Looking for an easy way to Learning of new elementary english grammar and composition for class 8 answers, Solutions. You have to learn basic English Grammar topics like Tenses Verbs, Nouns, etc… In this article, we will review the best English Grammer Topics and compare them against each other.
Non-Finite Verbs Exercises With Answers for Class 8 CBSE PDF
In English, verbs can be divided into two basic types—finite and non-finite. Verbs that show tense and agreement with a subject are called finite verbs. They change their forms according to the subject, person and tense of the sentence.
Examples:
- Pluto eats biscuits. (present)
- Pluto ate biscuits. (past)
Verbs that do not show a distinct tense and cannot stand alone as a verb in a sentence are called non-finite verbs.
Non-finite verbs do not change their forms according to the subject or the tense.
Examples: to eat and eating in the following sentences:
- Pluto loves to eat biscuits. (present)
- Pluto loved to eat biscuits as a puppy. (past)
- Eating biscuits was Pluto’s favourite activity as a puppy. (past)
Non-finite verbs can be further divided into infinitives, participles, and gerunds.
Infinitives
There are two kinds of infinitives—to-infinitives and bare infinitives.
To-infinitives These infinitives are made by the base form of the verbs preceded by the preposition—to.
Examples:
- to be, to go, to talk, to receive, to run
They are never the main verbs of sentences. If the sentence were to change tense, the infinitive verbs would remain the same. Examples:
- I wish to meet him. She wishes to meet him. (present)
- They wished to meet him. (past)
- He is the first person to arrive at the site. (present)
- They were the first ones to arrive at the site. (past)
The verbs to meet and to arrive do not change when the subjects or the tense change, whereas the finite verbs wish and be (were) change according to person, number and tense.
Bare Infinitives
Sometimes, infinitives are used without to. When an infinitive hasn’t got the preposition to before it, it is called a bare infinitive. They are the base forms of the verbs.
Bare infinitives appear:
- after objects following verbs such as feel, see, watch, hear, etc.
- after objects following verbs like let, help, bid, make, overheard, etc.
- after modals and other auxiliary verbs like can, could, must. (ought is always followed by a to-infinitive)
- with expressions, like had better, would rather, sooner than, rather than.
Examples:
- Mother heard the baby cry. (cry is a bare infinitive)
- Who can make the baby laugh? (make and laugh are bare infinitives)
- We let him visit his friends. (visit is a bare infinitive)
- You had better leave now if you still want to catch that train.
- I would rather see an animated movie than a romantic one.
- Arnav would sooner run to a school than miss his first day as class prefect.
- He would rather lose than cheat.
When we use need and dare in a sentence, we use to-infinitive, and when we use need not (needn’t) or dare not we use a bare infinitive.
Examples:
- We need to move to another room.
We need not move to another room. - We dared him to go into the darkroom.
We dared not go with him.
Participles
The most commonly used participles are present participles and past participles. Sometimes we also use perfect participles.
The present participle form of a verb ends in -ing and the past participle form of a verb usually ends in -ed, -d, -t, -en or -n.
- A participle is used with other verbs to make continuous (present participle) and perfect (past participle) tenses.
- Participles can also be used as adjectives. Like all adjectives, they modify a noun.
Examples:
- Virat would be a good opening batsman for our team. (opening modifies batsman)
- The newly constructed house on this road belongs to Mr Das. (constructed modifies house)
Joining Sentences
Participles can also be used to join pairs of sentences.
When two sentences state facts, we convert the verb of the less important sentence into a participle.
Examples:
- Sameer spent three hours in the library. He was writing his essay.
- Sameer spent three hours in the library writing his essay.
If the two sentences talk about two actions happening one after the other in succession, we change the verb of the first action into a present participle.
Examples:
- He opened the window. He looked out.
Opening the window, he looked out. - Nina ran to the nearest store. She bought the medicine.
Running to the nearest store, Nina bought the medicine.
