The nature of non-finite verbs

Gerunds, to-infinitive, present participle, and past participle

Grammar and usage are the sine qua non of language teaching and learning. Non-finite verbs are no exception. Non-finite verbs are crucial to our understanding of the different types of phrases and their uses, writing grammatically meaningful and error-free sentences, and avoiding uncommon errors that are inimical to brilliant writing.

Non-finite verbs do not agree with the subject in number (singular or plural) and person (first person, second person, or third person). Basically, non-finite verbs are four in English:

1. Gerund

2. To-infinitive

3. Present participle

4. Past participle

This means that they do not change their forms based on the number of subjects. E.g

1. She is cooking in the kitchen. —present participle

2. They are cooking in the kitchen.—present participle

In these examples, we can see that “cooking” remains “cooking” regardless of the number of the subject (she/they). We cannot change cooking, unlike a finite verb where we have she/he/it cooks and they/we/I/you cook. In finite verbs, there is an agreement with the subject.

Here are other examples:

1. Victor wants to eat now.—to-infinitive

2. Victor and Francis want to eat now.—to-infinitive

In these examples, “to eat” does not change its form based on the number of the subject.

Let us consider some other examples:

1. The man has just arrived.—past participle

2. The men have just arrived.—past participle

In the examples above, “arrived” does not change its form based on the number of the subject.

Non-finite verbs can act by themselves as subjects, objects, and as nouns in apposition to other nominal entities. For example:

1. Writing is my hobby.—gerund as a subject.

2. The professor of English enjoys reading.—gerund as an object.

3. My hobby, dancing, gives me so much joy.—gerund as a noun in apposition to another nominal entity (my hobby)

I must point out here that although gerund and present participle have the same form—in that they are -ing form of a verb, they do not have the same grammatical function. Gerunds, as we can see above, are used as nouns. That is why they are also known as verbal nouns. Present participles, on the other hand, can be used to show the progressive/continuous tense, as heads of a participial phrase or as an adjective.

Non-finite verbs can also act as a modifier of a nominal entity. For example:

1. The crying baby kept her parents up all night.—present participle functioning as an adjective.

2. I opened the mail, shaking with excitement.—participial phrase that functions as a modifier. It modifies “I” who is the subject that opened the mail.

3. Confused by the homework assignment, ‘Niyi emailed his professor.—participial phrase. It modifies “Niyi” who is the subject of the sentence.

4. Having worked all day, she decided to stay home and relax.—participial phrase. It modifies “she” who is the subject of the sentence.

5. I collected all the flowers cut by the gardener.—participial phrase. It modifies “the flowers” (object).

6. The phone to buy is highly expensive.—infinitival phrase. It modifies “the phone”.

At this juncture, it is useful to say that we can notice that the participial phrase is always headed by a verb, a non-finite verb, and it modifies the subject of the sentence. We can also observe that the modified nominal entities are always used together with and not far away from the participial phrase or infinitive phrase. It is important that we respect this norm. Some errors arise when we breach this norm.

Finally, the word "non-finite" suggests that the verbs are not DEFINED WITHIN A RESTRICTED SPACE. They are not limited by tense, person, or number. The word "non-finite" also suggests that these verbs can be combined with other elements in a sentence to generate longer chains of meanings. Unlike the finite verbs that are limited by number, tense, and person.

These observable properties of non-finite verbs, for instance, mean that a present participle “reading” can be used to form a present continuous tense (she is cooking in the kitchen, past continuous tense (they were cooking in the kitchen yesterday), present perfect tense (the hosts have cooked some food for us) etc.

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With love and everything English,

Francis