· 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: nominaland 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:
a) aspect (Indefinite (Common/ Simple) or Continuous),
b) correlation (Non-Perfect or Perfect)
c) 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
Person
None
Number
None
Tense
None
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.
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.
Mood
None
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.