Finite and non-finite clauses

For a sentence to be complete in English, it requires a finite verb.  A finite verb shows tense and can also show number and person when using the present tense (e.g. ‘sings’ denotes present tense, third person singular). A finite clause or sentence can stand on its own and make sense, e.g.

She is staring into space. (present progressive/continuous)

He was frightened by the traffic. (simple past - passive voice)

She frightened the cat. (simple past)

In the above examples, as in usual sentences, the subject is included.  When present or past participles are used as a non-finite verb, the subject is rarely included and the participle appears on its own.  E.g.

Staring into space – present participle ‘staring’

Frightened by the noise – regular past participle

Lit by a candle - irregular past participle

Past participles often look like the simple past tense with regular verbs having the same –ed suffix. However for irregular verbs (often the verbs coming from Old English), the form is different.  (For more on past participles, click on the past participle label on the right-hand side of my blog.)

Clauses containing non-finite verbs are called non-finite clauses.  Because they don’t contain a finite verb, they can’t be the main clause in a sentence as they would not make sense standing alone as a simple sentence. Therefore, they must stand as a subordinate clause and require a finite clause to complete the sentence.  In this way, complex sentences are formed.  

Staring into space, he heard nothing around him.

Frightened by the noise, the horse reared up.

Lit by a candle, the room looked romantic.

Using participles in non-finite clauses to create complex sentences adds variety to children’s writing. They can also experiment with swapping the clauses around for effect (and investigating the correct punctuation to use).  What is more effective?

Frightened by the noise, the horse reared up.

The horse reared up, frightened by the noise.

We can also add ‘to’ to the base form of the verb to create another non-finite form: the infinitive, e.g. to light, to drive.

To light a candle, you will need a match.

Non-finite clauses encourage children to vary their sentence structure.  In effect, the non-finite construction is filling the same function as a conjunction, by joining two clauses together within a sentence.

Resource for teaching fronted adverbials: 'Something about a Bear' by Jackie Morris

‘Where the water churns with salmon, thick and rich with leaping fishes, there the Brown Bear stands and catches the wild king of the river.’

What a poetic opening this is!  Of course, it is just the rich, beautiful language we have come to expect from Jackie Morris and, once again, she has provided teachers with a quality text for exemplifying certain sentence structures. 

This book could be used to develop understanding around many aspects of grammar, but here we are going to focus on fronted adverbials.  Below are some examples from the text which could be used in the following ways:

1. Using Talk for Writing techniques, children can learn the patterns of the text and innovate/invent their own sentences from these. 
2. Discussing the fronted adverbials will also help children understand this grammatical feature.  For example, is the adverbial position filled with one phrase, more than one phrase, or a clause?
3. In some sentences, there is subject-verb inversion after the fronted adverbial and children could use this pattern for a more literary style.  This structure can be used when the subject is a noun (not a pronoun) and there is an initial place adverbial (position or direction).

I would not discuss sentence structure beyond points 2 and 3 above, since many of the sentences have lengthy, sophisticated constructions and there is no need to understand how these are put together to appreciate the beauty of the language.

On the shore the young bears watch him; still others swim …  (Fronted adverbial phrase)

In the wildest lands of China, in the forests and the mountains, lives the white-and-black Giant Panda, hidden from the world. (Power of 3 opening: 3 adverbials followed by subject-verb inversion and a final, non-finite, adverbial clause.  Note that the third listed adverbial has the preposition ‘in’ omitted for succinctness.)  This would be a great structure for children to imitate, innovate and invent their own.

Through the forest, hunting termites and the honey hives of bees, where the mangos and the fruit trees grow in plenty, walks the shaggy-coated Sloth Bear.  (This is a complicated structure, with two clauses placed between the fronted adverbial and the inverted subject-verb.  The basic sentence is Through the forest walks the shaggy-coated Sloth Bear.  This is split by a non-finite adverbial clause ‘hunting termites and the honey hives of bees,’ and a finite adverbial clause ‘where the mangos and the fruit trees grow in plenty’. Children learning to use fronted adverbials do not need to understand these two clause structures grammatically, but it is useful for the teacher to be aware of them. 

With her cubs aboard her strong back she keeps them safe from danger, for there are tiges in the forests, and wild dogs and leopards too. (Fronted adverbial phrase)

Up in the crowns of tall trees, in the softest nests of green leaves, the Spectacled Bear sunbathes through the heat of the day.  (Two adverbial phrases fronting the sentence.)

By dawn light and dusk light the great Moon Bear of Asia hunts and searches, for insects, and for noney, nuts and berries.  (Fronted adverbial created by a preposition + two noun phrases linked with ‘and’.)

Where the forest meets the snowline she watches from her bear’s nest for the wild leopard of the mountains, who hunts the higher ground.  (Fronted adverbial clause)

In the cool of night he searches…  (Fronted adverbial phrase)

Besides the lakes and in the forests Black Bear fishes in the water, …  (Two adverbial phrases linked with ‘and’ fronting the sentence.)

You will note that many of Jackie Morris’s fronted adverbials are not punctuated with commas, unless embedded clauses or phrases follow.  For more about punctuating fronted adverbials, click here.