Вопрос 16-18

Вопрос 16. The Main Members of the Sentence. The Subject. Empty/ Impersonal Subjects. The Predicate. Types of the Predicate.

The Main Members of the Sentence.

A sentence may have the main and the secondary members. The main members of the sentence are: the Subject and the Predicate.

The Subject

The Subject of the sentence is the topic which is being discussed. It may denote living-being (people and animals), objects, notions, different phenomena.

1) The Subject may be expressed by personal pronouns, nouns, indefinite pronouns, infinitives, gerunds,

substantivized parts of speech.

Ex: We all hope for the best.

Ex: A doctor should be competent. Something is wrong

2) Clauses with be, arise, come, seem, exist, used to be, etc. (verbs chiefly denoting existence, appearance, or motion) often have an anticipatory subject, the so-called existential there, in the subject position. The real subject comes later in the clause.

Ex: Once upon a time there lived a king.

Ex: There were people in the hall.

Existential there has a unique syntactic role; there is no other word in English which behaves in the same way. It is often described as an anticipatory (or empty) subject. Syntactically, existential there behaves as a grammatical subject: it is placed before the verb in declarative clauses and can be used in question tags; but the real subject comes later in the sentence.

Ex: There is a piano in the hall, isn’t there?

Ex: There are two ways of tackling it, aren’t there?

Ex: There is some time left, isn’t there?

3) It is frequently used as a semantically empty (dummy) subject, particularly in speaking about the weather, about time, or about distance. It’s raining (snowing, freezing, windy, cloudy, hot, humid, etc.).

Ex: It was not as cold as the weatherman had promised.

It is widely used in impersonal sentences where there is no obvious subject.

Ex: It’s so nice to meet you.

4) They, you, we, one can also be used as impersonal subjects.

They is used to refer to unknown people who have power, information, authority which we do not have.

Ex: They are the people who rule our lives but who do not understand us

This use of they gave rise to the expression them and us to describe those who have the power (them) and the ordinary people (us) who suffer.

One and you are frequently used when the speaker is not thinking of anyone in particular.

Ex: One cannot put back the clock.

Ex: One is never too old to learn

We is used to mean all of us — the speaker, and the audience.

Ex: We’re going to have some stormy rains.

The Predicate

The Predicate of the sentence is what is said about the subject. According to its meaning the predicate may be either verbal or nominal.

Predicate

Verbal (We study) Nominal (We are students)

1) The Verbal Predicate denotes an action and is expressed by a finite verb in a simple or a compound tense form.

Verbal Predicate

Simple Compound

He works (is working, has been working) Modal Aspective

She can (may, should, must…)work hard. He began (started, finished, etc.) to work.

Simple verbal predicates can be expressed by such phraseological units as: to have a look, to make a mistake, to have a good time, to play a trick, to give a lift, to make a date, etc.

Ex: Can you give me a lift to the hospital?

2) The Nominal Predicate expresses facts, states, qualities, characteristics (it cannot denote an action).

Nominal Predicate

a link verb the nominal part (a predicative)

The Nominal Predicate consists of a link verb and a nominal part (a predicative), thus it is always compound in structure.

Ex: My program is very tight.

Ex: We are students. It is cold today.

The main link verbs are:

1. link verbs of being: be, look, feel, taste, smell, sound;

2. link verbs of becoming: get, grow, become, turn, prove;

3. link verbs of remaining: remain, keep, continue, go on;

4. link verbs of seeming: seem, appear.

The use of various link verbs helps to express different shades of meaning and makes our speech more colourful.

Compare: She is happy. — She looks (feels, appears, seems, becomes…) happy. Some notional verbs may function as link verbs in different contexts.

The second part of the nominal predicate is called a predicative and can be expressed by a noun, a pronoun, an adjective, a numeral, an infinitive and a gerund.

Ex: They are artists and they are young

Remember that an adverb is used to modify a verbal predicate, while an adjective is used as the second part of the nominal predicate, i. e. predicative.

3) The Double Predicate. This type of predicate is a combination of two predicates — of a verbal predicate and of a nominal predicate.

