Fragments are a common mistake. A\u00a0sentence\u00a0must have a\u00a0subject\u00a0and a\u00a0verb.<\/p>\n
A group of words that does not have a subject and a verb of its own cannot be a sentence. It is merely a sentence fragment or a phrase. Note that a sentence fragment cannot stand on its own. It must be attached to a sentence.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0subject<\/b>\u00a0of a sentence is usually a\u00a0noun<\/a>\u00a0or a\u00a0pronoun<\/a>.\u00a0Infinitives<\/a><\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0gerunds<\/a><\/b>\u00a0can also act as subjects.<\/p>\n Verbs<\/b>\u00a0can be confusing. There are mainly two types of verbs:\u00a0finite verbs<\/a><\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0non-finite verbs<\/a><\/b>. A non-finite verb is an incomplete verb. It cannot make a sentence. Examples of non-finite verbs are:\u00a0infinitives<\/b>\u00a0(to work, to sing, to break, to walk),\u00a0participles<\/b>\u00a0(working, singing, breaking, walking) and\u00a0gerunds<\/b>\u00a0(dancing, waiting, reading etc.)<\/p>\n As you can see,\u00a0participles<\/a><\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0gerunds<\/b>\u00a0look alike, but they have different grammatical properties. Participles act like adjectives. Gerunds, on the other hand, act like nouns.<\/p>\n Study the group of words given below. It does not make a sentence because the verb (playing) is incomplete.<\/p>\n To make the verb\u00a0playing<\/b>\u00a0complete, we have to add a suitable auxiliary verb.<\/p>\n An English verb has four forms:\u00a0the infinitive, the past simple, the present participle<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0the past participle<\/b>.<\/p>\n Infinitives<\/b>\u00a0are forms like\u00a0sing, dance, read<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0write<\/i>. They are used to make the\u00a0simple present tense<\/a><\/b>. The infinitive is sometimes preceded by the marker\u00a0to<\/b>. In this case, they are called\u00a0to-infinitives<\/a><\/b>. Note that a to-infinitive is a non-finite verb. It is an incomplete verb. Without the marker\u00a0to<\/b>, the infinitive can function as a complete verb.<\/p>\n\n
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The infinitive<\/h2>\n
The past simple<\/h2>\n