грамматика+учебник

2) The introductory or anticipatory it introduces the real subject.

It was curious to observe that child.

3) The emphatic it is used for emphasis.

It was he who brought back George to Amelia.

THE PREDICATE

The predicate is the second principal part of the sentence, which expresses an action, state, or quality of the person or thing denoted by the subject. It is grammatically dependent upon the subject.

Note: This definition does not cover sentences with the formal it as the subject. In these sentences the predicate expresses the state of weather, time or distance, and the subject only makes the sentence structurally complete.

As a rule the predicate contains a finite verb form, which may express tense, voice, mood, aspect and sometimes person and number. According to the structure and the meaning of the predicate we distinguish two main types: the simple predicate and the compound predicate.

THE SIMPLE PREDICATE

The simple verbal predicate is expressed by a finite verb in a simple or compound tense form. It generally denotes an action but sometimes it denotes a state, which is represented as an action.

He arrived at the lab next morning full of excitement. She hates parties.

There is a special kind of predicate expressed by a phraseological unit such as get rid, get hold, take care, take part, take place, make fun, make up one’s mind, change one’s mind, pay attention, lose sight, have a wash, give a push, etc.

When we clear the forests we’ll get rid of such inconveniences.

The characteristic feature of this predicate is that the first component, i.e. the finite verb, has lost its concrete meaning to a great extent and forms one unit with the noun, consequently the noun cannot be treated as an object to the verb. This can also be easily proved by the impossibility of putting a question to the second component.

Compare: My friend gave me an interesting book to read.

The man gave a violent start.

We shall treat this kind of predicate as a subdivision of the simple predicate – a phraseological predicate.

We distinguish 2 types of phraseological predicates:

1) Word combinations of the following type: have a smoke, have a swim, have a run, give a laugh, give a push, take a look, make a move, etc. These combinations consist of a finite verb, which has to a great extent lost its concrete meaning and a noun formed from a verb and mostly used with the indefinite article.

The predicate denotes a momentary action. In Russian this shade of meaning is rendered by different prefixes and suffixes which express a momentary action.

He had a smoke. – Он покурил. He gave a cry. – Он вскрикнул.

111

This type of phraseological predicate is characteristic of colloquial speech.

2) Word combinations of the following type: get rid of, get hold, make use, take care, lose sight, make fun, pay attention, make up one’s mind, change one’s mind, take part, etc.

The second component of these combinations is in most cases an abstract noun used without any article.

Then he caught his breath, suddenly reminded of something else.

THE COMPOUND PREDICATE

The compound predicate consists of two parts: a) a finite verb and b) some other part of speech: a noun, a pronoun, an adjective, a verbal (a participle, a gerund, an infinitive). The second component is the significant part of the predicate that refers to the state or the action performed by the subject.

The first part expresses the verbal categories of person, number, tense, aspect, mood and voice; besides it can have a certain lexical meaning of its own. The compound predicate can be nominal and verbal.

THE COMPOUND NOMINAL PREDICATE

The compound nominal predicate denotes the state or quality of the person or thing expressed by the subject, or the class of persons or things to which this person or thing belongs. The compound nominal predicate consists of a link verb and a predicative.

THE LINK VERB expresses the verbal categories of person, number, tense, aspect, mood, sometimes voice. The following are the most common link verbs: be, appear, get, grow, continue, feel, keep, look, turn, hold, prove, turn out, rank, remain, run, seem, to smell, taste, fall, stand, go, work.

His wife sighed and remained silent.

Many of these verbs can be used both as verbs of complete predication fully preserving their concrete meaning and as link verbs.

The tree grew large. – Дерево выросло большим. It grew dark. – Стемнело.

Some verbs though fully preserving their concrete meaning perform the function of link verbs: they are used with a predicative and form a compound nominal predicate: lie, sit, die, marry, return, leave, come, stand, fall, go, etc.

The poor woman sat amazed.

Sometimes the predicative does not immediately follow these verbs but is separated from them by an adverbial modifier.

One evening she came home irritated.

According to their meaning link verbs can be divided into two large groups: link verbs of being and remaining and link verbs of becoming.

1)Link verbs of being and remaining describe some permanent quality of the subject or the state or quality that it has at a certain time. The following link verbs belong to this group: be, remain, keep, continue, look, smell, stand, sit, lie, shine, seem, prove, appear, etc.

2)Link verbs of becoming show the change of quality or state of the subject; they are become, get, grow, come, go, leave, run, turn, make, etc.

