Week 4-Practice Exercises-Set I

1. Identify the non-finite verb forms in the following sentences.

Remember non-finite verb forms do not carry time. These verb forms are not generally inflected for
number, person, tense, etc. This includes present participle (work-working), past participle (eat-ate
-eaten), and infinitives (to work) and the plain form of the verb after modals such as will, could, can,
should, might, etc. Consider the following sentences:

a. He wanted to work in the office.

b. They are singing happily.
c. She has eaten lunch.
d. She will go.

In the above sentences, we cannot tell when the action of working, singing and eating happened by just
considering these three forms. For the first sentence, ‘wanted’ helps us identify the time of the action
which is past. In the second sentence, the auxiliary ‘are’ and in the third sentence, the auxiliary ‘has’
indicate the time of the verb which is present in both cases. In (d), the verb ‘go’ is also non-finite as it
does not carry time. Here the modal helps us identify the tense of the verb.

The opposite of a non-finite verb form is a finite verb form. For example, in the following sentences, all
verbs are finite because they are inflected for person, number, and tense.

a. I went.
b. She walks.
c. He sings.

By looking at the first sentence, you can tell that the action of going happened in the past. Therefore, it
is inflected for tense/time. The same holds true for the sentences in (b) and (c). They are inflected for
number, person, and tense. You can tell that in ‘she walks’, the verb ‘walks’ carries time which is present.
This verb is also inflected for person. Note the presence of -s which signals third person singular.

Now first identify the non-finite forms in the following sentences. Then tell whether each is a present
participle, a past participle or an infinitive.

1. I need to ask you a few questions.

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_ 2. She was looking at her sister.

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3. Eric has not considered all his options.

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4. They will be expecting you at seven o’clock.

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5. Having been informed of the results, Mary regretted her actions.

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6. John is driving his father to the airport.

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7. To be truthful, I don’t like your new haircut.

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8. Judy can’t leave yet.

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9. Sitting in my living room, I can see his parked car.

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10. By next week, we will have been living here for one year.

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