5

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)

No	Categories	Forms and examples
1	Person	The first, e.g. I’ll bring a cake and we’ll have tea together. The second, e.g. Do you take sugar in your tea? The third, e.g. She doesn’t enjoy yachting.
2	Number	Singular, e.g. Ted sings pretty well. Plural, e.g. His parents sing well, too.
3	Tense	Present, e.g. Dinosaurs don’t exist now. Past, e.g. They lived millions years ago. Future, e.g. I doubt if they will exist in future.
4	Aspect	Indefinite (Common / Simple), e.g. Helen does a lot of work at the weekend. Continuous, e.g. Peter is doing his yoga exercises at the moment.
5	Correlation	Perfect, e.g. Have you seen “Gone with the Wind”? Non-Perfect, e.g. I saw it last year.
6	Mood	Indicative, e.g. Joan has been learning Spanish for three years. Imperative, e.g. Let’s do this work together, shall we? Subjunctive, e.g. If you had done this work yesterday, you wouldn’t be so busy today.
7	Voice	Active, e.g. Marge cooks all the meals herself. Passive, e.g. All the meals in the family are cooked by their mother.

Classification of non-finite forms of the verb (verbals)

V erbals

G erund Infinitive Participle

Present Participle/ Participle I Past Participle / 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.

Bobby started skating on the frozen lake. (‘started’ – primary action; ‘skating’ – secondary action)

Fiona decided to leave on Monday. (‘decided’ - primary action; ‘to leave’ - secondary action)

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

participle I and II = verb + adjective

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

The book given to me by Peter was not very interesting.

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 /categories:

• aspect (Indefinite (Common/ Simple) or Continuous),

• correlation (Non-Perfect or Perfect)

• voice (Active or Passive)

5. The verbals seldom function as predicates but are often used as part of predicates, e.g.

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

Jim was painting the bedroom when his wife came home. (simple verbal predicate with participle I)

After that heated discussion the girls looked angry and frustrated. (compound nominal predicate with participle II)

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

SUMMARY OF GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF VERBALS

No	Categories	Forms and examples
1	Person	None
2	Number	None
3	Tense	None
4	Aspect	Indefinite (Simple / Common), e.g. Helen may come tomorrow. John appears to be pleased. Continuous, e.g. Peter must be doing his yoga exercises at the moment. Lily seems to be playing quite happily.
5	Correlation	Non-Perfect, e.g. All the books must be returned to the library by December 25. Tom seems to enjoy his new job. Perfect, e.g. Jack must have been learning English for a long time, as he knows it so well. Adele is said to have finished her course.
6	Mood	None
7	Voice	Active, e.g. Marge has to cook all the meals herself. Henry wants to take up a new hobby. Passive, e.g. All the meals in the family have to be cooked by their mother. Hob seems to be paid too much attention to.