Non-finite verbs & the "verbiness" of participles gerunds infinitives worksheet

Non-Finite Verbs & “Verbiness”

Finite verb = action verb

·       has a subject

Non-finite verb = verbs acting as adjective, adverb or noun

·       does not have a subject

·       also called “verbals”

Participle = present continuous (-ing) or simple past (-ed) tense of a verb

·       can be a finite or non-finite verb

Non-finite verb forms:

·       present participle = -ing

·       = an adjective (“present participle adjective”)

·       or a noun (“gerund”)

·       past participle = -ed

·       = an adjective (“past participle adjective”)

·       infinitive = “to” form of a verb

·       “infinitive” is from Latin for “indefinite” or “unrestricted” because the verb form is not tied to a specific case (person or number)

·       can be an adjective, adverb or noun

Participles

	Finite form	Non-finite forms:
verb:	participle (finite verb form)	present participle adjective	gerund (noun form)	past participle adjective
boil	The water is boiling The water boiled	The boiling water is very hot	Boiling makes water very hot	Boiled water is very hot
cook	Dad is cooking dinner Dad cooked dinner	Dinner cooking makes me happy	Cooking is fun	Cooked food is better for you than raw food
finish	I am finishing my hw I finished my hw		Finishing is the hardest	I have my homework finished
smile	The boy is smiling The boy smiled	The smiling boy is happy	Smiling makes others happy
swim	The dog is swimming fast The dog swam fast	The swimming dog is getting there fast	The dog got there fast by swimming

Infinitives

The infinitive expresses a state or result of action – not the action itself:

infinitive adjective	infinitive adverb	infinitive noun
soup to boil completes dinner	it is good to boil water	to boil water makes it hot
The best way to cook is baking	I am hoping to cool tomorrow	I learned how to cook fish
I have homework to finish *	She works to advance her career	We want to go home
* note how the adjective and adverb forms of “to finish” are essentially interchangeable

Testing for participle adjective	Testing for participle noun (gerund)	Testing for infinitive modifier or noun
if the sentence is grammatically correct and/or still makes sense, the participle is an adjective, as adjectives are not essential sentence elements	if the sentence is not grammatically correct and/or still makes sense, it is a noun, as nouns are essential sentence elements	if the sentence is not grammatically correct and/or still makes sense, it is a noun, as nouns are essential sentence elements; however, if it is still grammatically correct, then the infinitive is a modifier (adjective or adverb)
Boiled water is hot. remove the participle “boiled”: --> Boiled Water is hot. = a valid sentence <-- therefore “boiled” is an adjective	Boiling water takes 5 minutes. remove the participle “boiling”: --> Boiling Water takes 5 minutes. = incoherent sentence <-- therefore “boiling” is a noun	To boil water makes it hot. remove the infinitive “to boil” --> To boil Water makes it hot. = incoherent sentence <-- therefore “to boil” is a noun or: I have homework to finish --> I have homework to finish = valid sentence <-- therefore “to finish” is an adjective

To test whether the participle or infinitive is an adjective/adverb or noun, remove it from the sentence, and see…

“Verbiness”

Participle adjectives, gerunds and infinitives retain their “verbiness”, or their indication of an action.

Just like finite verbs, non-finite verbs can have adverbs, objects, and prepositional phrases.

              ** they do not have subjects!! (if so, they’d become a finite-verb)

Let’s review those grammatical forms:

       Adverb = usually describes a verb as to how, how much where, when, etc.

              She runs fast

                     “fast” describes how she runs

       Object = recipient of the action of a verb

              direct object = what was acted on by the verb

              I gave a book

                     = “book” is what I “gave”

              indirect object = the recipient what was acted on by the verb

               I gave her a book 

                     = I gave a book “to her”

       Prepositional phrase = a modifying phrase to describe another noun or verb

       The keys are on the table by the door.

                      “on the table” and “by the door” are prepositional phrases

Non-finite verbs can be modified by all of these sentence parts.

Let’s see how:

Verbiness of Participle Adjectives:

- participle adjective indicating an action:

I prefer my food cooked

Running, I was still late.

- participle adjective with an adverb:

I prefer my food cooked thoroughly

·       “thoroughly” modifies the “cooked” not the verb “prefer”

- participle adjective with an object:

              Running home, I was still late

·       “home” is the object of “running”, which describes “I was still late”

- participle adjective with prepositional phrase*:

              Running to my house, I was still late

·       “to my house” = prepositional phrase

Verbiness of Gerunds:

- gerund indicating an action:

              Cooking takes practice

·       “cooking” = subject (noun) but still indicates the action of “cook”

- gerund with an object:

Cooking food takes practice

·       food = the object of "cooking"

·       practice = the object of "takes"

- gerund with an adverb:

Cooking food well takes practice

Verbiness of Infinitives:

- infinitive as object:

              I learned to build

·       “to build” = direct object infinitive noun of “learned”

- infinitive with adverb:

I learned how to build

·       “how” modifies the infinitive “to build” and not the verb “learned”

- infinitive w/ object:

              I learned how to build a computer

·       "computer" = the object of infinitive noun "to build" File:Verbiness of participles gerunds infinitives.pdf