Fast and Easy Way To Learn About Verbs For the CSET

present and past participles are the non-finite parts of a verb; To do; doing; done. Non-finite verbs cannot, by themselves, be main verbs.

Examples

1. I want to play.
The non-finite verb is “play”.

2. He decided to go.
The non-finite verb is “to go”.

Non-finite verbs are also called verbals.

Verbals can be classified as consisting of five types: base forms, present participles, past participles, infinitives, and gerunds.

The Base Form

The word in bold is the verb in the sentence.

1. He travels to work by car.
2. Frank sings in the crowd.
3. She walked five miles to work.
4. She cooked a meal for the family.

In sentences 1 and 2 above, notice the verbs have an -s ending. In sentences 3 and 4, notice the verbs have an -ed ending. These endings are called inflections and they are added to the base form of the verb. For example, in sentence 3 above, the -ed inflection is added to the base form walk.

Past and Present Forms

The inflections added to a verb indicate tense. The -s inflection indicates present tense, while