Martin (1992: 42):
With nonfinite clauses, meaning is presented not so much as having been negotiated as non-negotiable: the clauses have been nominalised, and thereby taken out of the realm of potential interacts and into that of things (cf. They watched Manly winning/the game/their favourite player).
Blogger Comments:
This seriously misunderstands nonfinite clauses. Although his MOOD network (Fig 2.6) contrasts nonfinite clauses with dependent and embedded clauses, Martin here presents an embedded nonfinite clause, while, at the same time, ignoring the possibility of nonfinite dependent clauses.
To be clear, nonfinite clauses may be ranking (dependent) or embedded, and it is only embedded nonfinite clauses that are nominalised to served as the Head or Postmodifier of a nominal group. Examples of ranking dependent clauses include:
- The hairy coat holds a layer of air close to the skin, insulating the body against changes in the outside temperature. [elaboration]
- We used to go away at the weekend, taking all our gear with us. [extension]
- Bacteria can also aid chemical precipitation of calcite by making the water more alkaline. [enhancement: manner]
- This view was not empirically based, having arisen from an a priori philosophy. [enhancement: cause]
See Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 468, 475, 485).
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