23) The Verbals. The double character of the infinitive, the gerund, participle

The verbals (the Infinitive, the Gerund, the Participle) form the system of non-finite forms of the English verb. They do not express predication and lack some grammatical forms characterizing the verb. These forms have no categories of mood, person, number. They name the action but it is presented as a thing or as characteristic of a thing. This accounts for the fact that the verbals combine the characteristics of a verb on the one hand and a noun, an adjective, and an adverb on the other. Their syntactical functions also differ from the finite forms. The Infinitive and the Gerund, for example, can be used as a Subject, an Object, and a Predicative in the sentence. The Participle may be used as an attribute and as a predicative. In these functions the participle acquires the same syntactical characteristics as the adjective and the adverb. The double nature of the verbals makes some grammarians think that they should not be regarded as the forms of the verb. They think that the verbals must be included into other parts of speech (Infinitive and Gerund into nouns and Participle into adjectives).

These opinions are based on the syntactical functions of the verbals. But the features of the finite and non-finite forms of the verb having much in common leave this point of view to be groundless. The general meaning of the finite and the non-finite forms coincides. Though the non-finite forms lack some verbal categories, the categories possessed by the verbals (relativity, voice and aspect) are purely verbal and they are not to be found in any part of speech but the verb.

The Infinitive is the most generalized, the most abstract form of the verb, serving as the verbal name of a process; it is used as the derivation base for all the other verbal forms. That is why the infinitive is traditionally used as the head word for the lexicographic entry of the verb in dictionaries.

The infinitive combines verbal features with features of the noun; it is a phenomenon of hybrid processual-substantive nature, intermediary between the verb and the noun. It has voice and aspect forms, e.g.: to write, to be writing, to have written, to be written, to have been written;. The non-verbal properties of the infinitive are displayed in its syntactic functions and its combinability. The infinitive performs all the functions characteristic of the noun

The gerund is another verbid that serves as the verbal name of a process and combines verbal features with those of a noun; the gerund, like the infinitive, can be characterized as a phenomenon of hybrid processual-substantive nature, intermediary between the verb and the noun. It is even closer to the noun, because besides performing the substantive functions in a sentence like the infinitive, it can also be modified by an attribute and can be used with a preposition, which the infinitive can not do, e.g.: Thank you for listening to me; Your careful listening to me is very much appreciated

Participle I (present participle) is fully homonymous with the gerund: it is also an ‘ing-form’ (or, rather, four ‘ing-forms’, cf.: writing, being written, having written, having been written). But its semantics is different: it denotes processual quality, combining verbal features with features of the adjective and the adverb; participle I can be characterized as a phenomenon of hybrid processual-qualifying nature, intermediary between the verb and the adjective/adverb

Participle II, like participle I, denotes processual quality and can be characterized as a phenomenon of hybrid processual-qualifying nature. It has only one form, traditionally treated in practical grammar as the verbal “third form”, used to build the analytical forms of the passive and the perfect of finites, e.g.: is taken; has taken.