If "noisily" is an adverb in the following sentence, what is "mooing"?
The cows entered the barn mooing noisily.
"Mooing" is a present participle. See the -ing ending? Whenever you see one of those and there's no helping verb there to make it a complete verb, then the verbal is a present participle, serving as an adjective. So ... what noun is "mooing" describing?
The word, "mooing," is a participle, modifying the noun "cows." Participles are verb forms used as adjectives.
For more information about participles, check this site.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/627/02
In the sentence "The cows entered the barn mooing noisily," "mooing" is a verb. It is the present participle form of the verb "moo," which means to make the sound that cows make. "Noisily" is an adverb because it describes how the cows entered the barn.
To identify the function of words in a sentence, it is important to understand the parts of speech. Here is a breakdown of the parts of speech in the sentence:
- "The" is an article.
- "Cows" is a noun and the subject of the sentence.
- "Entered" is a verb.
- "The" is an article (again).
- "Barn" is a noun and the direct object of the verb "entered."
- "Mooing" is a verb (present participle) and functions as the verb complement of "entered."
- "Noisily" is an adverb and modifies the verb "mooing."
By analyzing the sentence and understanding the various parts of speech, we can determine that "mooing" is a verb in this context.