Non-finite Verb Forms

Khalid Sh. Sharhan (September 2018)

SECTION ONE

INTRODUCTION

Before discussing the non-finite clauses in terms of their realization and

function an introductory section is important to shed light on the features
underlying the label of the non-finite clauses.

1.1Finite and Non-finite Verb Forms

Verbs have different forms and among these are finite which are marked for tense,
person and number (Brown & Miller,2013:172) as in:

1. The girl looks nice

where the verb looks is marked for tense(present), person(3rd person) and
number(singular).On the other hand, a non-finite verb form is a form that has no
markings for tense, number or person. English has various non-finite verb forms:
(to) infinitives, marked by a preceding to, e.g.

2.We all like to make fun of this theory;

gerunds, marked by a suffix -ing

3. I love swimming

participles, also marked by a suffix -ing –

4.Reading his latest novel, I fell asleep;

and the bare verb stem,

5. Can you help me move this desk?.

As examples (2-5) show the verb forms to make swimming, reading and move do
not have any marking for tense, person and number and thus are called non-finite
(Ibid.:312).

1.2Finite and Non-finite Clauses

There are three types of clauses: finite, non-finite and verbless clauses:

A finite clauses is a clause whose V element is a finite verb phrase:

6.John has visited New York

A non-finite clause is a clause whose V element is a non-finite verb phrase:

7. Having seen the pictures, he left immediately.

A verbless clause is a clause with no V element:

8.Although always helpful, he didn’t help us yesterday.

(Quirk & Greenbaum,1973: 348).

1.3 Grammatical Status

Non-finite clauses are a class of dependent (subordinate) clauses which do

not stand alone by itself but appear embedded to other clauses which are called
independent or main clauses( Leech, Deuchar & Hoogenraad, 1982: 79) Consider
these examples:

13. The job being finished, we went home early.

1.4 Types

Non-finite clauses are classified into:

A. To-infinitive ,e.g.

9.The best thing would be to tell everybody.

B. Bare infinitive,e.g.
 10. All I did was hit him on the head.

C. –ing participle,e.g.

11.Leaving the room, he tripped over the mat.

D. -Ed participle,e.g.

12.Covered with confusion, they apologized abjectly.

(Greenbaum & Quirk,1990:286).

 SECTION TWO

TO-INFINITIVE

One type of non-finite clauses is the to-infinitive. Here is a discussion of its

structure and functions within the main clause.

2.1To-infinitive Nominal Clauses

The to-infinitive nominal clause can occur as:

13. For a bridge to collapse like that is unbelievable.(Subject)

14. He likes everyone to be happy.(direct object)

15. My wish is to be a pilot.(subject complement)

16. His ambition, to be a straight actor, was never fulfilled (appositive)

17. I’m glad to help you(adjectival complement).

(Quirk & Greenbaum, 1973:360)

2.2 To-infinitive Adverbial Clauses

To-infinitive clauses without a subject may have temporal function,

expressing the outcome of the situation(Greenbaum & Quirk,1990:314).

18. I awoke one morning to find the house in an uproar.

With durative verbs in the main clause, the construction expresses duration of time
together with outcome(Ibid.)

19. She lived to be 100.( ‘She reached 100 years of age’)

 To-infinitive clauses can also express purpose(Ibid.) as in:

20. They left the door open for me to hear the baby.

Moreover, To-infinitive clause can be used as style disjunct,( Quirk &

Greenbaum,1973: 377)e.g.

21. I’m not sure what to do, to be honest.

 SECTION THREE

PARTICIPIAL CLAUSES

3.1 –Ing Participle

Another non-finite clause is the ing-participle which can also be discussed in

terms of structure and function.

3.1.1 Nominal –ing Clauses

The nominal –ing clauses, a participial clause, occurs in the following

positions(Quirk & Greenbaum, 1973:360).

22.Telling lies is wrong.(subject).

23.No one enjoys deceiving his family.(direct object).

24.His favourite pastime is playing practical jokes.(subject complement)

25.His hobby, collecting stamps, absorbed him.(appositive).

