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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)

Categories	Forms and examples
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.
Number	Singular, e.g. Ted sings pretty well. Plural, e.g. His parents sing well, too.
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.
Aspect	Indefinite (Common), e.g. Helen does a lot of work at the weekend. Continuous, e.g. Peter is doing his yoga exercises at the moment.
Correlation	Perfect, e.g. Have you seen “Gone with the Wind”? Non-Perfect, e.g. I saw it last year.
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.
Voice	Active, e.g. Marge cooks all the meals herself. Passive, e.g. All the meals in the family are cooked by their mother.

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

Categories	Forms and examples
Person	None
Number	None
Tense	None
Aspect	Indefinite (Simple/Common), e.g. Helen may come tomorrow Continuous, e.g. Peter must be doing his yoga exercises at the moment.
Correlation	Non-Perfect, e.g. All the books must be returned to the library by December 25. Perfect, e.g. Jack must have been learning English for a long time as he knows it so well.
Mood	None
Voice	Active, e.g. Marge has to cook all the meals herself. Passive, e.g. All the meals in the family have to be cooked by their mother.

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

1. There are four verbals in English.

2. Non-finite forms of the verb in Russian fully coincide with those in English.

3. Non-finite forms of the verb do not show if the action refers to the present, past or future.

4. All the verbals can form predicative constructions.

5. Non-finite forms of the verb have the same categories as finite forms.

6. Non-finite forms of the verb have the category of mood.

7. Non-finite forms of the verb have the category of aspect.

8. Non-finite forms of the verb have the category of number.

9. Non-finite forms of the verb have the category of correlation.

10. Non-finite forms of the verb have the category of voice.

11. Gerund has the features of verb and adjective.

12. Split infinitive is used without the particle “to”.

13. “Bare infinitive” is used after most modal verbs.

14. The infinitive can be used as an attribute.