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Non-finite and Verbless Clauses

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2 views

Non-finite and Verbless Clauses

Uploaded by

nguyenxuandien2k3
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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University of Finance and

Marketing
Faculty of Foreign Languages

Non-finite and
Verbless Clauses
Finite and Non-finite Verbs
- A finite verb is one that agrees with
its subject.
My sister has a pair of new shoes.
- Non-finite verbs are verbs that do
not have to agree with a subject.
- Infinitives, present participles and
past participles, and verbal nouns
are non-finite verbs.
Finite and Non-finite Verbs

To buy a new car, they need to save


more money.
Seeing me from a far distance, he
waved his arm to greet me.
Exhausted from the hard working
day, he couldn’t walk an inch.
Non-finite Clauses
- is a subordinate clause that has only a
non-finite verb, and no finite verb in it.
- may be formed with an infinitive,
with to
He wanted to go home soon.
He decided to study English in order
to get a good job.
Non-finite Clauses

- may be formed with an infinitive,


without to
All he wanted to do is go home as
soon as possible.
Her mother had that man repair her
car.
Non-finite Clauses
- may be formed with a participle
The young man arrested yesterday is
from Scotland.
Walking along the street, I ran into a
high school friend of mine.
Non-finite Clauses
- may be formed with a verbal noun
He kept on talking during the class.
Because of missing the bus, she got to
the morning’s class late.
Verbless Clauses
- is a subordinate clause that has no
verb in it at all

Call me tonight if necessary.


Now much weaker, she could hardly
raise herself from her bed.
Functions of Non-finite and Verbless Clauses

- function as noun clauses or adverbial


clauses and have the same functions in
sentences as other subordinate clauses
- some non-finite and verbless clauses
are like shortened relative clauses
The man giving the speech is the
city’s mayor.
She looked at the baby, now fast
asleep in her cot.
Indirect Commands

- Non-finite clauses are used to form


indirect commands or requests.
‘Don’t do that,’ I said to her.
I told her not to do that.
Dangling participles
- is a participle in a non-finite clause
whose implied and unexpected subject
is not the same as the subject of the
verb in the main clause
- This often happens in informal
English and when the implied of the
non-finite verb is “I” although the
subject of the verb in the main clause is
someone / something else.
1. Since losing my job, my life has
been meaningless and miserable.
→ I lost my job but it is my life that
has been miserable.
2. While climbing the mountain,
John's hat blew away.
→ It was not John’s hat that was
climbing the mountain.
Phrases and Clauses
- A non-finite or verbless clause can be
expanded into a full clause with a finite verb.
1. While walking along the street, I ran into
a high school friend of mine.
While I was walking along the street,…
2. Call me tonight if necessary.
Call me tonight if that is necessary.
- It is not possible to do this with a phrase.
Phrases and Clauses
- A non-finite or verbless clause has
words in it representing more than one
sentence function (subject, verb, object,
etc.).
1. When ripe, strawberries are red.
(conjunction + subject complement)
2. I don’t like Peter doing that. (subject
+ verb + direct object)
Phrases and Clauses
- A non-finite or verbless clause has
words in it representing more than one
sentence function (subject, verb, object,
etc.).
3. I want to be a pilot. (verb + subject
complement)
4. Though always helpful, Diana
sometimes drove me crazy. (conjunction
+ adverbial + subject-complement )
Phrases and Clauses
- A phrase never has elements
belonging to more than one sentence
function.

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