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Forms of Verbs

Forms of Verbs

Finite Forms: We have already known about Finite Form and Non-finite Form of Verbs

Finite Forms take Subject but Non-finite Forms take no Subject.

Only Present Form and Past Form can take subjects. So Only Present Form and Past Form of a Verb are the Finite Forms.
And now we can say that the Finite Form maybe classified into two forms and they are (1) Present Form and (2) Past Form

Present Form and Past Form are the sub-classes of Finite Form of any Verb.

Non-finite Forms
In the same way, Non-finite Form is also classified into three classes. They are: (a) Participle, b) Infinitive and c) Gerund.

None of them can take any Subject. Actually none of them is used as a Verb because they behave like other Parts of Speech. So they do not need any Subject.

(a) Participles: Participles are normally used as Adjectives. That means when a Verb is used as an Adjective, it is called Participle. In the Sentence, ?I see a flying bird? ?flying? like an Adjective qualifies the Noun ?bird?. So ?flying? is the Participle form of the Verb ?to fly?.

Like wise, in the Sentence, ?I have a broken pen? ?broken? qualifies the Noun ?pen?. So ?broken? is an Adjective here. As it is an Adjective, it is also a participle form of the Verb ?to break?.

In the cited two Sentences both ?flying? and ?broken? are Participles. Both are used as Adjectives. Both are derived from ?actions? and turned into Adjectives. But ?flying? indicates that the action is still going on because ?flying bird'.

Again, ?broken? is also derived from an action but the action is already over or finished because ?broken pen?.

So there is a vivid difference between the two Forms. The former one indicates that the action is continuing and the later one indicates that the action is already finished or got perfect. But as acting as Adjectives, both are Participles. But the former action ?flying?, as it as continuing, is called Present Participle. And the later action ?broken?, as it being finished, is called Past participle.

So Participle Form is divided into two classes: (i) Present Participle and (ii) Past Participle.

Present Participle is always formed by adding the Suffix ?ing? to a Verb. (Verb + ing)
So going, reading, playing, ect. are Present Participle Forms but normally they are used as Adjectives.

(b) Infinitive: Infinitive is another Non-finite Form of a Verb. When a Verb takes ?to? before it to be turned into a new Form, the Form is called Infinitive. We can say, To + Verb = Infinitive.

One thing must be remembered that that very ?to? before any verb is never a Preposition because Verbs never can be Prepositional Object. But many learners do the mistake taking that very ?to? for Preposition. That very ?to? before the Verb may be entitled as ?the sign of Infinitive?.

Sometimes the ?to? before the Verb as a sign of Infinitive may be silent. Then it is called ?bare Infinitive?

That means, To + Verb = Full Infinitive and (to) + Verb = bare Infinitive.

Both Full Infinitive and bare Infinitive are used as different Parts of Speech. Generally, Full Infinitive is used as Noun and bare Infinitive is used as Adjective.

To walk is good for health. Here ?To walk? is used as Subject = Noun.

I saw him (to) walk.
Here ?walk is used as an Adjective to qualify the Object ?man? =Noun.

Another thing should be noted that Infinitive usually indicates Futurity of an action and also to indicate the purpose of any action, the Full Infinitive Form of the respective Verb is used.

It should be Noted that:
Present Form indicates Present Tense.
Past Form indicates Past Tense.
Present Participle indicates continuity.
Past Participle indicates perfection and
Infinitive indicates futurity.

(c) Gerund: Gerund is another Form of a Verb. It is also formed by adding the suffix ?ing? and always used as a Noun.

A Gerund is used in a Sentence as a Subject as well as an Object and also as a Prepositional Object. That is Verb + ing = Noun. So Present Participle and Gerund apparently looks the same but their uses are different.

When an ?ing? Form of a Verb is used as a Noun, it is called Gerund but when it not used as an Adjective, it must be a Present Participle. Though they look like the same, they are never really the same.

It is a swimming pool. Here, ?swimming? is an Adjective. So it is Present Participle but not Gerund.

I like swimming because swimming is a good exercise. Here, both the ?swimming? are Noun. So they are Gerund.

In the same way Present Form and bare Infinitive Form of a Verb also look like the same in appearance but they are also different in their functioning.

Any Present Form of any Verb must have a Subject but a bare Infinitive Form must have no Subject.

I got to school. Here, ?go? is Present Form because it has a Subject.
I saw him go to school. Here, ?go? is bare Infinitive and is used as an Adjective that qualifies the Object ?him?.

I want you go to school. Here also ?go? is a bare Infinitive because it has no Subject. Here, ?you? is the Object of the Verb ?want?. An Object must be in the form of Objective case and never can be a Subject.

So we can say now that a Verb has six different Forms, not three Forms. And they are:

1. Present Form
2. Past Form
3. Present Participle Form
4. Past participle Form
5. Infinitive and
6. Gerund

All the Forms are individually different in characters and in their functioning.

Finite Forms: 1.The Present Form and 2. The Past Form are Finite Forms.

Both these Forms must have a Subject. Without Subject they never cannot be used in a Sentence.

And inversely it can also be said that no Subject can be used in a Sentence without any Finite Verb like the Present Form or the Past Form of any Verb.

If there is any Subject, there must be a Finite Form (either the Present Form or the Past Form of any Verb) with it.

Again, if there is any Finite Form (Present or Past) of any Verb, there must also be a Subject with them. None can go leaving the other.

Present Form used only to indicate Present Tense and Past Form is used only to indicate Past Tense.

Non-finite Forms: Non-finite Forms are used as others Parts of Speech.

And they are:
3. Present Participle(Verb + ing, but vener used as Noun). Always qualifying word and indicates the continuity of any action.

4. Past Participle, also always a qualifying word and indicates the finished condition on any action.

5. Infinite (To + Verb = Noun or Adjective), when it is used as a Noun, it is Full Infinitive i.e. used with ?to? (the sign of Infinitive).
But when it is used as an Adjective, it is bare Infinitive i.e. used without ?to? (the sign of Infinitive remains silent).

6. Gerund (Verb + ing = Noun) always used as Noun.

But except Gerund, the rest three Non-finite Forms of a Verb can be used as a Verb with the assistance of an Auxiliary Verb.

Thanks all.

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