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Non Finite Clauses Summary
Non Finite Clauses Summary
Non-Finite Clauses
Non-finite clauses are those clauses headed by a gerund participle (-ing), a past
participle or an infinitival construction (plain form).
We won't use the term infinitive, only infinitival clauses and verbs in plain form.
Non-Finite clauses:
Contain a predicate headed by a secondary form.
Do not have a primary tense.
Can never contain a modal auxiliary.
Normally, embedded in a larger construction and aspects of their meanings depend
upon it.
For example:
a. I had long been wanting to go to a camping trip. (It happened already)
b. I am planning to go to a camping trip. (Hasn’t happened already)
Can have special subordinators (to and for).
Can lack overt subjects despite not being imperative.
When a non-finite clause has a personal pronoun as subject, that pronoun generally
does not have the nominative case-form.
Under certain conditions, a non-finite clause may have a non-subject NP left
understood.
To-infinitivals are marked by the word to. It is a very particular word and no other item
has exactly the same grammatical properties. Huddleston and Pullum consider to as a
member of the subordinator category.
For does for infinitival clauses with subjects what the subordinator that does for declarative
content clauses.
Subjectless Non-Finites
Most non-finite clauses have no overt subject but we understand them as having subjects
anyway. We speak then of an understood subject.
We can determine the understood subject in two ways: via syntactic determination or not.
Syntactic determination:
Non-Syntactic determination:
Eg. [Having read the book first], Alice was not surprised by the plot twist.
“Having read the book first” is an adjunct whose subject can be found by looking at the
main clause: It was Alice who read the book.
Sometimes, however, the understood subject is not given by a name or an NP.
Eg. [Always being appointed with the task of shoveling the snow], winter was never my
favorite season.
Even though it is never explicitly stated, we assume the understood subject is the speaker
because we relate my to the subject.
Sometimes no NP in the sentence gives us any clue about what we should take to be
the understood subject.
Eg. [Having failed once], is the fear of failure any less this time around?
Only context can tell us that the understood subject is the person addressed.
INFINITIVAL CLAUSES
In to-infinitival clauses, a personal pronoun with a nominative-accusative contrast always
takes accusative form:
Eg. [For them to take your credit card away] was a clear violation.
All she cares about is [for us to be together again].
GERUND-PARTICIPIALS
With gerunds, the case of the subject depends on whether the clause is complement or
adjunct.
2) As Adjuncts: Subject genitives are not permitted at all. It can only be nominative of
accusative.
He looks up to Ted, [he being his best bro].
He looks up to Ted, [him being his best bro].
The accusative is markedly informal and somewhat unlikely.
There is a type of non-finite clause in which some non-subject element is missing but can
be recovered from an antecedent.
Eg. The pie will be cold enough [for you to eat ___] in a minute.
The new terms take a little while [to get used to___].
The pizza was too large [to eat___ by myself].
It is a question very difficult [to answer___].
The “___” marks the place where an element is missing but understood. The bold elements
are the antecedents that provide the interpretation for the missing NP.
The bracketed clauses here have incomplete structure. This is why they are called hollow
non-finites.
Hollow non-finites:
Are predominantly to-infinitivals
Their missing elements functions mostly as Direct Objects.
Their antecedent is usually a NP.
1. TO-INFINITIVALS
FUNCTION EXAMPLE
Subject [To tell you what happened] would break me.
Extraposed Subject It would break me [to tell you what
happened].
Extraposed Object He though it wise [to ask for a sword].
Internal Complement of Verb John wants [to go for a walk].
Complement of Preposition I use high heels in order [to look taller].
Adjunct in Clause I use high heels [to look taller].
Complement of Noun He gave me the option [to repeat the test].
Modifier in NP Hermione has a wand [to conjure spells with].
Complement of Adjective Dean was excited [to get in the car].
Indirect Complement I am too worried [to go to sleep].
Interrogative Infinitivals
Infinitivals functioning as complement to verbs, prepositions, nouns and adjectives can be
interrogative.
FUNCTION EXAMPLE
Complement of Verb I don’t know [whether to tell you the truth
or not].
Complement of Adjective I’m not sure [how to tell you].
Complement of Preposition I don’t know in [whom to trust anymore].
Complement of Noun The decision [whether to go through the
mines or not] falls on the ring-bearer.
Closed interrogatives are introduced by the subordinator whether and open ones (wh-) by
an interrogative phrase. Overt subject is not permitted in interrogative infinitivals.
2. BARE INFINITIVALS
As opposed to to-infinitivals, bare infinitival clauses occur in only a very limited set of
functions. Mostly as internal complements of certain verbs, with no subject permitted:
3. GERUND-PARTICIPIALS
FUNCTION EXAMPLE
Subject [Booking a room before travelling] was an excellent
idea.
Extraposed Subject It’s been great [getting to know you].
Object I like [talking about television].
Extraposed Object I think it is useless [trying to reason with you].
Internal Complement of a Verb I recalled [seeing your dog in the morning].
Complement of a Preposition He apologized for [being late].
Adjunct in Clause [Being the last one here], you have no right to
complain.
Modifier in NP I really loved the speaker [presenting on global
warming].
4. PAST-PARTICIPIALS
Complex catenatives have an intervening NP between the main and the dependent verb,
while simple catenatives don't.
An ordinary object is semantically related to the matrix verb, while a raised object is not.
The subject of the catenative verb in the simple catenative construction may be an ordinary
subject or a raised subject, depending on the particular catenative verb selected.
a) Passive Voice
When turned to passive, if the sentence has a raised subject, it will have the same core
meaning as its active form.
Ordinary Subject Raised Subject
Active Jason wanted to convince Peter Jason seemed to convince Peter
Passive Peter wanted to be convinced Peter seemed convinced by Jason
by Jason
Same No. Yes
meaning?
This last structure (bare infinitival) does not have overt indications of where the NP belongs
syntactically, but through testing with passive constructions, insertion of adjuncts, and cleft
constructions H&P prove it belongs to the main clause.
Verbless Clauses
It’s important to note that [without glasses on] can still be divided into subject and
predicate, [glasses] being the subject and [on] the predicate