D. V. Demidov

3. The category of finitude: finite and non-finite forms
of the verb (finites and verbids).
The verb is usually characterized as the most complex part of 
speech, because it has more word-changing categories than any other 
part of speech. Besides, each verb has a specific set of non-finite 
forms (the infinitive, the gerund, participles I and II), otherwise called 
―verbals‖, or ―verbids‖, opposed to the finite forms, otherwise called 

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―finites‖; their opposition is treated as ―the category of finitude‖ 
[26, p. 20]. 
The grammatical meaning, the content of this category is 
the expression of verbal predication: the finite forms of the verb 
render full (primary, complete, genuine) predication; the non-
finite forms render semi-predication, or secondary (potential) 
predication. The formal differential feature is constituted by the 
expression of verbal time and mood, which underlie the 
predicative function: having no immediate means of expre ssing 
time- mood categorial semantics, the verbids are the weak member 
of the opposition. 
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 infinitive performs all the 
functions characteristic of the noun – that of a subject, e.g.: To 
write a letter was the main thing he had planned for the day; of a 
predicative, e.g.: The main thing he had planned for the day was 
to write a letter; of an object, e.g.: He wanted to write a letter to 
her; of an attribute, e.g.: It was the main thing to do; of an 
adverbial modifier, e.g.: He stood on a chair in order to reach for 
the top shelf. In these functions the infinitive displays substantive 
combinability with finite verbs.