112

THE PREDICATIVE is a significant part of the compound nominal predicate and denotes the state or quality of the person or thing expressed by the subject, or the class of persons or things to which this person or thing belongs It can be expressed by:

1. A noun in the common case, occasionally by the noun in the genitive case:

She is a pretty child. The book is my sister’s.

2. An adjective:

He is awfully dear and unselfish.

Very often the predicative after the verbs be, look, feel, sound, smell, taste expressed by an adjective in English doesn’t correspond to an adjective in Russian. It often corresponds to an adverb, serving as an adverbial modifier.

The dinner smells delicious. – Обед пахнет восхитительно.

Sentences describing weather correspond to Russian one-member sentences.

It’s dark. – Темно. It’s hot. – Жарко.

3. A pronoun – personal, possessive, negative, interrogative, reflexive:

It was he. The privilege was his. Oh, she is just nobody. What is your idea? She was herself again.

4. A word of the category of state:

But I’m afraid I can’t keep the customer so long.

5. A numeral, cardinal or ordinal:

I’m only 16. Mrs. Snow was the first to break the astonished silence.

6. A prepositional phrase:

These things were outside her experience.

7. An infinitive, infinitive phrase or infinitive construction:

His only wish was to win.

Jane’s first thought was to leave immediately.

It is for you to decide.

8. A gerund, gerundial phrase or gerundial construction:

My favourite sport is swimming.

Her duty is meeting people at the reception. The greatest problem was our getting their in time.

9. Participle I or Participle II:

Her behaviour is irritating.

He was surprised at the sound of his own voice.

10. An adverb:

It was enough.

THE OBJECTIVE PREDICATIVE

Besides the predicative referring to the subject, another type of predicative referring to the object can be found in English. It is called the Objective predicative. It expresses the state or quality of the person or thing denoted by the object and is generally expressed by a noun, an adjective, a word denoting state or a prepositional phrase.

They painted the door green.

The Objective Predicative doesn’t form a part of the predicate, and the predicate in this case is simple.

113

THE COMPOUND VERBAL PREDICATE

The compound verbal predicate can be divided into two types according to the meaning of the finite verb:

1)The compound verbal modal predicate,

2)The compound verbal aspect predicate.

THE COMPOUND VERBAL MODAL PREDICATE

The compound verbal modal predicate shows whether the action expressed by a nonfinite form of the verb is considered as possible, impossible, obligatory, necessary, desirable etc. These meanings are expressed by the first component of the predicate.

The compound verbal modal predicate may consist of the following components:

1. A modal verb /can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would, ought/ and an infinitive.

You can prove everything.

2. A semi-modal verb /dare, need, be, have/ and an infinitive.

I have to work for my living.

3 A modal expression / be able to, be obliged to, be bound, be willing, be anxious, be going/ and an infinitive.

I am going to leave Paris.

4. A verb with a modal meaning /hope, expect, intend, endeavour, long, wish, want, desire, feel/ and an infinitive or a gerund.

He wanted to throw himself into the river. I feel like telling him everything.

THE COMPOUND VERBAL ASPECT PREDICATE

The compound verbal aspect predicate expresses the beginning, repetition, duration, or cessation of the action, expressed by the non-finite form of the verb – a gerund or an infinitive. It consists of such verbs as begin, start, commence, fall, set about, go on, keep on, proceed, continue, stop, give up, finish, cease, come and an infinitive or a gerund.

In the morning it began to rain again.

He started writing his composition a week ago. At last I came to realize the problem facing me.

After the verbs go on, keep on, stop, give up, finish only the gerund is used as a part of a compound verbal predicate, while the infinitive performs a different syntactic function.

He went on talking without looking at us.

She cleaned the hall and went on to clean the kitchen. – Object They stopped talking and looked at us.

Suddenly they stopped to look at the view. – Adverbial modifier of purpose.

Here also belong phrases would and used + Infinitive, which denote a repeated action in the past.

When he was a student he used to come to our café rather often. He would take a cup of coffee and sit at that table near the window.

MIXED TYPES OF PREDICATE

Such predicates contain several components.

114

1. The compound modal nominal predicate.

He wanted to be the next heir himself.

2. The compound aspect nominal predicate.

I began to feel rather hungry

3. The compound modal aspect predicate

You ought to stop doing this.

4. The compound modal aspect nominal predicate

He must have begun to feel sorry for that.

