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

Verbs indicate an action or state of existence.

• If the verb has a subject, it is "finite"
  • the subject is the "person" of the sentence
  • the finite verb is "idea" of the sentence (predicate)
• If the verb does not have a subject, it is "non-finite"
  • and thereby is not acting grammatically like a verb (it is acting like an adjective, adverb, or noun instead)
    • even though the verb may not be acting like a verb, it still retains its sense of action or state of existence
      • thus it retains its "verbiness," or sense or indication of an action
        • even though there is no direct "actor" causing the action (subject)

Getting started: an example

Present and Past Participles: finite and non-finite forms of the verb "to spend"

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

Finite v. Non-Finite Verbs

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

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

• can be a finite or non-finite verb
• called “participle” because it is a verb form that “participates” (takes “part”) in different Parts of Speech (
  • i.e. a verb that can be a verb, adjective or noun

Non-finite verb forms:

present participle = -ing

• = an adjective (“present participle adjective”) or
• = a noun (“gerund”)
  • a gerund is a "present participle adjective"
    • sometimes called "verb noun"

past participle = -ed

• = an adjective (“past participle adjective”)

infinitive = “to” form of a verb

• as in "to go" or "to enjoy"
• “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

• "learning" = gerund (noun)
• "grammar" = the object of the gerund "learning"* "is" = finite verb
  • the subject of "is" is the gerund (non-finitve verb) "learning"
• "to know" = infinitive
  • "to know" is acting as a noun and is the subject of the verb of the second clause "is"
    • "a little" is a compound adverb that modifies "to know"

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”: --> 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:

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 (a noun)

·      but it still retains a sense of the action of “to cook”, even though it is not a direct action with a subject

- 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"

Worksheet printout

File:Verbiness of participles gerunds infinitives.pdf