The Predicate
Exercise 1 p. 187. State the type of the predicate.
1. I thought that all I was doing .was trying to keep a roof over our heads. 2. I couldn't feel my heart" It had stopped beating (Jr) 3. This morning, as it fell out, Christine was not looking her best. (Crn) 4. Time may come when it (the money) might be of some use to you. (Hn) 5. When he began going less regularly to her home he began also to feel ashamed of himself. (Gls.) 6. She couldn’t stop being angry. 7. Nothing is going to hарреn to you; and I suppose it wouldn't be the end of the world if anything did. (Sh) 8. He went on eating a while in silence. (DuM) 9. And then he (Uncle Podger) would lift up the picture, and drop it, and it would come out of the frame and he would try save the glass and cut himself. (JR) 10. This young man used sometimes to take tea with Miss Pinkerton. (Th) 11. Gradually, Andrew came to see that it was not a social but really a business occasion. (Crn) 12. Mrs. Thornton has not been able to drink her coffee today. (Crn) 13. And at the sound of his words in his own ears his heart gave a leap. (Lnd)
Exercise 2 p. 188. Fill in the blanks with one of the following link-verbs.
to become, to fall, to get, to go, to grow, to keep, to remain, to run, to turn
1. The cloud lengthened out until it ... a narrow line. 2. And how are you? — We (not) ... younger. 3. I have known the family, father and son, so long that I ... confused sometimes. 4. James . . . more and more alarmed. 5. His hands, slack behind him, ... fists. 6. I can stand the strain no longer, I ... mad if it goes on like this. 7. At my cry he ... as pale as death. 8. The ship ... smaller and smaller .in the distance. 9. He ... yellow, then blue; suppressed anger showed on his face. 10. When I entered they all ... silent. 11. The boy ... silent for some time. 12. A gale from the west ... stronger. 13. Carrie ... rapidly famous. 14. Something must . . . wrong. 15. We ... awake all night. 16. (Not) ... excited! 17. They came back before it ... dark. 18. This small river ... dry every summer. 19. The weather ... cold and windy. 20. Hurry up! It ... late. 21. The bread ... stale.
Exercise 3 p. 188. State by what part of speech the predicatives are expressed in the following sentences.
1. Beauty is alive and everlasting. (Lnd) 2. He was off at once. (But) 3. His first impulse was to cross to the other side to avoid the oncoming figure. (Crn) 4. Earnest was much distressed. (But) 5. I was seventeen, so was she. (Sh) 6.Man and his development is the centre of the Marxist philosophy. (K) 7. Mother's grudge against Father had been his never consenting to take out 1ife-tnsurance. (Hm) 8. If Harris's eyes fill with tears, you can bet it is because Harris has been eating raw onions. (Jr) 9. He was only twenty-o6ne and he had never been in love before. (Lnd) 10. Further events were of little importance. (MS)
Exercise 4 p. 188. Insert used to or would.
1. His hair doesn't curl as it ... once. 2. I knew him by his voice. I should have never known him by sight because of his beard. He ... have only a moustache. 3. When dusk came and it grew cooler he ... sit out of doors watching the street life. 4. Aunt Hester had got off to sleep in the bedroom that ... be Aunt Juley's. 5. Sister Swartz ... wake at night and lie still for hours. 6. Do you like the circus? — I ... when a child. 7. It was a well remembered road. He ... walk down the same rusty path, and his heart ... quicken as it ... quicken at the thought of seeing her. 8. I want to see you bright and happy as you ... be long, long ago.
Exercise 5 p. 189. Translate the following into Russian paying special attention to the rendering of the predicate.
1. Soames stood invisible at the top of the stairs watching Irene sort the letters brought by the last post. (Gls.) 2. I had walked into that reading-room a happy, healthy man. I crawled out a decrepit wreck. (Jr) 3. The gates swung shut behind the strikebreakers. (Sxt) 4. Young Groom awoke stiff and unconscious of where he was. (Gls.) 5. The stars came out very sharp and bright. (Lnd) 6. The signs of the bars and restaurants winked red and green and blue in the many-coloured darkness. (Sxt) 7. The note-book in front of him lay open, but his mind was still on his father. (Ab) 8. The road stretched out white across the plain. (Mlt) 9. I sat for a while frozen with horror. (Jr)
Exercise 6 p. 189. Compare the predicates in each group of sentences and translate them into Russian.
1. a) The children were amusing. b) The children were amusing her 2. a) The carriage rode away, the great gates were closed; the bell rang for the dancing lesson. (Th) b) The exhibition is already closed. 3. a) The dead silence within was broken only by a regular beat. (Hrd) b) What I noticed first was that the window was broken. 4. a) Jesse kept silent. (Mlt) b) I kept glancing at my watch, c) What keeps hem dancing till five o'clock in the morning? (Dr) 5. a) He banged open the door and stumbled into the room, b) The door banged open and Johnny stumbled into the kitchen. (Sxt) 6. a) Tell him he must come dead or alive. (Tw) b) His dreams came true. c) Soon I came. to realize how wrong I had been, d) The sheep came flocking into the pen. 7. a) It seemed to me that something was wrong, b) Now in sleep, he seemed to look thinner than she considered him to be. (Mlt) c) His feet seemed unwilling to carry him. 8. a) A servant was to accompany them. (Dr) b) The only thing to do was to pay Ellen her wages. (But) 9. a) Clyde felt the strong public contempt that the majority of those present had for him. (Dr) b) He did not feel so hungry as he thought he should. (Jr) 10. a) She turned to look at some of the others. (Dr) b) Chris turned pale. (Crn) 11. a) And now she began to act for herself. (Th) b) Thus the world began for these two girls. (Th) 12. a) It was his best suit and it was becoming uncomfortably tight. (Ab) b) What a lovely hat! Isn't it becoming? c) In the centre of the room, ... as became a host, stood the head of the . family, Old Jolyon himself. (Gls.} 13. a) The state of the patient continued to be grave. b) They continued their work paying no attention to the slashing rain. c) The tone of his voice and cold.
Exercise 7 p. 190. Replace the infinitives in brackets by the correct form of the verb. Pay attention to the rules of agreement.
1. Official news (to be) brief. 2. Have some bread and butter. The bread and butter (to be) on the counter. 3. A box as well as a book (to be stolen). 4. The wedding party (to be forced) to abandon their cars and literally to fight their way into the Old Town Hall on foot. 5. The cattle (to be all gone), probably driven off. 6. It utterly spoils an excursion if you have folk in the boat who (to be thinking) all the time a good deal more of their dress than of the trip. 7. His yacht struck a reef and sank somewhere off the North of Scotland; and he managed to swim to an uninhabited island. All the rest (to be drowned.) 8. None of them (to be going) to get against me. 9. The Himalayas (to be) the eastern end of a great series of folded mountains. 10. The works (to be) to be closed. 11. It is I who (to be buying) this house. 12. The ten years he had lived in the North (to have changed) him greatly. 13. The Merry Wives of Windsor (to be) one of the best comedies in English literature. 14. I don't care what your family (to say). It's all their doing. I am going to live a new life. 15. Forty guineas for a room each week (to be) not an uncommon figure at that time. 16. My brother as well as I (to be) ready to accompany you to the station. 17. Three metres (to be) not enough for this dress. 18. It (to be) his stories that amused me so much. 19. Who (to be) these people? 20. There's just one or two little things that (to be worrying) me, doctor. 21. I've never seen anything quite like that meeting; every man, woman, and child in the city (to be) there. 22. Harry and I (to be) pals all our lives. 23. The majority of the people (to have) their minds made up.