Kinds of clauses: Finite and nonfinite

Finite: 'Finite' in grammar means 'tied to a particular time that is known in relationship to the moment of speaking or writing'. A finite clause has a tense marker in it: a main verb or helping verb that indicates, through a suffix or through its form, the time at which the event, action, or state took place. When you hear a finite clause, you can tell whether the event described by the clause happened before the moment the clause is said (past), or is true at the moment the clause is said (present) or is going to happen after the clause is said (future).

Examples:

Marla has written her essay for the grad school application.

Has written tells us that the action took place before the clause was spoken/written.

Americans vote for President every four years on the first Tuesday in November.

The form of the verb vote tells us that this statement is true at the time the clause was spoken/written.

The redwoods will be clearcut starting tomorrow.

Will be clearcut tells us that the event has not happened yet.

I would have called him this morning, but my cellphone is on the fritz.

The presence of have after would and the'-ed' ending on call tell us that this is a hypothetical statement about the past. If we change it to would call , we understand that it is a hypothetical statement about the present or future.

Notice that tense sometimes is shown by the main verb if it is alone ( as with vote), and sometimes by a helping verb (an auxiliary verb) such as has in has written and will in will be clearcut.

Nonfinite: If finite means 'tied to a particular time that is known in relationship to the moment of speaking or writing', then nonfinite must be its opposite: 'NOT tied to a particular time that is known in relationship to the moment of speaking or writing'. A nonfinite clause has a subject and a predicate, but no tense indicator: we may be able to tell whether a process or finished act is talked about, but we can't necessarily tell when it took place. Nonfinite clauses play the same roles as constituents in sentences: they can be subject, adverbial, direct object, etc.

Examples:

a. I see Mary eating strawberries.

b. I saw Mary eating strawberries.

c. I will see Mary eating strawberries.

Mary eating strawberries has the structure of a clause: a subject (Mary), and a predicate consisting of a verb + direct object (eating strawberries), which gives some detail about Mary. Yet nothing in this clause ties it to a particular moment in time. Sentence a. puts the event of strawberry-eating in the present; sentence b. puts it in the past, and sentence c. puts it in the future. The placement in time of the strawberry-eating event is indicated by something else in the sentence: the form of the verb see. The nonfinite clauseMary eating strawberries appears inside of another clause in all three sentences, a., b., and c. For instance, the structure of a. is:

[ I see [Mary eating strawberries] ].

Isee Mary eating strawberries. The subject is I, and the predicate is see Mary eating strawberries. Mary eating strawberries is the direct object of see, just as your brother is direct object in a sentence like I see your brother over there in the parking lot.

Notice, too, that Mary eating strawberries can't be a sentence by itself in formal English, e.g. *Mary eating strawberries by the pool. In informal English, this might be said alone as an answer to a question (e.g., What do you see?), but in formal writing it would be considered a fragment.

The following sentences are similar:

a. We heard the tree fall / the tree falling.

b. I hear the tree falling.

c. The loggers are at work -- in five minutes you will hear the tree falling / the tree fall.

Notice that if the nonfinite clause were to stand alone as a sentence, we would need a tense marker in the clause, on the verb or on a helping verb: The tree falls; the tree fell, the tree is falling.

Independent (main) and dependent (subordinate) clauses are discussed in the section on sentences

26. Word classes - some characteristics

Words are fundamental units in every sentence, so we will begin by looking at these. Consider the words in the following sentence:

my brother drives a big car

We can tell almost instinctively that brother and car are the same type of word, and also that brother and drives are different types of words. By this we mean that brother and car belong to the same word class. Similarly, when we recognise that brother and drives are different types, we mean that they belong to different word classes. We recognise seven MAJOR word classes:

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1019