Non-finite forms of the verb (The verbals)

 

 

The verb has finite and non-finite forms, the latter being also called verbals. The verbals, unlike the finite forms of the verb, do not express person, number or mood. Therefore, they cannot be used as the predicate of a sentence. There are three verbals in English: the participle, the gerund and the infinitive.

 

In Russian we also have three non-finite forms of the verb, but they do not fully coincide with those in the English language (причастие, деепричастие, инфинитив).

 

1. Gerund (-ing form)

 

The gerund is formed by adding the suffix –ing to the stem of the verb.

 

					Active	Passive
Present	(refers	to	the		knowing	being known
present or future)				e.g. She enjoys dancing.		e.g. I admit being invited to the
						party.
Perfect	(shows	that	the		having known	having been known
action of the gerund has				e.g.	He denied having	e.g. Having been accepted for
happened before the action
				stolen the money.		that course changed my life.
of the main verb)

 

The gerund can be the subject of the sentence (e.g. My answering in the affirmative gave him great satisfaction).

 

1. Rewrite these sentences, starting with a gerund. You may need to change some words:

 

e.g. A good way of keeping fit is to swim every day. – Swimming every day is a good way of keeping fit.

 

1. It takes a long time to learn a foreign language.

 

2. Clean the machine more often – that will solve your problems.

3. Grow your own food. It's less expensive.

4. Give up smoking: it will make you feel better.

5. It is cheaper to go by rail than by air.

6. You are not allowed to smoke here.

7. It's not very pleasant to be in hospital.

 

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8. It's very difficult to windsurf properly.

 

9. It's more difficult to speak a foreign language than to read it.

10. It is forbidden to walk on the grass.

 

2. Supply gerund forms for the words in brackets.

 

1. Dancing is fun. (dance)

 

2. _______________ tall is an advantage. (be)

3. What I like is _______________. (ride)

4. I enjoy ______________. (read)

5. _____________ makes me tired. (drive)

6. _____________ able to drive is a disadvantage. (not be)

7. _____________ keeps you fit. (run)

 

8. I like ___________. (cycle)

9. ______________ is a difficult profession. (act)

 

3. Put in the correct forms.

 

IT TAKES YOUR BREATH AWAY!

The art of (cook)¹ cooking requires the use of garlic. Of course, the (eat)² _________

of garlic is not generally approved of. (Work)³ _________ beside someone who has

eaten garlic is as bad as (sit)⁴ ___________ beside someone who smokes. But while

(smoke)⁵ ___________ is definitely bad for you, there is no doubt that (eat)⁶

___________ garlic is good for the health. We are likely to see more ‘No (smoke)’⁷

___________ signs, but we won’t see any ‘No (breathe)’⁸ ____________ signs for

garlic eaters! (Cultivate)⁹ __________ and (export)¹⁰ ___________ garlic has become

big business now that so many people use it for (flavor)¹¹ __________ meat and (add)¹²

_________ to different dishes. People often buy it when they do the (shop)¹³

____________. You don’t have to deny (use)¹⁴ ____________ it or (have/eat)¹⁵

____________ it. (Be)¹⁶ ______ a garlic eater is something to be proud of and shows

 

you enjoy good (live)¹⁷ ________. The story of garlic is a breathtaking success!

 

Some verbs are always followed by the gerund: admit, appreciate, avoid, consider, delay, deny, detest, dislike, enjoy, explain, fancy, feel like, finish, forgive, can’t help, imagine, it involves, keep, mention, mind, miss, pardon, postpone, practise, prevent, recall, resent, resist, risk, stop, suggest, understand.

e.g. I deny taking it.

 

The gerund can follow need and want.

e.g. He needs encouraging.

 

4. Supply any suitable verb in a suitable form.

 

1. Our neighbours are very considerate. They avoid making a lot of noise.

2. Just imagine ______________ in a country where it is always warm and sunny!

3. The police questioned me at some length and I didn’t enjoy __________.

 

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4. What does the job involve? – It involves ____________ the engine apart.

 

5. I missed an interesting programme on TV last night. I really mind __________ it.

6. We often go ____________ during the weekend. Would you like to come

_____________ with us?

7. Look at the state of those windows! They really need ____________!

8. Our front gate is falling to pieces. It really wants ______________.

 

These verbs are followed by –ing form: hear, keep, smell, start, stop, watch:

e.g. When are you going to start working?

 

But if we want to refer to someone else, we use a direct object after the verb:

e.g. When are you going to start him (John, etc.) working?

 

These verbs always have a direct object: catch, find, leave, notice, observe, perceive, see:

e.g. I’d better not catch you doing that again!

 

5. Match A and B.
A				B
1	It’s difficult to keep them f			a)	sheltering in the barn
2	I think that’s enough to start her ___			b)	coming from the forest
3	I could smell smoke ______			c)	worrying again
4	The police caught him _____			d)	opening the safe
5	The searchers found the boy ______			e)	thinking about the problem
6	They left us ______			f)	working all the time
7	Will you please stop ____			g)	shouting in the distance
8	I can hear someone ________			h)	changing TV channels

 

NOTE: the gerund is used after prepositions: e.g. Before going out I phoned Sarah.

 

6. Complete these sentences, putting the verbs into the gerund and using one of the following prepositions. Some of them are used more than once: