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An example appears in the sentence He deserves to win the cup, where "deserve" is a catenative verb which can be followed directly by another verb, in this case a to-infinitive construction. [1] These verbs are called "catenative" because of their ability to form chains in catenative constructions. For example: We need to go to the tennis court ...
This is followed by the simple past tense , and then the past participle. If there are irregular present tense forms (see below), these are given in parentheses after the infinitive. (The present participle and gerund forms of verbs, ending in -ing, are always regular. In English, these are used as verbs, adjectives, and nouns.)
The main uses of the various nonfinite verb forms (infinitives, participles and gerunds) are described in the following sections. For how these forms are made, see § Inflected forms of verbs above. For more information on distinguishing between the various uses that use the form in -ing, see -ing: Uses.
In some verbs, the past tense, past participle, or both are identical in form to the basic (infinitive) form of the verb. This is the case with certain strong verbs, where historical sound changes have led to a leveling of the vowel modifications: for example, let has both past tense and past participle identical to the infinitive, while come ...
With the exception of the highly irregular verb be, an English verb can have up to five forms: its plain form (or bare infinitive), a third person singular present tense, a past tense (or preterite), a past participle, and the -ing form that serves as both a present participle and gerund.
Verbs ending in a consonant plus o also typically add -es: veto → vetoes. Verbs ending in a consonant plus y add -es after changing the y to an i: cry → cries. In terms of pronunciation, the ending is pronounced as / ɪ z / after sibilants (as in lurches), as / s / after voiceless consonants other than sibilants (as in makes), and as / z ...
Certain verb–modifier combinations, particularly when they have independent meaning (such as take on and get up), are known as "phrasal verbs". For details of possible patterns, see English clause syntax. See the Non-finite clauses section of that article for verb phrases headed by non-finite verb forms, such as infinitives and participles.
In English, a non-finite verb form may constitute: an infinitive verb, including the auxiliary verb have — within a verb phrase that is predicated by a modal verb (e.g., "I could have cried"). within a to-infinitive phrase (e.g., "They seem to have moved"). a participle. a gerund. Each of the non-finite forms appears in a variety of environments.