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In English, we all know that words are divided into various types. These types are adjectives, nouns, Pronouns, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and Verb.
Verbs are one of the most important parts of a sentence. It is a part of a sentence that describes what a subject is actually doing. A verb indicates the physical action or any occurrence which is happening in a sentence by the subject or the doer.
Verbs are also of various types depending on the type of action which is happening in the sentence. For example, Auxiliary Verbs, modal verbs, phrasal verbs, linking verbs, and many more.
One such type of verb is called a Non-Finite verb. In this article, we will delve deeper into this type of verb and understand its behavior and usage in a sentence.
What is a Non-Finite Verb?
In very simple words, non-finite verbs are verbs that do not have any type of tense associated with it or do not show any tense. One cannot tell the tense of the sentence using these verbs. Thus, these verbs are not the main or primary verb of the sentence. The primary verb is always the finite verb.
The finite verb is the verb through which one can easily tell what tense the sentence has. These verbs show the tense, the person, and the number of persons involved in doing an action.
For example, “ He is playing tennis”. This sentence involves a primary finite verb “play” in the present continuous tense “playing”.
Non-finite verbs are of various types. Now we will see the types of non-finite verbs.
Types of Non-Finite Verbs
Mainly non-finite verbs are of three types:
- Gerunds
- Infinitives
- Participles
1. Gerunds
These are the functions that usually have “ing” ending with them. These are also forms of verbs but are used as nouns. Hence, we can say that these are combinations of verbs and nouns.
For example, “laughing” can be used both as a verb and a noun. We can consider “laughing” as a verb or an action and also “laughing” as a state of being happy.
We can also say that to convert a verb into a gerund we just have to add “ing” to it. A gerund phrase includes a gerund, the object, and the modifiers.
Some examples of gerunds are: laughing, swimming, agreeing, being, singing, dancing, meditating, and many more.
2. Infinitives
These are the types of non-finite verbs which are used by adding “to” in front of it. They are also called full infinitive or infinitive verbs. For example, to be, to help, to sleep and many more.
Infinitives can function as a verb, a noun, an adjective or an adverb depending on the condition and requirement of the sentence.
For example, “the manager asked me to do this”, in this sentence the verb is “ask” and the infinitive used is “to do”. Similarly in this sentence, “ I want to be a chef”, “want” is a verb, and “to be” is the infinitive used here.
We can also use infinitives as subjects in the sentence. For example, “ to play is what I promised to them”, here “to play” is the infinitive which is used as the subject here.
3. Participles
These are the types of infinitives that are used as verbs or as adjectives. They form the tenses of verbs and adjectives.
Mainly, participles are of two types :
1. Present Participle :
Here, we use “ing” at the end of the verb to convert it into a present participle form. This form shows us the present action with respect to time done by the finite verb. The suffix used here is “ing”. These too can act as nouns, adjectives, or an adverb.
For example, “ the players were playing football”, here the word “playing” acts as a present participle form of the verb.
2. Past Participle:
This is a derivation of a verb that shows us the past tense of an action and can be used as an adjective. These words form the passive voice. Almost all tenses use these past participle forms to show their respective past tense.
For example, the past participle of the verb “be” is “been”, the past participle of the word “look” is “looked”, and the past participle of the word “talk” is “talked”. Thus, we can see that the rule to form a past participle is by using the suffix “ed” to the actual original base verb.
A common use of the past participle in a sentence is shown, “ he looked at the tower”, “she has taken a day off”, “we have been here for an hour” and many more.
In this article, we read about the non-finite verbs and understood their meaning and usage in day-to-day English. We also learned about the types of non-finite verbs and the rules to form them and use them as per the requirements.
FAQs Non-Finite Verbs
How to find finite and non-finite verb?
To find finite and non-finite verbs, you need to look at how the verb behaves in the sentence. Finite verbs change their form based on the subject and the tense of the sentence. They can stand alone as the main verb in a sentence. For example, in the sentence She eats an apple, the verb eats is finite because it changes with the subject she and indicates present tense. On the other hand, non-finite verbs do not change their form based on the subject or tense. They often appear as infinitives (to eat), gerunds (eating), or participles (eaten). In the sentence She likes to eat apples, to eat is a non-finite verb because it does not change with the subject or tense.
Is solve a non-finite verb?
Solve can be a non-finite verb depending on how it is used in a sentence. When used as an infinitive (to solve), it is non-finite because it does not change with the subject or tense. For example, in the sentence She wants to solve the puzzle, to solve is non-finite. However, if it is used as solves or solved, it becomes a finite verb because it changes with the subject and tense, like in He solves the puzzle or He solved the puzzle.
Is want a non-finite verb?
Want can also be a non-finite verb depending on its form in the sentence. As an infinitive (to want), it is non-finite because it does not change with the subject or tense. For example, in the sentence She seems to want more time, to want is non-finite. However, when it is used in a sentence like She wants more time, it is a finite verb because it changes with the subject and indicates present tense.
How many non-finite verbs are there?
There are three main types of non-finite verbs: infinitives, gerunds, and participles. Infinitives are the base form of the verb usually preceded by to (to read, to write). Gerunds are verbs that end in -ing and function as nouns (reading, writing). Participles can be either present participles ending in -ing (reading, writing) or past participles often ending in -ed or -en (written, played). These forms cover all non-finite verbs in English.
Is went a non-finite verb?
Went is not a non-finite verb. It is the past tense form of the verb go and is a finite verb. Finite verbs change according to the subject and tense, which is what went does. For example, in the sentence She went to the store, the verb went is finite because it indicates past tense and agrees with the subject she. Non-finite verbs, on the other hand, do not change based on the subject or tense.
