Present continuous+present tense or past tense in this sentence?

Question

HiI have this sentence:A) "ABC played an instrumental role in helping the team clinch a gold award for the competition."Instinctively, I think the word "clinch" ought to be a simple present tense even though the sentence refers to a past action/contribution ("played").But how do i explain it to my student why it should be "clinch" and not "clinched"? As in why shouldn't it be sentence (B)?B) "ABC played an instrumental role in helping the team clinched a gold award for the competition."Many thanks for your help.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

blohmlInstinctively, I think the word "clinch" ought to be a simple present tense

It's not a simple present tense. Please don't call it that. It's the plain infinitive (no 'to').

"Catenative verbs" is the answer. 'help' and 'clinch' go together. Search the web for information on catenative verbs and you will see how certain verbs can take a second verb form. Sometimes the second verb is a plain infinitive; sometimes it's a verb with -ing; and so on. It is the first verb which governs this.

The verb 'help' can govern the full infinitive (help them to clinch) or the plain infinitive (help them clinch).
The verb 'avoid' governs the -ing form (avoid playing there).
The verb 'hear' governs the plain infinitive (I heard him creep up the stairs) or the -ing form (I heard him creeping up the stairs).
And so on.

For each catenative verb, the student has to memorize which form(s) it governs.

CJ

Present continuous+present tense or past tense in this sentence?

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