The river had frozen solid in the night. - The river had frozen. It was solid.

The double Predicate is getting more and more widely used in Modern English, especially in colloquial and newspaper styles. It gives information in a short and expressive way.

Phrases like: “easy come, easy go”, “take it easy”, “sitting pretty”, “smb likes it hot”, “to serve smb right”, etc. have become the norm in the language.

Ex: God, I love it when I get the answer right, and everyone looks impressed.

4) There are different types of mixed compound predicates: modal-nominal, phrasal-nominal, modal-phrasal, nominal-modal-phrasal.

Ex: It must be a dream.

Вопрос 17. The Agreement of the Predicate with the Subject.

In Modern English the predicate-verb agrees with the subject in number and person. When subjects and predicates match each other in person and in number, we say that they “agree” and this grammatical phenomenon is called agreement.

Ex: I am a future teacher. You are all my friends.

Ex: The doctor has just come. They teach English.

One should observe some rules of agreement which present special difficulties.

1. Two or more homogeneous noun-subjects, pronoun-subjects, gerund-subjects expressed by nouns in the singular, connected by “and” or asyndetically require the use of the predicate-verb in the plural.

Ex: She and I have always been great friends.

Ex: Radio and television have changed social habits

Note: When two nouns denote one person or thing, the predicate-verb is in the singular.

Ex: The Dean and Lexicology lecturer is Mrs. Popova.

The repetition of the determiner shows that two different persons or things are meant.

Ex: My schoolmate and my cousin have just dropped in.

2. After several infinitives functioning as subjects, the singular form of the predicate is used.

To succeed, to rise in the world, to become financially independent was her greatest ambition.

3. There is a strong tendency to use the singular form of the predicate-verb preceding the homogeneous subjects, especially with the introductory “where”, “here” or “there”.

Ex: Where is my coat and hat?

Ex: There was plough-land and pasture there.

In case of different person or number of the subjects the predicate agrees with the one that stands next to it.

Ex: There was lobster and different vegetables to it.

4. When homogenous subject are connected by means of the conjunctions “either… or”, “neither… nor”, “not only but”, the predicate-verb is in the singular when the subjects are in the singular and of the same person.

Ex: Neither the clock nor the weathermaster has ever been right.

The predicate agrees with the subject next to it if the homogeneous subjects are of different person or number.

Ex: Not only the Earth but also the other planets move round the sun.

Ex: Either James or I am to do it.

5. The predicate-verb is in the singular when two singular subjects of the same person are connected by “as well as”.

Ex: My wife as well as her friend is ready to help you.

But it agrees with the subject that comes first if the homogeneous subjects are of different person or number.

6. Words joined to the subjects by means of “with”, “together with”, “including”, “in addition to” do not affect the form of the predicate-verb.

Ex: A cab with two passengers has stopped dead.

Ex: The children together with their tutor were invited to enter the hall.

7. Nouns which occur only in the plural form require the verb in the plural. The commonest are: arms (= weapons), clothes, contents, customs, earnings, savings, belongings, lodgings (also called digs), premises, headquarters, remains, odds, outskirts, regards, stairs, eaves, memoirs, victuals, slops, preserves.

Ex: Her clothes are the latest fashion.

Here belong names of objects which have two inseparable parts: binoculars, braces, knickers, scales, tongs, tweezers, scissors, glasses, bifocals, spectacles, pants, pyjamas, shorts, tights, trousers, jeans.

8. Nouns which are always singular agree with the verb in the singular form: advice, news, money, information, weather, rubbish, work, foliage, leafage, linen, furniture, equipment, luggage, baggage, clutter, litter, rubbish, crockery, cutlery, hardware, software, kitchenware. Also names of diseases: measles, mumps, diabetes.

9. Names of multitude denoting people and animals (police, people, militia, the clergy, the rich, the French, the cavalry, poultry, cattle) are used with the predicate-verb in the plural.

