Grammatika_sovremennogo_angliyskogo_y
.pdfsurprise, pity, pleasure, etc.; oh is an exclamation of surprise, fear, pain, etc.; phew may express relief, astonishment or contempt; eh — surprise or doubt; tush — contempt or impatience; humph — doubt, disbelief or dissatisfaction.
§ 3. There are a number of words which belong to different other parts of speech but which are also used as interjections, e.g. bother, come; damn; hear, hear; now; there, there; well; why, etc. We even find phrases used as interjections, e.g. dear me; dear, dear; goodness gracious; confound it; hang it; for shame; well, I never, etc.
Some of them, like interjections proper, serve to express quite definite feelings. For example, bother; oh, bother are exclamations of impatience; goodness gracious, goodness me are exclamations of surprise; damn, damn it all, damn you, confound you and hang it are used to express anger, annoyance; for shame serves as a reproof for not being ashamed of one's actions, behaviour; well, I never expresses surprise and indignation at the same time; hear, hear is used as a form of cheering, usually to express approval, but it may also be used ironically; there, there is used to soothe a person (e.g. There, there, you haven't really hurt yourself}.
Other interjections of this kind may express quite different feelings, according to the tone of the voice or the context.
Thus dear, dear or dear me or oh, dear express sorrow, impatience or wonder; why may be an expression of surprise or protest, as in: Why, it's quite easy!
Come or come, come indicate either encouragement or blame, as in: Come, cornel Don't be so foolish! or Come, comel You don't expect me to believe it\
Now and now, now can in different cases serve a different purpose: Now listen to met means I beg you to listen to me; Oh, come now! expresses surprise, reproof, disbelief. Now, now or now then are meant as a friendly protest or warning.
Well, depending on the sentence in which it is used, may ex-
press a variety of emotions. In Well, who would have thought it? it serves as an expression of surprise. In Well, here we are at last!
it expresses relief. Well serves to express expectation in Well then?, Well, what about it?; resignation in Well, it can't be helped, concession in Well, it may be true, etc.
Note. Imitation sounds such as mew, cock-a-doodle-doo, bang and the like cannot be treated as interjections since they do not serve to express any feeling.
§ 4. Interjections are independent elements which do not perform any of the syntactic functions in the sentence. They are usually sentence-words themselves and may be used parenthetically.
e.g. "Oh," he exclaimed, unable to suppress his emotion. "H'm," said Mr Fox thoughtfully.
The great poet said: "The tragedy of our age is that aesthetic values do not keep pace with social — and, alas, technical — developments."
"Did you notice the stink in the hall?" "Well, not particularly."
"Phew! Three times I was nearly sick."
"Marian is going to see her old nurse, Nannie Robeson, in the afternoon." "Confound Nannie Robeson! Marian's always going there."
Oh, pooh, look at these stockings!
I. The Subject
The subject is a word or a group of words which names the person, object or phenomenon the sentence informs us about. It may be expressed by a noun, a pronoun, a substantivized adjective, a numeral, an infinitive and an ing-form.
e.g. The stranger came early in February. Hospitality was a passion with him. You're not a bad fellow.
This is my son Henry.
Someone was singing an Italian tune. Much depends on the letter.
What has become of him?
It has been raining since the morning. It's hard to forget one's past.
The young often complain that the elders do not understand them.
Two of the letters were from my uncle. The Dutch are famous for their tulips.
The extraordinary always excites curiosity.
To know all about English is one thing; to know English is quite another.
Watching TV has become his favourite pastime.
II. The Predicate
The predicate is a word or a group of words that informs us of what is happening to the person, object or phenomenon indicated as the subject in the sentence.
The predicate differs from all the other parts of the sentence in that it relates the information contained in the sentence to reality, i.e. it is the means of expressing predication and modality for the whole sentence. For that reason there is only one part of speech that can function as predicate — it is the verb in one of its finite forms.
A finite verb may be used in this function alone or combined with other parts of speech. Depending on the structure, predicates are divided into the following kinds:
1) simple verbal predicates — they consist of only a notional verb (in any tense, aspect, voice or mood form),
e.g. His words frightened me. I've given her every chance.
The heavy luggage had been put in a dry place. I shouldn't think the idea so unreasonable.
To this kind also belong predicates expressed by phraseological units and set phrases which are treated as verb equivalents in this book.
e.g. They are having breakfast now. I took a walk as far as the river.
She amuses herself at our expense.
They have been taking care of your children long enough.
2) compound nominal predicates — they consist of a link-verb and a predicative (= a nominal part) commonly expressed by a noun or an adjective. Other parts of speech may also be sometimes found in the function of predicative (see below).
The link-verb expresses all the verbal characteristics of the
A second action may be expressed by an infinitive, an ing form and a participle.
e.g. He woke up to see his wife sitting by his bed. (= He woke up and saw...)
He walked down the path humming a tune. (= He walked...
and hummed...)
Having locked the office he started for home. (= He locked...
and started...)
Dressed, he stood staring at the fire. (= He was dressed and stood...)
V. The Subjective Predicative
Words in this function occur after a limited number of verbs in the Passive Voice (see "Verbs", §§ 192, 221, 248; "Nouns", § 21; "Adjectives", § 7). They modify the subject of the sentence, forming with it a syntactic complex, often known as the complex subject.
