Finite and nonfinite clauses: function subordinate clause finitethatsubjunctive non- subjunctive whsubjunctive non- subjunctive othersubjunctive non- subjunctive nonfiniteingedinfto infbare inf

Finite and nonfinite clauses: the binding force between V + its subordinate clause a. The police observed the culprit get onto the train. b. The police observed the culprit getting onto the train. c. The police observed that the culprit got onto the train. In (a), the Complement is totally non-finite (bare form infinitive), and the implication is that the police actually observed the whole event. The Complement in (b) is a little more finite, employing a present participle as the main verb. The implication of (b) seems to be that the police saw the event in progress, but may or may not have seen the whole event. In (c), the implication is that the police observed something that led them to believe that the culprit got onto the train, but not that they saw the event at all. For example, they could have seen a punched ticket stub with the culprit’s fingerprints on it, or something like that. (Payne: Understanding English Grammar 342)

Finite clauses: function subordinate clause clause element subjectcomplementobject subject complement extraposed object adverbial phrase element part of NPrelativeappositivepart of AdjPcomparative That they refused didn’t surprise us You can ignore the fact that he was drunk I realise that you feel insulted The only issue is whether he was lying More people came than had been invited They weren’t among the people who had been invited I left because I was tired I find it disappointing that he gave up I’m glad that you could come