10. If the subject is expressed by a collective noun representing a limited group of people, the predicate is either a singular or a plural verb. This depends on whether the subject is thought of as a unity of people or a collection of individuals considered separately. Here belong the nouns: association, audience, band, board, cast, class, club, clan, college, committee, community, company, crowd, crew, department, electorate, mafia, enemy, family, firm, generation, government, gang, group, jury, orchestra, population, press, public, school, staff, team, university.

Here belong also the names of such organizations as the Bank of England, the BBC, British Gas, the Post Office, British Rail, IBM, Sony.

11. The subject expressed by a definite, indefinite or negative pronoun usually agrees with the singular form of the predicate-verb.

Ex: Either/neither/each of the alternatives is acceptable.

Ex: Every bush and every tree was in blossom.

12. The negative pronoun “none” and the interrogative pronouns “who” and “what” are now treated in both ways depending upon the number of persons or things the reference is made to.

Ex: None of the problems have/has been solved yet.

Ex: Who is this man? Who are with him?

13. The form of the predicate-verb in a clause beginning with a relative pronoun (who, which, that, what) agrees with its antecedent.

Ex: How is it, papa, that you, who are so clever with everybody else, are not a bit clever with me.

14. The predicate-verb in the emphatic construction “it is (was)… that” agrees with the pronoun “it”, and thus is always singular.

15. The subject in the plural expressed by the nouns denoting measure of value, time, weight, distance, etc. agrees with the predicate in the singular when the whole amount is mean

16. In combinations of quantitive words (a lot of, lots of, plenty of, quantity, majority, succession, portion, part, bulk, mass, series, a great/good deal of, handful, etc.) with nouns, the number of the latter defines the number of the whole combination.

Note: The same combinations with the nouns “number”, “majority” and “variety” are usually regarded as singular, when used with the definite article, and as plural, with the indefinite one.

Ex: The number of books in this library is great.

Ex: A number of books were on sale.

17. If the subject is expressed by a word-group beginning with “many a” the predicate-verb is in the singular.

Ex: Many an officer has arrived.

Ex: Many a time have I seen it.

18. When the plural form of the subject is used as the title of a book or the name of a newspaper or a magazine, the predicate-verb is in the singular.

Ex: “The Prince and the Pauper” was written by M. Twain.

19. If the subject is expressed by a word-group denoting such arithmetic calculations as addition, subtraction and division, the predicate-verb is singular; with multiplication it is either singular or plural.

Ex: Two plus two is four.

But: Twice seven make/makes fourteen.

20. Subjects expressed by fractions require the singular of the predicate-verb to denote a total amount and the plural form to consider individuals.

Ex: Two-thirds of the work is done.

Ex: Two-thirds of the party members are present.

21. The subject plural in form but singular in meaning takes a predicate-verb in the singular.

a) when it is applied to the names of games: dominoes, draughts, checkers (Amer.), cards, ninepins, billiards.

b) when it denotes metonymic and metaphoric names of persons with pejorative connotation (a butter-fingers — растяпа; a sawbones —хирург ; a fat-chops —толстяк; a lazy bones- лентяй)

This sawbones was disliked by his wretched patients.

Note: The plural form of these nouns is the same as the singular.

Ex: These lazy-bones are not ready again.

c) when it is expressed by the words: news —новость, pains —страдание, means —средство (pl.: means),

summons — повестка (pl.: summons).

Ex: Athens is the capital of Greece.

Ex: The summons was almost magical.

22. Names of sciences: linguistics, economics, physics, ethics, etc. are singular, but when these words denote qualities, practical application, course of action or activities, they are constructed as plural (phonetics as “pronunciation”, acoustics (of the room), statistics as “figures”, tactics as “methods”, etc.)

23. Is percent singular or plural?

It depends. The percentage is always singular:

Ex: The percentage of young voters has risen.

A percentage is singular if the object of the preposition is singular:

Ex: A percentage of the work is finished.

A percentage is plural if the object of the preposition is plural:

Ex: A percentage of the reports are finished.

The same rules apply when using percent:

Ex: Sixty percent of the men are wearing hats.