A subjective predicative may be expressed by a noun, a noun introduced by as, an adjective, an infinitive, an ing-iorm and a participle.
e.g. He was appointed secretary of the committee. He was regarded as a promising young writer. The box was found empty.
He was heard to mention it.
The children were seen running down the lane. The note was found pinned to the door.
VI. The Objective Predicative
Words in this function occur after a limited number of verbs in the Active Voice (see "Verbs", §§ 193, 222, 249; "Nouns", § 21; "Adjectives" § 7). They modify the object of the sentence, forming with it a syntactic complex, often known as the complex object.
An objective predicative may be expressed by a noun, a noun introduced by as, an adjective, an infinitive, an ing-form and a participle.
e.g. They appointed him secretary of the committee. We regarded him as a promising young writer.
I found the box empty. We thought the game dull.
They heard him mention it.
He saw the children running down the lane. She had her hair cut very short.
VII. The Object
Objects are words which modify verbs and adjectives. They complete their meaning indicating the person, object or phenomenon which the action of the predicate verb affects.
Objects may be expressed by a noun, a pronoun, a substantivized adjective, an infinitive and an ing form. There are three kinds of objects:
1) direct — a prepositionless object immediately following the predicate,
e.g. I miss the opera here.
I heard him on the radio.
We did not find anyone there.
I found it difficult to cope with the task.
He came here by taxi.
He opened the door with difficulty. They walked very fast.
The bus passed us without stopping.
6) adverbial modifiers of attending circumstances,
e.g. It is very romantic to take a walk by moonlight. I don't feel like going out in this weather.
She looked up at him, her face smiling happily.
He lived all by himself in an old house on the river, with all his family gone and forgotten.
I looked round the room, the sense of being watched acute again.
7) adverbial modifiers of description,
e.g. Fay's eyes continually moved in his Father's direction, as though seeking his approval.
The shop was freshly painted, with a large green awning to protect the window.
He stood there very quietly, his hand outstretched.
8) adverbial modifiers of purpose,
e.g. I did my best to prevent her from making a mistake.
9) adverbial modifiers of cause,
e.g. Our flight was delayed owing to the storm.
10)adverbial modifiers of comparison,
e.g. She sat still like a statue.
He was as ugly as a monkey.
I've got a more difficult problem to solve than find a new house.
11) adverbial modifiers of consequence,
e.g. He had to read only the first ten pages to know what the book was about.
He was clever enough to understand it. I was too tired to go for a walk.
12) adverbial modifiers of concession,
e.g. When he returned his wife was still at the table, though preparing to go.
Whatever the reason, she should have come.
Though tired, he agreed to show us the garden.
13) adverbial modifiers of condition,
e.g. He said he would do it if necessary.
But for the rain, I'd have gone off an hour ago.
To look at her, you wouldn't believe she was a famous actress.
14) adverbial modifiers of exception,
e.g. He had no choice but to obey the orders.
IX. The Attribute
Words in this function modify nouns (and sometimes pro-
It isn't quite correct, strictly speaking. She will probably tell you about it herself.
It was a rainy day but fortunately it was not cold.
Historically, the king's death was a minor event, but it became widely known owing to its tragic circumstances.
Will you kindly keep me informed?
Syntactic Complexes
The subject-predicate relationship may be found in an English sentence not only between the grammatical subject and the finite predicate but also in some phrases consisting of at least two elements — a subject and a predicative. Such phrases, usually known as syntactic complexes, differ from the real subject and the predicate of the sentence in that they lack a finite verb and therefore what is expressed in them cannot be directly related to reality. It is done indirectly — by means of the phrase being syntactically connected with the predicate proper.
Syntactic complexes may be of the following kinds:
I. The Complex Object — a syntactic construction which is lexically dependent and found after a limited number of verbs in the Active Voice (see "Verbs", §§ 193, 222, 249; "Nouns", §21; "Adjectives", § 7). The complex object consists of a noun in the common case or an indefinite pronoun or a personal pronoun in the objective case serving as an object in the sentence, and a predicative which may be expressed by a noun, an adjective, an adverb, an infinitive with or without the particle to, an ing-form and a participle.
e.g. His humour made him a welcome guest. When they came they found the house empty. I don't want any light on.
Why don't you get somebody to explain it to you? I watched her move away from us.
I felt him looking at me now and again.
I had never before seen the game played.
II. The Complex Subject — a syntactic construction which is lexically dependent and found with a limited number of verbs in the Passive Voice (see "Verbs", §§ 192, 221, 248; "Nouns", § 21; "Adjectives", § 7). The complex subject consists of a noun in the common case, an indefinite pronoun or a personal pronoun in the nominative case serving as the subject of the sentence, and a (subjective) predicative which may be expressed by a noun, an adjective, an adverb, an infinitive, an ing-form and a participle.
e.g. Bob Skinner was made the leader of the team. The door was painted green.
Everybody was found in.
They were expected to agree.
The children were left playing on the floor. The car was last seen parked at the hotel.
III. The Prepositional Infinitive Phrase — a syntactic construction which consists of a noun in the common case, an indefinite pronoun or a personal pronoun in the objective case, and a predicative expressed by an infinitive. The whole of the phrase is joined to the rest of the sentence by a preposition. Usually it is the preposi-