If one action was completed sometime before the other, we use having + past participle form of the verb of the first action. This is called a perfect participle. We use a comma to separate the two parts of the sentences.
Examples:
- Arnav took a bath. He sat down to study.
Having taken a bath, Arnav sat down to study. - Maria finished reading the book. She wrote a review of it.
Having finished reading the book, Maria wrote a review of it.
Gerunds
A gerund has the same form as a present participle. It is a verb ending in -ing. But unlike a present participle, gerunds are used as nouns or as part of a noun phrase. It does not act as an adjective. In a sentence, a gerund can be:
| a subject of a verb | Reading should be a daily habit. |
| an object of a transitive verb | Raina enjoys reading novels. |
| an object of a preposition | She is good at writing poems. |
| a complement | Her favourite pastime is reading. |
Presentation
Read the picture story.
A crow while sitting on an electric pole slipped and got trapped in the wires. Its screaming cries attracted at least fifty crows.
They began to cry very loudly. Hundreds of people working in different buildings came out and saw the crow struggling (struggle) for its freedom.
A young man from the crowd climbed the pole and freed the bird.
A. Answer the following questions.
- Who slipped and got trapped in the electric wires?
- Why did the fifty crows cry loudly?
- How did the young man save crow’s life?
B. Combine the following sentences using participles. The first one has been done for you.
1. The thief saw the policeman. He ran away.
Seeing the policeman the thief ran away.
2. I saw a boat. It was floating in the river.
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3. He took his bag. He went to school.
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4. She got scared. She saw a crocodile in the river.
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5. He took a pen. He started writing.
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6. He saw two men fighting. He jumped in to stop them.
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7. She was tired. She sat to take a break.
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8. Sonia worked hard. She passed the exam.
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9. He sat in his car. He drove away.
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10. I saw Aishwarya Rai. I took her autograph.
…………………………………………………………………..
Non-Finite Verbs Practice Exercises for Class 8 CBSE
A. Change Infinitives into Gerunds in the following sentences.
1. He likes to study at night.
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2. To play cricket is not easy.
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3. To gamble is a bad habit.
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4. She doesn’t like to tell a lie.
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5. Harshit loves to dance with friends.
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6. To do exercise everyday is good for health.
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7. To write poems is my hobby.
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8. They didn’t like to talk.
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9. I prefer to have coffee in the evening.
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10. She loves to cook food.
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B. Remove the words given in italics and rewrite the sentences using infinitives. The first one has been done for you.
1. I would be lucky if I succeed in an interview.
I would be lucky to succeed the interview.
2. She was amazed when she saw a lion at the zoo.
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3. I went to New York so that I could see my uncle.
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4. He is not a man who will help you with money.
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5. Is it the time when we should move?
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6. Are you the one who will complete the task?
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7. Amit is the man who can help you in this matter.
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8. I am planning that I should give him a gift.
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9. Children were happy when they saw a clown.
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10. It is unsafe that you ride a bike without helmet.
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C. Rewrite the sentences by placing the infinitive in italics in the beginning of the sentences. The first one has been done for you.
1. It was so nice of you to help him.
To help him was so nice of you.
2. It is not easy to meet the demand in one month.
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3. It is not good to take all the credit for this work.
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4. It is impossible to reach there in six hours.
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5. It was useless to pay so much for this.
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6. It is my aim to be an entrepreneur.
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7. It is risky to jump the red light.
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8. It is not easy to stand for the truth.
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9. It is not safe to leave the gas open.
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10. It is your right to get justice.
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D. Combine the following sentences using participles.
1. She knew the answer. She raised her hand.
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2. He worked hard. He won the competition.
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3. John ran fast. He won the race.
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4. I heard the news of her death. I went to her house.
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5. He dropped her at her home. He went to his own home.
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6. It was hot today. He did not go out.
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7. I woke up. I went to take bath.
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8. We were tired. We sat under a tree.
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9. We skipped the class. We went to the canteen.
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10. The policeman saw the thief. He ran after him.
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