• Verbs Definition‌

  Verbs are used to indicate the actions, processes, conditions, or states of beings of people or

  things.
  Verbs play an integral role to the structure of a sentence. They constitute the root of the predicate, which, along with the subject (the “doer” of the verb’s action), forms a full clause or sentence—we cannot have a sentence without a verb.
  When we discuss verbs’ role in the predicate, we usually divide them into two fundamental categories: finite and non-finite verbs.

  Finite and Non-Finite Verbs

  The predicate requires at least one finite verb to be considered complete. A finite verb has a direct relationship to the subject of a sentence or clause, and does not require another verb in the sentence in order to be grammatically correct. For example:

• “I swim every day.”
• “She reads many books.”
• “He talked for several hours.”
  Each of the above is a finite verb, expressing an action that is directly related to the subject of the sentence. Non-finite verbs, on the other hand, do not express that relationship directly.
  The only verbs that can be considered finite are those in their base form (the infinitive form without the particle to), their past tense form, or their third-person singular form. Verb forms that are never considered finite are gerunds, infinitives, and participles (both past and present).
  Let’s look at an example containing both a finite and non-finite verb:
• “We are learning about the American Revolution in school.”
  This sentence uses the present continuous verb are learning. This functions as a single unit, with learning expressing most of the meaning.
  However, learning is a present participle, which is considered a non-finite verb; the finite verb of the sentence is actually just the auxiliary verb are. It is an inflection of the verb be used for a first person plural subject (we).
  We can see the difference if we use each verb in isolation with the subject:
• “We are”
• “We learning”
  We can see that the first verb is finite because it expresses a direct relationship with the subject, and it can go on to form any number of complete sentences. For example:
  ✔ “We are tired.”
  ✔ “We are almost there.”
  ✔ “We are a large group.”
  The second verb, the present participle learning, cannot make such sentences, and so is not finite. The following examples all require a finite verb to be correct:
  ✖ “We learning math.”
  ✖ “We learning a lot.”
  ✖ “We learning in school.”
  To learn more about the differences between these two classes of verbs, go to the section

  Finite and Non-finite Verbs in this chapter.