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Old 15-Jan-2004, 18:57
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Default Finite verbs

My 12 yo son has been advised by his English teacher to use less finite verbs.

We are unsure as to how to assist him in this. Please can you help?
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Old 15-Jan-2004, 21:40
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She wants him to use verbs that have no tense? That seems an odd request.

Finite Verb
http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/finite-verb.html
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Old 16-Jan-2004, 00:20
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Default Re: Finite verbs

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pat Hall
My 12 yo son has been advised by his English teacher to use less finite verbs.

We are unsure as to how to assist him in this. Please can you help?
Some finite verbs can be replaced by participles:

Having finished the work, he made a coffee. (Here, 'having finished' replaces 'he finished'. I think the teacher is probably looking for sentences that don't sound like 'he did this and he did that then he did the other) Other forms are things like 'on arriving'...

You could also say The work finished, .....

What you might do is look for sentences where there are chains subjects and verbs and try to replace one of them.
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