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28 The Predicate

The predicate is the second principal member of the sentence. Semantically it denotes an action performed by /over the subject or a state ascribed to the subject. Alongside with it, the predicate expresses the relation of the action to reality, the direction of the action, the time and the aspect of the action.

Normally the predicate contains a finite verb which grammatically agrees with the subject.

According to the semantics and the structure, the predicate is classified into two major types: the simple predicate and the compound predicate.

14.3.2.1. The Simple Predicate

The simple predicate denotes an action or a state which is represented as an action. Structurally the simple predicate falls into two groups1: the simple verbal predicate and the simple phraseological predicate.

1. The simple verbal predicate which is expressed by a finite verb in a synthetic or analytical form:

Everyone lives by selling something.

We know nothing about it.

You will be immediately recognized.

The car made off at once.

We have been paying you a lot of money.

I'll take this picture of yours with me.

2. The simple phraseological predicate which is expressed by a phraseological unit typically consisting of a finite monotransitive verb that has partly lost its concrete meaning and a noun (see 5.4. The Verbs Phrase):

She made fun of everybody and everything.

We have been paying too much attention to you.

I'll take care of that.

All of a sudden she changed her mind and put an end to the conversation.

The number of expressions constituting the simple phraseological predicate is large. Among these expressions are such idioms as: to call someone names, to change one's mind, to find fault (with), to get in touch (with), to get rid (of), to lose one's head, to lose one's heart, to lose sight (of), to make up one's mind, to take interest (in), to take part (in), etc.

3. There is a subtype of the simple phraseological predicate that may be termed the simple discrete predicate which is expressed by a transitive verb and an action related noun often used with the indefinite article (see also 5.4. The Verbs Phrase). The simple discrete predicate denotes a single action that is separate and different from similar actions:

For nearly half an hour none of them made a move.

I'll pay a call on him later this evening.

He took a glance at the newspaper headlines.

I've just had a hot bath.

The first element of the simple discrete predicate — the verb does not denote any definite action. This is done by the noun:

We'll get in touch with you when we've had an idea about what to do.

I'll have a go at mending the fuse.

This type of predicate is characteristically conversational and is very frequently used.

The most commonly used verbs within the simple discrete predicates are the verbs have, give, make and take. They are combined with various nouns.

Have is used with nouns referring to:

disagreement: argument, fight, quarrel, trouble;

relaxation: break, holiday, rest, smoke;

meals: breakfast, dinner, drink, lunch, meal, tea;

talking: chat, conversation, discussion, talk;

washing: bath, shower, swim, wash.

Give is used with nouns referring to:

facial expressions: grin, smile;

hitting: kick, punch, slap;

human noises: cry, gasp, giggle, laugh, scream, shout, sigh, whistle, yell;

talking: advice, answer, lecture, news, report, speech, talk, warning.

Make is used with nouns referring to:

plans: arrangement, bet, choice, decision, plan;

talking and sounds: comment, enquiry, noise, point, remark, speech, sound;

travelling: journey, tour, trip, visit.

Take is used with the nouns chance, interest, photo, trouble, decision, offence, risk, turns.

Note that in a sentence with a simple verbal predicate a question can be easily and most naturally put to the noun (object) that follows the verb:

We took your money, (simple verbal) — What did you take?

Quite conversely, both the simple phraseological and the simple discrete predicates do not permit putting questions to their second element:

We took part in the event, (simple phraseological) — *What did you take? but What did you do?

Let's have a talk about it. (simple discrete) — *What shall we have? but What shall we do?

14.3.2.2. The Compound Predicate

The compound predicate consists of two parts:

  1. the structural, expressed by a finite verb that carries grammatical information about the person, number, tense, voice, modal and aspective (relating to the duration, repetition, beginning or completion of the state or action) meaning;

  2. the notional, expressed by a noun, a pronoun, an adjective, an adverb or a verbal.

From the point of view of meaning the most significant part of the compound predicate is the notional part as it contains the information about the subject.

The compound predicate may be nominal or verbal.

1. The compound nominal predicate denotes the state or quality of the person or thing expressed by the subject:

He is tired.

The day is nice today.

The compound nominal predicate may also ascribe the subject to a certain class:

She is a student; or locate the subject:

They are at home.

The structural part of the compound nominal predicate is termed a link verb; the notional part is called a (subject) predicative.

