Sentence question

Both are verbals.

Both verbals.

Hi,

are they participles?

To me, they do not seem to take the position of a noun, so they are not gerunds.

However, they do seem to describe the subject 'I'.

Also, what type of verbal is this one?

I am an explorer spending most of my time at sea.

I assume this, too, is a particple describing what 'I' am doing....

Thanks.

I think they modify "hardship."

A.Stars says participial phrases are only adjectival, so they can't modify the verb.

In your new example, we have a "being" verb, so it has to modify "explorer." I know that sounds dumb, but when you say it describes what you're doing, that makes it sound adverbial.

Hi,
I have experienced a lot of hardship in my life including spending 5 years in county-state prison.

'Spending' seems like a gerund to me. You could easily replace it with a noun.

eg I have experienced a lot of hardship in my life, including a period of 5 years in county-state prison.

eg I have experienced a lot of hardship in my lif

I agree. I just can't seem to get used to the notion that gerunds are not verbals. I'll keep trying.

Actually, I was hoping you'd say something illuminating about "including." That was driving me nutz.

Hi again,
I see 'including' as a present participle describing 'hardship'.

Consider this simpler example. I bought fruit, including bananas.

Best wishes, Clive

Although I know it's a present participle, it has the feeling to me of a conjunction, like "and" or "as well as." (I realize "including" is logically different.) I can't get my brain around the idea that "including" by itself describes anything. I'd agree that the phrase "including bananas" describes "fruit." I don't know why it bothered me so much. Just a participial phrase functioning as an