Present Participle (I) Past Participle (II)

NON-FINITE FORMS OF THE VERB

(VERBIDS, VERBALS)

The verb is a part of speech, which denotes a process or state. All verbs have two forms: Finite Forms and Non-Finite Forms (also called Verbals or Verbids).

Categories of Finite Forms of the Verb (revision)

NON-FINITE FORMS OF THE VERB

Gerund Infinitive Participle

Present Participle (I) Past Participle (II)

e.g. My friend doesn’t like either borrowing or lending money. (gerund)

It wasn’t wise of Martha to agree to that job. (infinitive)

Nobody saw the boy leaving the house. (Participle I)

Things seen are mightier than things heard. (Participle II)

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NON-FINITE FORMS OF THE VERB

1. Non-finite forms of the verb usually denote a secondary action or a process related to the one expressed by a finite verb.

2. The verbals have a double nature: nominal and verbal

participle = verb + adjective

e.g. I saw a smiling girl in the window.

gerund/infinitive = verb + noun

e.g. Learning foreign languages is hard work.

To learn a foreign language well, one must work hard.

3. The verbals do not express person, number or mood.

4. The verbals have the following distinctions:

· aspect (Indefinite/Common or Continuous),

· correlation (Non-Perfect or Perfect)

· voice (Active or Passive) .

5. All the verbals seldom function as predicates but are often used as part of a predicative construction.

e.g. Kate kept on laughing and splashing water on Jake. (compound verbal aspect predicate with a gerund)

You might have encouraged the kid before the exam. (compound verbal modal predicate with an infinitive)

SUMMARY OF GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NON-FINITE FORMS OF THE VERB

TASK 1. Decide which of the following statements are true and which are false.

THE INFINITIVE

1. The infinitive is the non-finite form of the verb which names a process in a most general way.
2. It is the initial form of the verb and its special marker is the particle “to”. This particle is usually closely connected with the stem of the verb but sometimes an adverb or another particle can be used between them to emphasize the meaning of the verb. In this case it is called a split infinitive,

e.g. The secretary was asked to urgently type the report.

1. There are cases when the infinitive is used without the particle “to” and then it is called “bare infinitive”,

e.g. The teacher insisted that all the students hand in the papers by Friday.

1. The infinitive has the features of the verb:

a) Morphological as it has the categories of voice, correlation and aspect;

b) Syntactical as it

· takes an object like a finite verb, e.g. To tell Peter the truth was out of the question.

· takes a predicative if it happens to be a link verb, e.g. Mary didn’t want to look very happy, but she couldn’t help it.

· It can be modified by adverbials like a finite verb, e.g. To be heard I had to speak very loudly.

1. The infinitive has the features of the noun. They are only syntactical. Like a noun the infinitive can function in the sentence as a:

· Subject, e.g. To forget and forgive his behaviour was impossible.

· Object, e.g. That was all Tina wanted to find out.

· Part of a Complex Object, e.g. I have never seen you speak like this before.

· Part of a Complex Subject, e.g. The girl was reported to have been found in the forest.

· Predicative, e.g. Tom’s greatest wish was to finish with all that unpleasant business as soon as possible.

· Part of a compound verbal modal predicate, e.g. We were to meet at seven, but he must have forgotten about it.

· Part of a compound aspect predicate, e.g. Molly began to feel rather hungry.

· Attribute, e.g. I saw the chance to escape into the garden.

· Adverbial modifier, e.g. I merely came back to water the roses. (adverbial modifier of purpose)

· Parenthesis, e.g. To tell the truth I disliked the man at once.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1604