Voice in Verbals

Like the finites, the verbals have a distinction between active and passive, as will be seen from the following oppositions, viz.:

To read :: to be read

To have read :: to have been read

Reading :: being read

Having read :: having been read

Conclusion: all of the verbals have the categories of correlation and voice.

The Infinitive, in addition has the category of aspect.

None of the verbals has the categories of tense, mood, person, or number.

the Infinitive, the Gerund, the Participle have the categories of:
the Infinitive the Gerund the Participle	Correlation, voice
the Infinitive	+Aspect

None of the verbals has the categories of tense, mood, person, or number.

Lecture 14. Syntax.

Transition from simple to composite sentence. (Ilyish, p. 254 -264).

Predicative complexes in MnE

(Навчальный посибник з теории англ мови) –P.57-59.

There are some types of sentences which may be treated as transitional between simple and composite sentences. These are:

a) sentences with homogeneous parts (= contracted sentences);

b) sentences with a dependent appendix;

c) sentences with secondary predication.

c) Sentences with secondary predication.

Secondary predication is the predication not between the Subject and the Predicate (which is a primary one).

E.g. the complex object: e.g.: I saw him run.

Let’s consider “him run”. Some linguists think that him run is a syntactic unit (= then it is the complex object: It stands in an object relation to saw);

And some linguists think that him run is not considered to be a syntactic unit: they regard him as one part of the sentence and run another. Its first element is the object and the second one is the objective predicative. So, him (=the object) run (=the objective predicative).

The choice between the two interpretations remains arbitrary and neither of them can be proved to be the only right one.

I. In favour of the view that a) the phrase is a syntactic unit, a semantic reason can be put forward.

1) Sometimes the two elements of the phrase cannot be separated without changing the meaning of the sentence, e.g.:

a) I hate you to go (which means much the same as: I hate the idea of your going; the idea of your going is most unpleasant to me). Now if we separate the two elements of the phrase, e.g.:

I hate you… - the sense is completely changed. This shortened version expresses hatred for “you”, which the original full version did not imply.

b) The same with phrases where the verb expresses some idea like order or request, e.g.: He ordered the man to be summoned à He ordered the man- the sense is completely changed.

2) with other verbs, the separation of the two elements may not bring about a change in the meaning of the sentence, e.g: I saw him run à I saw him (this does not contradict the meaning of the original sentence).

II. If we make up our mind in favour of the second alternative, and state in each case two separate parts of the sentence, we shall add to our list of secondary parts one more item: the objective predicative.

The objective predicative may be expressed by:

an Inf. (I saw him run);

a participle (I saw him running);

an adj.: (I found him ill);

a prepositional phrase.

a stative (I found him asleep);

an adv.: (I found him there)

It admits of two different interpretations:

a) (I found him there) =There I found him. (“There” is an adverbial modifier, belonging to the verb find);

b) (I found him there) =I found that he was there. (The adverb there does not show, where the action of finding took place. And it is not an adverbial modifier belonging to the predicate verb found ). This type of secondary predication brings the sentence closer to a composite one.

The difference between an adverbial modifier and an objective predicative is here neutralized.

O. Jespersen has proposed the term nexus for every predicative grouping of words (e.g.: the man reads; I saw him reading) and junction which is not a predicative group (e.g.: reading man).

Lecture 15.

Syntax.

Emancipation of subordinate clauses (Ilyish, p. 289-291; 297-298) Transition from simple to composite sentence. (Ilyish, p. 254 -264).