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

V erbals

G erund Infinitive Participle

Present Participle/ Participle I Past Participle / Participle II

• 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

• I saw a smiling girl in the window.

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

gerund / infinitive = verb + noun

• 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:

1. aspect (Indefinite (Common/ Simple) or Continuous),

2. correlation (Non-Perfect or Perfect)

3. 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 from work. (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.