Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Finite and Infinite verbs: Morning has broken

Words of the song: Morning has broken
http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=1TWd3skb-Rw (orginal)
http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=ILqGdVJ3noA

Morning (C) has bro(Am) ken (D), like(G) the first(F) morning (C)
Blackbird has(Em) spoken(Am), like(C) the first(G7) bird
Praise(C) for the singing(F), praise(C) for the morn(Am) ing(D)
Praise(G) for them(C) springing(F) fresh(G7) from the word(C)

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day

Language Item
Finite and non-finite verbs
If an ordinary sentence contains just one verb, this verb will be finite. (Why 'finite'?)
This is [finite] a finite verb.
In a verb chain, the first verb in the chain is almost always finite, and the other verbs are always non-finite.
They have [finite] looked [non-finite] at it
The finite verb in a clause defines the way the clause works. It gives key information about:
who is doing the thing - i.e. the subject:
e.g. They have ... but: She has ...
and when it is being done - i.e. the tense:
e.g. They have ... but: They had ...

Non-finite verbs are not restricted in these ways, though they are restricted in other ways. For example, the infinitive have can be used for any time and any subject:
He seems to have a cold. (present time, singular subject)
They seemed to have colds. (past time, plural subject)

Underline all the finite verbs and circle all the infinite verbs in this song

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