26. I’m tired of being treated like a child.(prepositional complement)

27. The children were busy building sandcastles. (adjectival complement)

3.1.2 Adverbial –ing Clauses

An -ing clause introduced by once can have a temporal function( Greenbaum

& Quirk, 1990:314):

28.Once having made a promise, you should keep it.

29. Driving home after work, I accidentally went through a red light.

Also, an ing-clause can function as a style disjunct(Ibid.):

 30. I doubt, speaking as a layman, whether television is the right medium for that
story.

Moreover, an -ing clause can be used for cause, but without

conjunction(Quirk & Greenbaum,1973:367).

31.Being a man of ingenuity, he soon repaired the machine.

Finally an –ing clause without a subordinator can be supplementive(

Greenbaum & Quirk,1990:328) as in

32.Reaching the river, we pitched camp for the night.

The supplementive clause implies an accompanying circumstance to the situation

described in the matrix clause(Ibid.).

3.2 –Ed Participle Clauses

An –ed participial clause introduced by once can have a temporal function

(Quirk & Greenbaum,1973:362):

33. Once punished, the book caused a remarkable stir.

34. Lunch finished, the guests retired to the lounge.

An –ed participial clause can also express cause(Greenbaum and

Quirk,1990:327)

35.Persuaded by our optimism, he gladly contributed time and money to the

scheme.

In addition, It can function as a style disjunct, (Ibid.:326)e.g.:

36. Stated bluntly, he had no chance of winning.

Finally, an –ed clause without a subordinator can be supplementive,

(Ibid.:328) as in:

37.They strolled through the park with their arms interwinned.

3.3 Non-finite Clauses Post-modifiers

3.3.1 -Ing Clauses and -Ed clauses

-Ing and –Ed clauses can replace relative clauses and are described as
reduced relative clauses i.e. without the relative pronoun and the finite verb.

38. He wrote a book containing his reminiscences of five U.S. Presidents.

39.The book also described his own life as a press officer serving them in the
White House.

The value of these defining -ing clauses is similar to that of a finite relative clause:
(a book that contained ...a press officer who had served them)

The –ing form is, in many constructions, an economical resource for expressing
relationships where tense or aspect do not need to be further specified.

This property of the -ing, as also the -en clauses, which are always passive, is

particularly evident in their non-defining function as supplementives( Downing,

2015: 406)

40.He was sent several letters, all containing a white, powdery substance.

41.The stained-glass windows, illustrating biblical scenes, are splendid.

-ed clauses

42.The enormous volume, dedicated to his wife, lay on the desk.

3.3.2 To-infinitive

As post-modifiers, to-infinitive clauses can correspond to full relative clauses in

which the relative pronoun is S, Od or C:

43. The next train to arrive at Platform is the express train to York(S)
(= the train which/that will arrive)

44.They have nothing to eat. (= nothing which they can eat)( Od)

The commonest kind of worker to become nowadays is an unemployed one.(C)

(= The commonest kind of worker that one can become )(Ibid.:407).

 CONCLUSION

The paper has discussed one interesting fact about English structure which is
the distinction between non-finite clauses and finite-clauses. The two types differ
in terms of tense, aspect and mood. But, the most prominent difference between
the two is that finite clauses are a class of independent clauses while the non-finite
clauses are dependent. However, the non-finite clauses have a variety of uses and
perform various functions.

The paper concludes that regardless of structure and grammatical status all
clauses in English are grammatically and functionally important in that they are
needed to complete some incomplete structures and perform some functions.
References

Brown, K. and Jim Miller( 2013) the Cambridge Dictionary of Linguistics.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Downing,Angela( 2015) English Grammar: A university Course .3rd ed.

New York: Routledge .

Greenbaum, S. and Quirk,R.(1990) A Student’s Grammar of the English Langauge.

London: Longman.

Leech ,G. Margaret, D. & Robert, H. ( 1982 ) English Grammar for

Today : A new introducation . Basingstoke: Macmillan :

Quirk,R and Sidney Greenbaum (1973) A University English Grammar.London:

Longman.