Page 95 - English Grammar - 7

1 1 14 14 Non-finite
Non-finite VerbsVerbs

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Practise What You Know!actise What You Know!

Read the following sentences and state whether the the underlined verbs are finite
or non-finite.
1. I promised to gift her a new dress. _______________

2. He is excited to learn boating in the lake. _______________
3. I cannot go with you. _______________

4. I am going to surprise my sister. _______________
5. The bird flies over the trees. _______________

Let’s Learn Non-finite Verbs

A verb that is limited by the person and number of the subject in a sentence is called the
finite verb. But a verb not limited by person and number in a sentence is called non-finite
verb. Generally, a non-finite verb does not have any tense form.
A non-finite verb does not tell us about the action done by the subject in a sentence. It may
be used as a noun, an adverb or an adjective.

Non-finite verbs are of three kinds:

Infinitive Participle Gerund
O O O

Let’s Learn Infinitive

An infinitive is a verb that acts independently as separate part of speech in a sentence.
As explained, it has no influence of the subject of the sentence, and its form does not get
changed by any change of tense, subject or main verb in the sentence. It is usually formed
by a base verb preceded by the word to.
For example: to play, to talk, to hear, etc.

An infinitive can be used as:

� an object of a verb. For example:
Hari likes to sing.
O
� a subject at the beginning of a sentence. For example:
To walk on the mountains is my greatest pleasure.
O
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