§ 6. The verb to be-{- Participle II.

The combination to be + Participle II can denote an action, in which case it is a simple predicate expressed by a verb in the Passive Voice. It can also denote a state, then it is a compound nominal predicate consisting'of a link verb and a predicative.

] As the director was ill, the documents were signed by his as-

•' sistant. (Were signed denotes an action.)

\ When I came, the papers were signed and lay on the secretary's

^! table. (Were signed denotes a state.)

The compound nominal predicate expressed by the verb to be and Participle II can be translated only by the verb быть-[-крат­кая форма причастия страдательного залога. In the Present the verb быть is riot used.

The statue is broken.

Статуя разбита.

When I came, the papers were signed and lay on the secretary's

table.

Когда я пришел, документы были подписаны и лежали на столе

у секретаря.

The use of tenses is closely connected with these meanings of the combination to be-}-Participle II.

When I came up to the gate, it was already locked.

Когда я подошел к воротам, они уже были заперты.

(The predicate indicates the state of the gate at a given moment.)

When I came up to the gate, it had already been locked.

Когда я подошел к.воротам, их уже заперли.

(The predicate indicates an action completed before a definite moment

in the past.)

Don't try to open the gate. It is locked, (state)

He пытайтесь, открыть ворота. Они заперты.

It has just been locked, (action)

Их только что заперли.

It is sometimes difficult to discriminate between the verb to be-\-Participle II as a simple predicate and as a compound nomi­nal predicate.

1. We have the Passive Voice (simple predicate) in the follow­ing cases:

(a) when the doer of the action is indicated (as a rule).

They were thus introduced by Holly. (Galsworthy)

(b) when there is an adverbial modifier of place, frequency and, as a rule, of time.

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Pravda is published in Moscow.

Good books are quickly sold.

The documents were signed a few minutes ago.

c) when the verb is used in the Continuous or in the Perfect form.

Some efforts were even then being made to cut this portion of the wreck away. (Dickens)

Ever since that, the cannon business has always been left to an adopted foundling named Andrew Undershaft, (Shaw)

2. We have a compound nominal predicate in the following cases:

(a) usually when the verb to be is in the Present or Past Per­ fect Inclusive and the notional verb admits of the Continuous form.

Why don't you go and take the documents? They are ready. They have been typed these two hours.

Документы готовы. Уже два часа как они напечатаны. Our things ha*d been packed for two hours and we were im­patiently pacing up and down the room when at last we heard the sound of wheels.

Вещи уже два часа как были упакованы, и мы в нетерпении ходили взад и вперед по комнате, когда наконец услышали стук колес.

(b) when Participle II denotes a state of mind. In this case the predicate is compound even if there is an object introduced by the preposition by. This object does not denote the doer of an action but the cause of the state.

He was frightened by the remark.

He was oppressed by a sense of loneliness.

When these criteria cannot be applied the context itself helps to decide whether the predicate is a simple or a compound nomi­nal one.