[1] In this sense, a non-finite dependent clause represents one process as a circumstance for another without specifying the time when it takes place as in the following examples: Similarly, a non-finite embedded clause represents a qualification for something that is being represented as in the following examples:[2] In meaning-independent descriptions of language, a non-finite clause is a clause whose verbal chain is non-finite;[3] for example, using Priscian's categories for Latin verb forms, in many languages we find texts with non-finite clauses containing infinitives, participles and gerunds.
[4] A typical finite clause consists of a finite form of the verb together with its objects and other dependents (i.e. a verb phrase or predicate), along with its subject (although in certain cases the subject is not expressed).
What this role can be, and what the consequent meaning is, depends on the type of non-finite verb involved, the constructions allowed by the grammar of the language in question, and the meanings of those constructions in that language.
Some examples are noted below: According to Priscian, delenda is a participle because it agrees in number, case, and gender with a noun, namely Carthago, the subject.
For instance, the French active non-finite verbs sorti(e) and entré(e) as in il est sorti/entré and elle est sortie/entrée agree in number and gender with the subject in the same way as delenda does, but these words are not considered a non-finite sentence in Generative Theory nor a non-finite clause in Systemic Functional Theory on their own.