Non-finite phrases

Nonfinite Phrases:

Infinitive

Participial

Gerund

Nonfinite phrases are like dependent clauses in that they can act as nouns, adjectives, and adverbs. They are unlike dependent clauses in that they contain nonfinite verb forms rather than finite verbs.

You’ll remember that finite verbs are verbs that have tense. Nonfinite verbs, therefore, are verbs without tense – verbs that are in the infinite form, or the gerund/participial form.

Infinitive form: to walk, to sing, to be eaten

Participle form: walking, singing, eating, having been eaten

Gerund form: walking, singing, eating, having been eaten

You’ll notice that the form of the participle and the form of the gerund are exactly the same. How will you tell them apart? Function. Participles are always adjectives; gerunds are always nouns.

Infinitives

The infinitive is a non-finite verbal. It can function as a noun, as an adjective, or as an adverb.

Because it derives from a verb, it can form phrases which have objects or complements, and have subjects. All of these can be modified.

                    Ivy hoped to catch the earliest bus.

                   That’s the book to read for next week.

                   We went to the library to study for the exam.

                   James wanted me to learn Japanese with him.

Notice that in each of these examples we have a transformed sentence that has been turned into the infinitive phrase. You can reconstruct this sentence (and probably should) in order to understand what is happening grammatically in the infinite phrase.

Thus:

                Ivy hoped to catch the earliest bus.

                   Ivy hoped (something)

                    (Ivy catches the earliest bus)

That’s the book to read for next week.

That’s the (X) book.

(Someone reads the book for next week)

We went to the library to study for the exam.

We went to the library (for some reason)

(We study for the exam)

James wanted her to learn Japanese with him.    

James wanted (something)

(She learns Japanese with him.)       

Notice in this last sentence when the simple sentence (She learns Japanese with him) is transformed into an infinitive phrase (her to learn Japanese with him) the she become her, even though it is still a subject – that is, the she goes from being a subject of a regular sentence to being the subject of an infinitive phrase.

Since the pronoun is a subject in both cases, why does the subject of the infinitive become the object form of the pronoun? You might expect that the subject of the transformed sentences, when we embed them as subjects of the infinitive phrases, would then also be be in the subject case.  But this turns out not to be so. 

This is because the subject of an infinitive phrase is always in the object case. (Why? Just because.)

  

Replace the underlines nouns in these examples with pronouns:

Everett wanted James to teach the class.

                   The cat likes my sister to cut her nails.

                   For Sarah to finish the race would require a miracle.

Those are all subjects of infinitive phrases – note that the pronouns are all in the object case.

The last sentence (For Sarah to finish the race…) is a special kind of construction. An infinitive phrase may often be marked with a “for” in this fashion – it’s a fossil idiom.

We don’t plan for students to graduate in three years.

See if you can identify how these infinitives are functioning.

                a. Our professor gave us two books to read by Tuesday.

                b. It’s far too cold to swim in that creek.

                c. We need to finish the job today.

d. We bought a ticket to ride the Ferris wheel.

               e.  Elvis is always happy to bake pies.

                f. Everett wanted Ivy to teach the self-defense class.

Notice in this last sentence that if we replace Ivy with a pronoun that pronoun will be her, not she.  Subjects of infinitive phrases are always in the object case.

(Answers to exercise: a: adjective modifying books; b: adverb modifying too; c: noun serving as direct object of sentence; d: adjective modifying ticket; e. adverb modifying happy; f: noun serving as direct object)