Use Of Non-finites
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Learning Objectives |
After the completion of this chapter, the learner will be able to : |
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* Explain what is a finite verb and non-finite verb. *
Use Infinitives, Gerunds and Participles |
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What is a Verb?
A Verb is a
word or a group of words that expresses an action or occurrence, and forms the
main part of the predicate of a sentence.
For Example :
(i) Ram writes poems. (action)
(ii) The child felt happy. (feeling)
(iii)
Ashoka was a
great king. (existence) A verb has
two aspects:
(i) Finite verb (ii) Non-Finite Verb
Finite Verb :
Look at the
following sentences :
(i) A girl loves dolls. (singular subject + singular verb)
(ii) Girls love dolls. (plural subject+ plural verb)
(iii) They play football every day.
(iv) They played football yesterday.
We find that
the verbs ‘loves’, and ‘love’, in the above
sentences, are governed by the subjects
‘a girl’ and ‘girls’ respectively, and the verbs ‘play’ and ‘played’ are governed by tenses.
In simple words,
a change in the subject
and tense has led to a change in the form of the verb.
Thus, we can conclude that a finite verb is a
form of verb that (a) shows agreement with a subject and (b) is marked for
tense.
A finite verb can be transitive or intransitive.
For
Example :
(i)
We drink milk.
(ii)
They play chess.
In the above sentences, the action denoted
by the verb, ‘drink’ passes over to the
object, ‘milk’ and the action
denoted by the verb, ‘play’
passes over to the
object, ‘chess’. The verbs in these examples are Transitive Verbs, as they transit or pass over the
action from the ‘subject’ to the ‘object’. A transitive verb is the one that
has some object. This means the action denoted by the verb passes over from the
subject to the object.
Consider the following:
We drink slowly.
They play in the fields.
In the above
sentences, the verbs
‘drink’ and ‘play’
have no objects. Therefore, the actions
denoted by the verbs, drink and play do not pass over to any subject. Such verbs are called
Intransitive Verbs.
Non-Finite
Verb
Consider the following sentences:
The player wants to win
the match. All the players want to win
the match. We want to help them.
We
wanted to help them
Here the verbs
‘win’ and ‘want’
are not governed
by the change in number
or person of the subject
or any change
in the tense. Such verbs that are not changed despite the change of the subject
and the tense are called Non-Finite Verbs. Non-Finites
are of three types:
(i) Infinitives
(ii)
Gerunds
(iii) Participles.
