For my home grammar assignment I am to "describe the form of the verb phrases in the following sentences (:finiteness, tense, modality, aspect, voice):
1. The house had been painted a bright red before it was sold.
2. Pigeons will be nesting on the statue's head.
3. It is good to have seen them again.
4. To drive like that must be dangerous.
5. To be followed all dat would make anyone suspicious.
6. Having signed the letter, she mailed it.
I have some trouble understanding what to do with sentence nr. 4. I believe there are two verb phrases; "to drive" and "must be". How do I describe the tense of these forms? i could also look upon "To drive like that" as the subject of the sentence and treat "must be" as the only predicator. It's rahter confusing to me. What tense is the infinite "to drive" in this context? Would someone please help me describe sentence number 4 and 5? Here are my notes to the three former sentences. Are they OK?
![Embarrassed [:$]](/emoticons/emotion-10.gif)
Op aux head/lexical verb head/lexical verb
[The house had been painted a bright red before it was sold]
In this sentence we find two verb phrases which I have underlined.
In the first verb phrase we have two auxiliaries and one head. The first phrase is past tense, carries the perfective aspect and the passive voice, has the indicative mood and is non-finite. The second verb phrase consists of the grammatical word “be” used as a lexical verb in the simple past tense making it a finite phrase. The phrase carries the passive voice and the perfective aspect.
Op aux head
[Pigeons will be nesting on the statue’s head.]
There are two auxiliaries and one main verb/head in this non-finite verb phrase. Here we have the future tense, progressive aspect, active voice, and the indicative mood.
[It is good to have seen them again.]
There are two auxiliaries and one main verb/head in this non-finite verb phrase. The operator “is” (present tense singular inflection of “to be”), the infinitive auxiliary “to have” and the head “seen”. This verb phrase carries the present perfect form (past participle), the indicative mood, and the passive voice.
[To drive like that must be dangerous.]
There are two verb phrases in this finite sentence; “To drive” and “must be”. In the first phrase we have the present tense (?), passive voice and the indicative mood, .