MEANS OF EXPRESSING THE PREDICATE

PREDICATES

SUBJECT – PREDICATE AGREEMENT

Predicates agree with the subject in person and number – singular subjects take singular verb forms, and plural subjects take plural verb forms. The predicates built by means of the verb be (notional, auxiliary, semi-modal or link-verb) have singular and plural forms. All the other verbs (except modal ones) take only one ending (-s/-es) to agree with the subject in the 3rd person singular. That’s why it is important to know whether to treat the subject as singular or plural.

1. Singular verb forms are used with the subject expressed by the singular form of a countable noun, by a personal pronoun 3rd person singular, by the singular forms of demonstrative pronouns:

My friend likes to talk. She talks a lot.

This is exactly what I want.

Subjects expressed by countable nouns in plural form, by a personal pronoun plural or by the plural form of demonstrative pronouns take plural verb forms.

My friends do well at University.

You were absent from class, weren’t you?

Those were the years of Great Depression.

Uncountable material and abstract nouns always take singular verb forms:

Her hair is long and thick. Her success is unbelievable.

116

NOTE: the following nouns are always singular: money, luggage, information, knowledge, progress, success, advice, scenery.

2. Two or more homogeneous subjects and compound subjects joined by and are usually plural.

All the cars, trucks and bicycles are moving in the same direction. The house and the garden need attention.

Swimming and walking are good exercise.

If homogeneous subjects are expressed by infinitives the predicate is in the singular:

To wait and to worry was everything she could do.

3. In sentences with the construction there is/there are the predicate precedes the notional subject and agrees with the first noun:

There is a chair and a table in the room. There is a chair and two tables in the room. There are two chairs and a table in the room.

In American English homogeneous subjects in these sentences are treated as plural:

There are a bakery and a pharmacy down the street. (Two things are down the street)

4. When two homogeneous subjects are joined by or, either… or, neither… nor, not only… but also, the verb agrees with the subject closest to it:

Mary or Steve is going to help me.

My friend or my two brothers are going to help me. My friends or my brother is going to help me.

Note: Words introduced by along with, as well as, as much as, rather than, more than, except, in addition to, including, plus, together with, form prepositional phrases and that’s why they cannot be the subject. The predicate agrees with the subject which, as a rule, precedes these phrases:

The Don as well as other rivers freezes over in winter. The Siberian rivers as well as Lake Baikal freeze over in winter

5. If the subject is expressed by a collective noun denoting a group of similar individuals or objects taken as a whole (mankind, humankind, humanity, assembly, etc.), the predicate-verb is in the singular:

Mankind is all of us.

If the subject is expressed by a noun of multitude (people, police, gentry, cattle, etc.), the predicate-verb is in the plural:

The police are here.

The people have come and are waiting for you.

There are collective nouns that may be both singular and plural – audience, board, class, club, committee, council, crowd, family, faculty, government, jury, group, herd, panel. We choose a singular verb when we refer to a unified ‘body’ and we choose a plural verb when we refer to people who make it up:

The audience was/were clapping enthusiastically. The club has/have voted to admit new members.

The army provides an excellent career. The army are investigating the accident.

117

6. The nouns that have invariable plural form such as goods, contents, clothes, wages, scissors, tweezers, fireworks, pants, etc. always take a plural verb.

The goods were delivered on time. His wages were only 15 shillings a week.

Subjects expressed by invariable nouns ending in –s such as politics, linguistics, news, measles, economics, headquarters, etc. take a singular verb.

No news is good news. Measles is a catching disease.

Nouns ending in –ics (statistics, tactics, politics) may have a plural verb when denoting qualities, practical applications, different activities.

These statistics show a steady growth in this field.

(In this sentence ‘statistics’ means figures representing facts)

7. Subjects expressed by nouns denoting measure, time, distance, weight, numerical expressions, take a singular verb:

Ten years is a long time. Tow plus tow is four.

8. Subjects expressed by nouns in the plural which are titles of books, names of newspapers, etc. take a singular verb:

“Fathers and Sons” is Turgenev’s most popular novel.

Note: the titles of some works that are collections of stories may have either a singular or a plural verb:

“The Canterbury Tales” consist of about seventeen thousand line of verse.

9.Subjects expressed by word-groups as a/the number of…, a/the amount of…, a/the majority of…, a variety of….take either a singular or a plural verb depending on their meaning in a sentence.

The number of people who know foreign languages is growing. –

Количество людей, знающих иностранные языки, растет.

