NON-FINITE FORMS OF THE VERB .

                       NON-FINITE FORMS OF THE VERB .

                                              Rajabova Kamilla Zavkiddinovna:

                                              a sophomore of Uzbek State World

                                              Languages university. UzSWLU.

                                             Academic adviser: a dean of the faculty of

                                             translation as well as a senior teacher Omonov P.X.

                                                                                                                                           Annotation: the common characteristics of non-finite forms of the verb is scrutinized in this scientific paper and its connection with the whole grammatical organization is illustrated.

Key words: a non-finite verb, the infinitive, the gerund, participle I, participle II

A non-finite verb is a verb form that does not show tense. In other words, you cannot tell if a sentence is in the past tense, present tense, or future tense by looking at a non-finite verb. Non-finite verb cannot serve as the main verb in an independent clause.                                                                                                           There are four non-finite forms of the verb in English :

1.     the infinitive (V0)

2.     the gerund (Ving)

3.     participle I (Ving)

4.     participle II (V2/-ed)

Lexically the non-finite forms of the verb (or verbals) do not differ from finite forms. Grammatically the non-finite forms of the verb are characterized by a double nature: they possess some verbal and some non-verbal features. The verbal features of the non-finite forms of the verb are realized in the verb categories of voice and aspect. But the verbals cannot function as predicates in the sentences (whereas finite verbs typically have this function) as they lack the categories of person, number, mood, and tense. Thus, the verbals may denote only a secondary action or a process related to that expressed by the finite verb. The non-verbal features of the non-finite forms of the verb are revealed in their functioning as nouns (infinitive and gerund) or adjectives (participle).

The Infinitive. The infinitive is a non-finite form of the verb that names a process in a most general way. The infinitive has a double nature, verbal and nominal. The verbal character of the infinitive is manifested by voice and aspect distinctions which are realized by the 6 forms of the infinitive.

Voice Distinctions of the Infinitive. It should be always born in mind that Non-Perfect (Indefinite) Infinitive and Perfect Infinitive are used both in the Active and Passive Voice. Continuous Infinitive and Perfect Continuous Infinitive are used only in the Active Voice. NOTE:

a) In sentences with the construction there is / are we can use either Active or Passive Infinitive without any change in the meaning. We use the Active Infinitive if the attention is paid to the action itself.

E.g.: There is a lot of work to do / to be done. There are two books to read / to be read this week.

 b) We say nothing to do when we mean that we have no entertainment, when we don’t have anything to do.

E.g.: There is nothing to do – I am bored. (There is no entertainment that is why the speaker is bored).

c) We say nothing to be done when we mean that there is no way to put something right.

E.g.: There is nothing to be done – we will have to look for other suppliers. (There is no way of putting it right).

 d) After nobody / none, the verb to blame is often used in the passive.

 E.g.: Nobody was to blame for that misdemeanor.

Aspect Distinctions of the Infinitive. The Non-Perfect (Indefinite) Infinitive Active or Passive expresses an action simultaneous with the action expressed by the finite verb, so it may refer to the present, past or future. E.g.: I am all ears to listen to you. I was glad to inform you about this.

The Continuous Infinitive Active expresses an action simultaneous with that expressed by the finite verb. The Continuous Infinitive is an aspect form, expressing the manner in which the action is presented – this action is in progress. E.g.: She seems / seemed / will seem to be paying no attention to what was going on around her.

 The Perfect Infinitive Active or Passive expresses an action prior to the action expressed by the finite verb. E.g.: I am / was on cloud nine to have graduated from the university with flying colours.

Functions of the Infinitive. The verbal character of the infinitive is manifested in the syntactic functions, such as: simple nominal predicate, part of the simple verbal predicate, part of the compound verbal predicate (modal or aspect).

1. Simple Nominal Predicate. The infinitive in this function may be used in exclamatory sentences expressing the speaker’s rejection of the idea or in interrogative why-sentences, both affirmative and negative, where the infinitive expresses a suggestion. E.g.: You – of all your fellows – to behave like that! Me – to be his teacher! Why not do it together?

 2. Part of the Simple Verbal Predicate. The infinitive in this function is used in interrogative and negative forms of Present, Past and Future Indefinite. E.g.: You will hear a radio report about a worldwide ban on smoking. To what extent do you agree?

