that means!

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hElg1os8YiQC&pg=PA7&dq=verbial

Verbials

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