Ex: Sixty percent of the work is done.

Вопрос 18. The Secondary Members of the sentence. The Attribute. The Object. The Adverbial Modifier. Misplaced and Dangling modifiers.

The Secondary Members of the Sentence

The secondary members of the sentence are: the Object, the Attribute, the Adverbial Modifier.

The Object

The object denotes a person or thing on which the action of the predicate is directed.

There may be direct, indirect and prepositional objects. If there is only one object in the sentence it is always direct. The indirect object can’t be single in the sentence. It is always used with the direct object and comes between the verb and the direct object.

Ex: Give us (an indirect object) a definite answer (a direct object).

Ex: Tell me (an indirect object) your secret (a direct object).

Sometimes the indirect object can be preceded by the prepositions “to” and “for”. If you can transform the sentence and use one of the objects without the preposition, it means that you have an indirect object in the sentence.

Ex: I gave the key to him. — I gave him the key.

Ex: She bought a toy for the kid. — She bought the kid a toy.

The prepositional object which is always preceded by a preposition can not be transformed in such a way (after the verbs read, explain, do, dictate, introduce, refer).

Explain it to me. Do it for her. Introduce her to us.

Read the tale to the child. Dictate the text to them.

The Attribute

The attribute qualifies the nouns (pronouns) of the sentence. It may be expressed by an adjective, a noun, a gerund, a participle, an infinitive and stands before or after the word it modifies. An attribute to a pronoun always follows it.

Ex: His eyes were childhood blue.

Ex: What is the most effective method of foreign language teaching?

The Adverbial Modifier

A modifier is a word or a word group that describes, limits, or qualifies another word or a word group in a sentence. Thus they can help to make a sentence vivid, emphatic and lively.

Ex: The balloons rose slowly, hobbling and weaving toward the fast-racing clouds.

The adverbial modifier characterises an action, state or quality of the sentence, denoting the time, place, manner, degree of the action. It is expressed by adverbs and nouns with prepositions. With verbs of motion the adverbial modifier of place comes immediately after the verb. If there are two or more adverbial modifiers, the usual order is place, manner, time. The adverbial modifier of time can be put at the beginning of the sentence.

Ex: They lived there happily all their lives.

Ex: Last night I had a strange dream.

The place of such adverbial modifiers of indefinite time as never, usually, often, seldom, yet, just is before the notional verb or after the auxiliary or modal verb.

Ex: She always comes on time. Is she often late?

Ex: You must never complain. One can never tell.

Misplaced modifiers

Placing modifiers well means not only creating a particular effect but also connecting the modifier to its headword — the word or phrase which it modifies. If it doesn’t clearly point to its headword, the modifier is misplaced like in the following examples.

A letter was addressed to the house next door. By mistake the mailman delivered it to us.

A miscombined sentence:

By mistake the mailman delivered a letter addressed to the house next door to us.

In this case, the house next door gets between the modifier, to us, and its headword, delivered. The result is a mystifying sentence. To clear up the mystery, to us should be put right after its headword:

By mistake the mailman delivered to us…

Here is another example:

A born crapshooter Sadowski almost won five hundred dollars that night.

Did he win anything at all then? The headword of almost seems to be won and a gambler who has almost won

may actually have lost everything. If Sadowski did win, the true headword of almost is five hundred dollars:

…Sadowski won almost five hundred dollars that night.

Dangling Modifiers

A modifier dangles when its headword is missing. As it always needs a headword, it will attach itself to a false headword if the true one is not in the sentence.

Speaking before a crowd of people for the first time, my knees shook.

This sentence seems to say that knees were speaking. Such a mistake results from the miscombination of two sentences:

I was speaking…

My knees shook.

These two sentences have different subjects: I and my knees. While combining them, you must normally keep both of the subjects: when I was speaking…, my knees shook

When you combine two sentences, you can drop out one of the subjects only if they coincide:

I was speaking…

I was nervous.

Speaking…, I was nervous.

The right sentence is:

While I was waiting for a bus, a passing car splashed mud all over my skirt.