The Subject

It may be expressed by different parts of speech; the most frequent one is noun in the common case, a personal noun in the nominative case, a demonstrative pronoun, a substantivized adjective, a numeral, an infinitive, a gerund.

It may be expressed by a group of words or a clause.

Structurally the subject may be simple and complex. Complex subjects are usually expressed by means of predicative constructions with verbals, which imply the idea of secondary predication. E.g. For him to come would be fatal. Her coming up awoke me.

Professor Smirnitsky suggested the following classification of the personal subjects:

1. The personal subject proper: They finished their meal in silence.

2. The indefinite personal subject: They say the film is good.

3. The demonstrative subject: That is my sister.

4. The negative subject: Nothing can be done.

5. The interrogative subject: Who lives here?

The Predicate

The predicate is a member of predication denoting the action or property of the thing expressed by the subject and containing the mood and tense components of predicativity. There are several types of predicates. Structurally the predicates are divided into simple and compound, morphologically – into verbal and nominal.

The simple verbal predicate is expressed by one word-form that may be either a synthetical or analytical form of the verb, i.e. a verb in any tense, voice and mood. E.g. You will be given all the information when you come. He had been sleeping for 6 hours.

The phraseological unit predicate is a subdivision of the simple predicate expressed by a phraseological unit whose components denotes one idea and form an indivisible unit. E.g. He had a smoke. They had a wash. She gave a cry. I took leave of them.

There is another view according to which it is a subdivision of the compound predicate. Some English grammarians call it ‘a group-verb predicate’. The simple verbal predicate may coincide in form with the compound nominal predicate: The house is painted. – The house is painted every year.

Compound predicates may be subdivided into nominal and verbal.

1. The compound nominal predicate consists of a link verb and a predicative, also called a nominal part, which may e expressed by various parts of speech. It denotes the state or quality of the person or the thing expressed by the subject or the class of persons or things to which the object belongs. E.g. She is a student. He became angry.

2. The compound verbal predicate can be divided into types according to the meaning of the finite verb:

1. The compound verbal modal predicate may consist of a modal verb or a verbal phrase with a modal meaning and an infinitive or a gerund. This predicate shows whether the action expressed by a non-finite form is possible, obligatory, necessary, desirable, etc. E.g. I could not go to the theatre.

2. The compound verbal aspect predicate consists of the finite form of the verb, which indicates the beginning, repetition, duration or end of the action denoted by the infinitive or gerund. Here belong such verbs as: to begin, to continue, to start, to keep on, to go on, to stop, to give up, to finish, etc. Also the combinations “would + infinitive” and “used + infinitive”, which express repeated habitual actions in the past belong here: e.g. He began to study properly. She stopped crying. He used to sit on the sofa and read.

There may be mixed types.

1. Compound nominal modal: We can be teachers.

2. Compound nominal aspective: We begin to be teachers.

The double predicate is a subtype of the compound predicate where the role of the link verb connecting the subject with the predicative is performed by the verb of the full meaning, i.e. a notional verb: She married young. He came home tired.

The notional verb may be in the passive voice: e.g. He was found guilty. He was reported dead.

Professor Smirnitsky’s semantic predicates are:

1. Processing: The doctor arrived.

2. Qualifying: He is a doctor.

3. Objective: He has many friends.

4. Adverbial: He is in London (here).