Use of 而 preceding verb
My go-to is usually 百度 Bai Du:

It means: but （not）；yet （not）；and；as well as；

Out of all of the examples there, I only found a couple where it precedes the verb:

我愿意为什么**而** [VERB: 牺牲] 呢？
What am I willing to sacrifice?

你原是为永恒**而** [VERB: 造]。
You were made to last forever.


而 here, as you can see from the translation, can mean "to" as an infinitive (precedes verb). 

However, you'll most often see it used as a coordinator/conjunction...

革命是广泛**而**自发的。
The revolution is broad and spontaneous.


Definitely check out that Bai Du link above... You'll see 而 is also used a lot in conjunction with other words to actually mean many different things... Here's some more examples:

而。。。却 : And...Yet

这些话除了伤痛什么也不能带来 **而** 我们 **却** 乞求它。
Those words bring nothing but pain and yet we beg for it.


而。。。，是为了 : I did [x], so that [y]

而我看这些书，是为了让你不必再去看。
I read these books so that you don't have to.