It was Sunday, and a number of people were walking idly about the park. – Было воскресенье, и (многие) люди лениво прогуливались по парку.

10.Indefinite, defining and negative pronouns ending in -one, -body, -thing (anyone,

anybody, anything, someone, somebody, something, everyone, everybody, everything, no one, nobody and nothing) as well as either, another, each, and neither always take singular verb forms:

Something bothers me.

Does anyone know about your plans?

Everybody is going to talk about it.

Nobody ever tells me anything.

Here are a couple of books but neither is interesting. Each of the boys is talented.

11. The pronouns both and several and the quantifiers (a) few and many always take plural verb forms:

Which film do you want to see? Both are good.

Very few know these facts.

118

12. The quantifiers (a) little, less, much, a great deal of, and a large amount of take a singular verb form:

Little was done to help them.

A great deal of snow has already melted.

13. The pronouns any, none, no, all, some, and the quantifiers more, most, a lot of take a singular verb when they refer to an uncountable noun and a plural verb when they refer to a plural countable noun; none can take a plural and singular verb:

All of the furniture needs to be replaced. There are fifteen students in the group. All are present.

Some water has been delivered but there is more on the way. Several problems were settled but more remain.

None of the books is interesting. None of the books are interesting.

14. When the subject is expressed by the interrogative pronouns who or what the predicate usually has the singular form:

Who knows the answer? What was done to save them?

When the question refers to more than one person the predicate may be used in the plural form:

Who were to take part in the discussion?

15.When the subject is expressed by a relative pronoun (who, that, or which) the predicate may be singular or plural as it agrees with the pronoun’s antecedent:

She has cooked my favourite dish which is delicious. She has cooked some dishes which are delicious.

16.If the subject is expressed by the emphatic it the predicate is in the singular:

It is only Russian people who can endure such frost.

THE SECONDARY PARTS OF THE SENTENCE

THE OBJECT

The Object is a secondary part of the sentence which completes or restricts the meaning of a verb or sometimes an adjective, a word denoting state, or a noun.

There are three kinds of objects in English: the direct object, the indirect object, and the cognate object.

THE DIRECT OBJECT is used after transitive verbs with which it is closely connected as it denotes a person or thing directly affected by the action of the verb. It is used without any preposition.

I moved my head negatively.

If a transitive verb takes only one object expressed by a noun or a pronoun without a preposition, it is always a direct object.

I helped him.

There are a few English verbs, which can have two direct objects.

I asked him his name. Forgive me this question. She taught them French.

119

THE INDIRECT OBJECT denotes a living being to whom the action of the verb is directed. There are also cases when it denotes a thing. There are two types of indirect object:

1. The indirect object of the first type expresses the addressee of the action. There can’t be an indirect object without a direct one in a sentence, if the predicate is expressed by a transitive verb.

She gave me an interesting book to read.

Note: There are three transitive verbs which may take an indirect object without any direct one: read, write, sing. In this case the indirect object is used with the preposition to:

Won’t you sing to me?

As a rule the indirect object comes before the direct object. In this case it is used without a preposition.

She sent Mike the telegram.

When the direct object precedes the indirect object, the latter is used chiefly with the preposition to and sometimes for.

She was giving an interview to a couple of journalists.

I’ve brought it for you.

When the direct object is expressed by a pronoun, it always precedes the indirect object.

Compare: I sent him a letter. I sent a letter to him. I sent it to her. I sent him to my mother.

After a number of verbs such as explain, dictate, suggest, relate, announce, attribute, communicate, introduce, repeat, dedicate, disclose, interpret, point out the indirect object is always used with the preposition to even if it comes before the direct object.

Can you explain this rule to me?

I shall dictate to you the telephone number.

2. The indirect prepositional object doesn’t always express the addressee of the action and is more frequently used with intransitive verbs than with transitive ones. It can be used with any preposition.

The idea had occurred to Soams.

The prepositional indirect object is used not only with verbs but also with adjectives, words denoting state, and nouns of verbal origin.

She was not aware of his being there. My daughter is afraid of dogs.

The direct and the prepositional indirect object may be simple and complex. THE COMPLEX OBJECT consists of two components; the second stands in predicate relation to the first. The two components form an indivisible unit and consequently must be regarded as one part of the sentence. The complex object can be non-prepositional and prepositional.

We have a complex object expressed by the Objective Participial construction, the Objective-with-the-Infinitive construction, the For-to-Infinitive construction and a gerundial construction.

The friends saw Tom approaching them.

120