3. Part of the Compound Verbal Predicate:

a) With modal verbs can, may, must, ought (to), shall, will, should, would, dare, need; modal equivalents to be (to), to have (to), to be allowed (to); modal expressions had better, would rather, the infinitive forms part of the compound verbal modal predicate. E.g.: These can be dog days at times. You ought to have consulted the lawyer about this backbreaking matter. The train was to leave at midnight.

 b) With the verbs denoting the beginning, duration or end of the action, the infinitive forms part of the compound verbal aspect predicate. E.g.: She began to recite the poem and then she was interrupted. They continued to dance to the music. The nominal character of the infinitive is manifested in the syntactic functions, typical of the noun, such as: subject, object, predicative (a part of the compound nominal predicate), attribute, adverbial modifier, and parenthesis.

 1. Subject, e.g.: To write letters nowadays is something out of the ordinary.

NOTE: a) The infinitive may either precede the predicate or follow it. In the latter case it is introduced by the introductory it, which is placed at the beginning of the sentence. E.g.: It is easy to write e-mails nowadays.

 b) If there are two or more homogenous infinitive subjects in a sentence, all of them keep the particle to. E.g.: To be alone, to be free from the daily problems would be delight to him.

2. Object, e.g.: I have learned to speak Chinese in Beijing. In the function of the object, the infinitive may be preceded by a conjunctive adverb or a pronoun. what to do. I don’t know where to go. when to come. The infinitive as an object can be preceded by the introductory object it, but it is not translated . E.g.: I found it absolutely impossible to translate that text without a dictionary.

NOTE: The infinitive may be either the only object of the verb or one of two objects after the following verbs:

a) Verbs that take only one object: to agree, to arrange, to attempt, to care, to like, to choose, to claim, to consent, to decide, to deserve, to determine, to expect, to fail, to fear, to forget, to hesitate, to hope, to intend, to learn, to like, to long, to love, to manage, to mean, to neglect, to plan, to omit, to prefer, to pretend, to refuse, to regret, to remember, to swear, to tend, etc. E.g.: She agreed to come at noon. Looking back, Harry realizes that his parents tended to be over-protective.  b) Verbs that take two objects (the first of which is a noun or a pronoun and the second one is the infinitive): to advise, to allow, to ask, to beg, to cause, to command, to compel, to direct, to encourage, to forbid, to force, to have, to impel, to implore, to induce, to instruct, to invite, to leave, to let, to make to order, to permit, to persuade, to recommend, to request, to require, to tell, to urge, etc. E.g.: Tell him to call me. He asked her to explain everything.

3. Predicative (a part of the compound nominal predicate). In this function the infinitive may be introduced by the conjunctive pronouns or adverbs what, whom, where, when, how, etc. E.g.: The problem was what to do. Mark’s wish is to embark upon the interpreter’s career.

4. Attribute. In this function the infinitive can modify:

a) Nouns, both abstract and concrete. E.g.: He needs an office to work in. I have plenty of work to do.

b) Indefinite, negative pronouns (somebody, something, anybody, anything, nothing, nobody, nowhere, etc.). E.g.: We had nothing to read. She is somebody to look after.

c) Ordinal numerals. E.g.: I was the first to notice your absence. He was the second to answer.

d) Substantivized quantitative adjectives (much, little, (no) more, (no) less, little more, enough, last, etc.). E.g.: A man in your position has so much to lose. She was the last to hand in her notes. The request was difficult enough to be fulfilled at once.

 NOTE: In the function of an attribute the infinitive may also be preceded by a conjunctive adverb or pronoun. E.g.: I have no idea what to utter.

5. Adverbial Modifier:

a) Of purpose. In this function it might be introduced by in order and so as. In negative sentences in order not to, so as not to and not to are used. E.g.: It strikes me I will take up gym to keep fit. (what purpose? – to keep fit) I caught up on the missed material so as not to lag behind. I left early in order to avoid traffic jams.

b) Of result (consequence). This occurs after adjectives and adverbs modified by enough and too, adjectives modified by so and nouns modified by such. In the last two cases the infinitive is introduced by as. E.g.: My brother is not such a fool as to give up his job. You are too young to go there on your own. He is so kind as to help me.

 c) Of comparison (manner). Sometimes the infinitive can be introduced by the conjunction as if / as though. After adjectives or adverbs in the comparative degree the infinitive is introduced by than. In most cases the infinitive is used with an additional meaning of purpose. E.g.: He nervously took her hand as if to shake it. She bent down as if to look at the flowers. To do well is better than to say well.

d) Of attendant circumstances. The infinitive shows what other actions take place at the same time as the action of the predicate. E.g.: I was sorry to come home only to find out that the door had been locked. NOTE: Some grammarians maintain that in sentences of this type the infinitive performs the function of an adverbial modifier of result (consequence).

e) Of time. The infinitive indicates the time of the action or state of the predicate. E.g.: Mrs. Brown lived to be 92 (=till she was 92). I am terrified to see him (=when I see him).

f) Of condition. The infinitive denotes an action which pre-conditions the action expressed by the predicate. E.g.: To hear that from her you would never believe that she was her mother. Parenthesis. It is usually part of a collocation, as in: to begin with, to be frank, to be sure, to make matters worse, to put it mildly, to tell the truth, needless to say, strange to say, so to speak, to cut a long story short, to say the least of it, to be more precise, etc. E.g.: To begin with, we have been dating for 2 years.

