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every verb stem (except a few defective verbs) that by means of morphemic change takes both finite and non-
finite forms, the functions of the two sets being strictly differentiated: while the finite forms serve in the
sentence only one syntactic function, namely, that of the finite predicate, the non-finite forms serve various
syntactic functions other than that of the finite predicate.
The strict, unintersecting division of functions (the functions themselves being of a fundamental nature in
terms of the grammatical structure of language as a whole) clearly shows that the opposition between the finite
and non-finite forms of the verb creates a special grammatical category. The differential feature of the
opposition is constituted by the expression of verbal time and mood: while the time-mood grammatical
signification characterizes the finite verb in a way that it underlies its finite predicative function, the verbid has
no immediate means of expressing time-mood categorial semantics and therefore presents the weak member of
the opposition. The category expressed by this opposition can be called the category of "finitude" [Strang, 143;
, 1975, 106]. The syntactic content of the category of finitude is the expression of predication
(more precisely, the expression of verbal predication).
As is known, the verbids, unable to express the predicative meanings of time and mood, still do express the
so-called "secondary" or "potential" predication, forming syntactic complexes directly related to certain types
of subordinate clauses. Cf:.
Have you ever had anything caught in your head? - -Have you ever had anything that was caught In your
head? He said it half under his breath for the others not to hear it. - - He said it half under his breath, so that the
others couldn't hear it.
The verbid complexes anything caught in your head, or for the others not to hear it, or the like, while
expressing secondary predication, are not self-dependent in a predicative sense. They normally exist only as
part of sentences built up by genuine, primary predicative constructions that have a finite verb as their core.
And it is through the reference to the finite verb-predicate that these complexes set up the situations denoted by
them in the corresponding time and mood perspective.
In other words, we may say that the opposition of the finite verbs and the verbids is based on the expression
of the functions of full predication and semi-predication. While the finite verbs express predication in its
genuine and complete form, the function of the verbids is to express semi-predication, building up semi-
predicative complexes within different sentence constructions.
The English verbids include four forms distinctly differing from one another within the general verbid
system: the infinitive, the gerund, the present participle, and the past participle. In compliance with this
difference, the verbid semi-predicative complexes are distinguished by the corresponding differential properties
both in form and in syntactic-contextual function.
§ 2. The infinitive is the non-finite form of the verb which combines the properties of the verb with those of
the noun, serving as the verbal name of a process. By virtue of its general process naming function, the
infinitive should be considered as the head-form of the whole paradigm of the verb. In this quality it can be
likened to the nominative case of the noun in languages having a normally developed noun declension, as, for
instance, Russian. It is not by chance that A.A. Shakhmatov called the infinitive the "verbal nominative". With
the English infinitive, its role of the verbal paradigmatic head-form is supported by the fact that, as has been
stated before, it represents the actual derivation base for all the forms of regular verbs.
The infinitive is used in three fundamentally different types of functions: first, as a notional, self-positional
syntactic part of the sentence; second, as the notional constituent of a complex verbal predicate built up around
a predicator verb; third, as the notional constituent of a finite conjugation form of the verb. The first use is
grammatically "free", the second is grammatically "half-free", the third is grammatically "bound".
The dual verbal-nominal meaning of the infinitive is expressed in full measure in its free, independent use. It
is in this use that the infinitive denotes the corresponding process in an abstract, substance-like presentation.
This can easily be tested by question-transformations. Cf:.
Do you really mean to go away and leave me here alone? >
What do you really mean? It made her proud
sometimes to toy with the idea. > What made her proud sometimes?
The combinability of the infinitive also reflects its dual semantic nature, in accord with which we
distinguish between its verb-type and noun-type connections. The verb-type combinability of the infinitive is
displayed in its combining, first, with nouns expressing the object of the action; second, with nouns expressing
the subject of the action; third, with modifying adverbs; fourth, with predicator verbs of semi-functional nature
forming a verbal predicate; fifth, with auxiliary finite verbs (word-morphemes) in the analytical forms of the
verb. The noun-type combinability of the infinitive is displayed in its combining, first, with finite notional verbs