It should be noted, however, that such phrases are practically never employed to translate English absolute constructions with the preposition "with". This type of transformation is addition.

The next are causative constructions. First of all, they have the general meaning of making somebody do something or causing some action, effect, etc. It is necessary to remember that besides the typical causative constructions with the verbs "to make", "to force", "to cause" and constructions with the verbs "to have” and "to get" ("to have somebody do something", "to get somebody to do something", "to have, get something done"), there exists another way of expressing this meaning: to Verb + smb + into + smth (or doing smth), out of as in "to talk somebody into (out of) something" - "умовити (відмовити) когось робити щось". Generally speaking, translation of specifically English grammatical constructions consists of understanding their meaning and finding a corresponding way of expressing it in Ukrainian. It is not the grammatical form but the grammatical meaning that is of primary concern for a translator or an interpreter.

For a translator, the have/get constructions are of special interest, since their meaning may be ambiguous. The difference between the get – and have constructions is both formal and semantic. The get construction is used with the particle to, whereas the have construction requires a bare infinitive: e. g.

I love canaries, but how can I get them to sing?

They usually have the gardener mow the lawn on Fridays.

The get construction, as compared with the have construction, suggests that the subject has to persuade someone to perform a certain action:

How did you get your husband to cut off his beard?

Як тобі вдалося вмовити чоловіка збрити бороду?

The translation of these constructions depends on the context. Often the causal relations are implied but not expressed overtly in Ukrainian:

Get a fire to burn.

Розпали вогонь.

I can’t get the car to start.

Не можу завести свою машину.

In this case, a contextual replacement (substitution) takes place. The have/get constructions can be causative and non-causative. Causative:

He forced me to give him the information.

Він змусим мене дати йому цю інформацію.

In such sentences, the subject usually denotes someone who orders the action expressed by the participle. In a non-causative construction, the sentence subject denotes either a sufferer or a performer of the action expressed by the participle. Thus the construction implies some state:

We had our car stolen.

У нас вкрали машину.

While talking about grammatical constructions we can’t ignore passive forms. Those must be mentioned because English and Ukrainian passive forms are different both in type of form constructions and in frequency. English passive voice is used more frequently due to the various types of construction it occurs in.

One of the obstacles lies in the fact that not all English passive constructions can be transformed into Ukrainian passive, since the verb transitivity in English and Ukrainian does not coincide and we have to resort to addition, namely addition of prepositions. Cf. to enter the room – війти в кімнату, to join the party – вступити в партію, to follow somebody – слідувати за кимось, to attend the meeting – бути присутнім на зборах, to influence somebody – впливати на когсь.

The next morning this event was reported by all the papers.

Наступного ранку про цю подію повідомили всі газети.

Care should be taken when translating English parallel passive verbs, since they may correspond in Ukrainian to the verbs of different cases: He was trusted and respected. – Йому довіряли і його поважали. In this case the Ukrainian sentence requires repetition of the pronominal object (йому-його); otherwise, the sentence would sound grammatically incorrect (*Йому довіряли і поважали). Once again we see that the successful translation is realized with the help of addition.

One major challenge of translating is the English “double passive”. It takes place when the main predicate is used in the passive voice and the following infinitive is also passive:

The treaty is reported to have been signed by both parties.

In translation, the predicate can be substituted by the active verb:

Повідомляють, що договір вже підписаний обома сторонами.

The principal clause can also be substituted by a parenthetical one:

Як повідомляють, договір вже підписаний обома сторонами.

Or the passive infinitive can be substituted for the active one, so that the sentence subject turns into the sentence object:

The prisoners were ordered to be shot.

Було наказано розстріляти полонених.

Finally, there might be a substitution by the noun:

The music is intended to be played on the piano.

Музика призначена для гри на фортепіано.

It’s the example which vividly underscores that transformations are often used together: here we see replacement of parts of speech paired with transposition.

Another widespread grammatical construction is the infinitive. The challenges in translating are due to its specific forms, functions and structures.

English infinitive functions can be a stumbling block for a fledgling translator. To cope with the task of infinitive translation we usually resort to preposition addition and replacement, mostly of parts of speech.

The attributive function of the infinitive can cause difficulties in translation due to its modal meaning:

This is a book to read.

Ось книга, яку можна (потрібно) почитати.

The type of modal meaning can be seen from the context:

When nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it. (Emerson) –

Коли природі належить щось зробити, вона створює генія, який може зробити це.

The function of some adverbial infinitives presents difficulties in translation. For example, the English infinitive can be used to denote a subsequent event or a parallel action, which is often confused with the infinitive of purpose:

Iron combines with oxygen to form rust.

Залізо з'єднується з киснем і утворює іржу.

The infinitive in this function is usually rendered by a parallel finite verb:

In some rooms, the mold grew thickly halfway down a wall, only to stop in a sharp horizontal line, as if cut by a knife.

У деяких кімнатах цвіль густо покривала півстіни, і різко переривалася, немов ножем була проведена горизонтальна лінія..

This infinitive should be distinguished from the infinitive of purpose:

Live not to eat, but eat to live.

Живи не для того, щоб їсти, але їж для того, щоб жити.

When translating the infinitive of result, a translator should take care to render properly the connotation of the construction: the infinitive with too implies a negative meaning, while the infinitive with enough suggests a positive one:

She is too old to go there. – Вона дуже стара і не поїде туди.

She is old enough to go there. – Вона досить доросла і може поїхати туди.

When dealing with the for-to-infinitive construction, a translator substitutes an English simple sentence with a Ukrainian complex one, i.e. s/he does the partitioning of the sentence:

She arranged for the office to be opened by one of the security people.

Вона влаштувала так, що офіс відкрив один з охоронців.