NOTE: Performing its verbal and nominal functions, the infinitive may be used:

a) Alone, i.e. without any words depending on it. E.g.: I don’t want to interfere.

b) As the headword of an infinitive phrase with one or more words depending on it. E.g.: I would like to chitchat with you all night.

c) As part of a predicative. E.g.: This book is extremely difficult to read

The Participle.The participle is a non-finite form of the verb which has a double character, verbal and adjectival or adverbial. There are two participles in English: a) Participle I (the Present Participle) formed by adding the suffix -ing to the stem of the verb, e.g.: to glow – glowing, to study – studying, etc.

b) Participle II (the Past Participle) formed by:

 - adding suffix -ed to the stem of regular verbs, e.g.: to crash – crashed, to translate – translated, etc.;

- the third form of irregular verbs, e.g.: to mistake – mistook – mistaken, to bring – brought – brought, etc.

Participle I. The verbal character of Participle I is manifested by voice and aspect distinctions. These are realized by the 4 forms of the Present Participle.

Active Voice - Non-Perfect (Indefinite) -  V-ing

Active Voice – Perfect - having +V3, -ed

Passive Voice - Non-Perfect (Indefinite) - being +V3, -ed

Passive Voice – Perfect - having been + V3, -ed

Participle I Non-Perfect Active or Passive usually denotes an action simultaneous with the action expressed by the finite verb. Depending on the tenseform of the finite verb, it may refer to the present, past or future.

Participle I Perfect Active or Passive denotes an action prior to the action expressed by the finite verb.

Participle II. Participle II (the Past Participle) has no aspect and voice distinctions. It has only one form – V3, -ed which can express an action both simultaneous with, and prior to the action expressed by the finite verb; the latter case is more frequent. E.g.: I was reminded of a portrait seen in a gallery.

Participle II of transitive verbs is always passive in meaning.

E.g.: I like the subjects taught at the university.

Participle II of intransitive verbs, which denote motion or passing into a new state (e.g., to arrive, to fall, to go, to rise, to depart, to decease, to retire, to fade, to wither, to vanish, etc.), is always active in meaning: the risen sun, the fallen leaves, the retired colonel, etc.

E.g.: The fallen leaves covered the ground.

The Gerund. The gerund is a non-finite form of the verb which has a double character, verbal and nominal. The gerund is formed by adding the suffix -ing to the stem of the verb, e.g.: reading, interpreting, etc. The verbal character of the gerund is manifested by voice and aspect distinctions realized by the 4 forms of the gerund which coincide with the forms of Participle I.

Forms of the Gerund.

Active Voice - Non-Perfect (Indefinite) -  V-ing

Active Voice – Perfect - having +V3, -ed

Passive Voice - Non-Perfect (Indefinite) - being +V3, -ed

Passive Voice – Perfect - having been + V3, -ed

The Non-Perfect Gerund Active or Passive denotes an action simultaneous with the action expressed by the finite verb. Depending on the tense form of the finite verb, it may refer to the present, past, or future.

E.g.: He lived in the other studio without thinking of altering a thing. We think of going there in the summer.

The Perfect Gerund Active or Passive denotes an action prior to that of the finite verb.

E.g.: Can you recall having mentioned the fact to anyone? After having been rejected by a dozen of magazines, the stories had come to rest in the Globe office.

The gerund of transitive verbs has voice distinctions realized in special forms for the Active and Passive Voice.

E.g.: I don’t like singing, I prefer being sung to. It is to be observed that there are some verbs (e.g., to need, to want, to require, to deserve, etc.) and the adjective worth, which are followed by the Active Gerund, though the meaning is passive. E.g.: Your hair needs cutting. This car wants washing. Your suggestion is worth talking over.

Conclusion: the difference between finite and non-finite verbs is: a finite verb can be the main verb of a sentence or clause; a finite verb is directly related to the subject of the sentence or clause; finite verb is usually in the present and past tense; a non-finite verb does not change in accordance to the subject or tense ; it is not directly related to the subject and can come in the form of an infinitive, gerund or a participle; a non-finite verb can take the form of a noun, adjective or adverb.

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