GUIDE ENGLISH GRAMMAR BOOK

8 THE VERB PHRASE
PAGE 76
1 Verbs have the following forms.
Regular verbs
Irregular verbs
Base form play steal find
S-form plays steals finds
Past form played stole found
Ing-form
Past/passive participle
playing
played
stealing finding
stolen found
2 Some of the verb forms have more than one use.
Base form: Imperative Play tennis with me.
Present tense You play very well.
Infinitive
I'd like to play.
S-form: Present tense Simon plays very well.
(3rd person singular)
Past form: Past tense . They played back the film.
Ing-form: Gerund Playing tennis is fun.
Active participle You're playing very well.
Past/passive Past participle They've played back the film.
participle: Passive participle The film was played back.
59 Finite and non-finite verbs
1 A finite verb phrase is one that can be the main verb of a sentence. A non-finite
verb phrase is an infinitive, gerund or participle.
Finite
Non-finite
you leave kept disappearing
it is
anxious to stop
someone will steal see the thief filmed
you are playing
the police were informed
NOTE
A form with ed can be finite or non-finite, depending on the context.
They filmed the thief. (past tense - finite)
They saw the thief filmed in the act. (participle -non-finite)
2 A finite verb phrase can come in a main clause or a sub clause.
The police took action.
We were pleased when the police took action.
A non-finite verb comes only in a sub clause.
We wanted the police to take action.
We approved of the police taking action.
We approved of the action taken by the police.
Sometimes there are two verb phrases together, a finite one and then a
non-finite one.
The police wanted to take action.
Things kept disappearing from the changing room.
For the to-infinitive and gerund in these patterns, • 121.