Non-finite verbs & the "verbiness" of participles gerunds infinitives worksheet
| Past
Participle |
Finite Verb
(has a subject) |
I spent money on a new phone. |
|---|---|---|
| Non-finite Verb
(does not have a subject) |
My old one is more than spent. | |
| Present
Participle |
Finite Verb
(has a subject) |
I am spending too much money on phones. |
| Non-finite Verb
(does not have a subject) |
Spending so much money on new phones is annoying |
Non-Finite Verbs & “Verbiness” of participles, gerunds and infinitives
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
Purpose of non-finite verbs
The non-finite verbs do not indicate a direct action, but they convey a “sense” of action. So, when we say,
Learning grammar is boring, but to know a little is quite useful
whereas both “learning” and “to know” are the subjects (nouns) of the two verbs “is”, they convey the action of learning and knowing.
Additionally, while non-finite verbs do not have a subject, they maintain the grammatical properties of finite verbs of objects and complements. Thus, in
Learning grammar is boring
“grammar” is the object of “learning” and thus indicates what is learned (an action)
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 on the stove 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 other people 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 serve completes dinner | it is prudent to boil the water | to boil water makes it hot |
| the best way to cook is baking | I am hoping to cool off 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”: --> = a valid sentence <-- therefore “boiled” is an adjective |
Boiling water takes 5 minutes.
remove the participle “boiling”: --> = incoherent sentence <-- therefore “boiling” is a noun |
To boil water makes it hot.
remove the infinitive “to boil” --> T = incoherent sentence <-- therefore “to boil” is a noun or: I have homework to finish --> I have homework = 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:
| I enjoy “watching” tennis | “watching” = the action or state of watching |
| Studying hard pays off | “studying” = the state or action of studying |
| The time to go is now | “to go” = the state or action of going |
Just like finite verbs, non-finite verbs can have “complements”
= adverbs, objects, or prepositional phrases
but they do not have a subject (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"