All link verbs (or verbs of incomplete predication) have to some extent lost their original meaning but still can be classed into three lexical groups:

1) link verbs of being be, feel, look, smell, sound, taste, seem, appear, etc.:

You look pale today. This sponge cake smells delicious. The idea seemed improbable. The solution appeared simple.

2) link verbs of becoming become, go, grow, get, turn, make, etc.:

The case became a hot potato for the government.

The market prices got nasty.

He has turned grey.

He will make a good soldier.

3) link verbs of remaining remain, keep, stay:

She remained calm. They kept silent. He stayed alone.

Many of these verbs can be used both as the notional verbs functioning as simple verbal predicates, and as link verbs within the compound nominal predicates. Cf.:

Simple verbal predicates Link verbs

God is. They are my friends.

The doctor felt her pulse. The doctor felt worried.

A glow of light appeared over the sea. He appears confident.

I grow roses in my garden. She grew pale.

She idly turned the pages of a magazine. A few years later he turned professional.

The end of the world has come. My hopes have come true.

I looked at her and smiled. She looked strangely familiar.

The predicative can be expressed by a noun in the common case, occasionally by a noun in the possessive case:

He is a lawyer;

This car is my friend's;

or by an adjective or an adjective phrase:

She remained watchful.

We are not afraid.

The cuisine of this restaurant is remarkably unremarkable.

Special attention should be paid to the fact that a predicative adjective in English often corresponds to an adverbial modifier expressed by an adverb in Russian:

She looks bad. Она плохо выглядит.

This tune sounds marvellous.Эта мелодия прекрасно звучит.

The child looks quite well.

Well is a predicative adjective pointing to good health/satisfactory condition. Cf.: Russ. Ребенок выглядит совсем здоровым. The predicative can also be expressed by

a) a pronoun:

It was he. (personal pronoun, nominative case)

It's me. (personal pronoun, objective case)

This book is mine, (possessive pronoun)

You are nobody, (negative pronoun)

Who are you? (interrogative pronoun)

You are not yourself today, (reflexive/emphatic pronoun)

b) a numeral, cardinal or ordinal:

I'll be twenty next summer. They were the first to leave.

c) an infinitive, an infinitive phrase or construction:

His first move was to stand up.

The important thing is to defend our reputation.

This book is for you to read.

d) a gerund, a gerundial phrase or construction:

Her most obvious passion has always been eating.

The trouble with him is his continuous lying to everybody.

e) the -ed participle (participle II) or a participial phrase (see also 7. The Passive Voice):

Come in. The door is not locked.

His answer was awkwardly formulated.

f) the -ing participle (participle I) is rarely used in this function unless it is adjectivized:

Your proposition sounds inspiring;

g) a prepositional phrase: He is at school;

h) an adverb of place:

They are not here;

When wine is in, the wit is out.

2. The compound nominal double predicate. There is a subtype of the compound nominal predicate in which the link verb expresses an action of its own: He came home tired; She married young. The finite verb in such predicates denotes some action (he came, she married), but the focal point of the sentence lies in the information conveyed by the predicative noun or adjective that express the properties of the subject. The meaning of such sentences can be alternatively rendered in the following way: He was tired when he came home; She was young when she married. The finite verb, besides being a predicate in itself, also performs the function of a link verb.

Since such predicates have properties of both simple verbal predicate and those of compound nominal one, they are termed double predicates. There are a number of verbs that often occur in this type of predicate — die, lie, live, marry, return, rise, sit, stand, shine, etc.:

He died a hero.

The hills lay bare and deserted.

She came in gloomy.

The sun was shining warm and bright.

The verbs call, elect, leave, keep, find, think, report used in the passive voice often serve as the first constituent of the compound nominal double predicate:

The young man was called Tom.

He was elected president.

The shop was kept open an extra hour.

We were never left alone.

She was found guilty.

They were reported dead.

In Modern English there is a growing tendency to use this type of predicate with a variety of verbs not limited to a particular lexical class.

3. The compound verbal predicate. According to the meaning of the finite verb that constitutes a structural part of the predicate, the compound verbal predicate can be classified into three types:

  1. The compound verbal modal predicate.

  2. The compound verbal dispositional predicate.

  3. The compound verbal aspect predicate.

The compound verbal modal predicate shows that the action expressed by the infinitive (the notional part of the predicate) is considered possible, impossible, obligatory, necessary, desirable, prearranged, certain, etc. These shades of meaning are expressed by the first (structural) component of the predicate.

The compound verbal modal predicate may be expressed by

a) a modal verb and an infinitive:

You cannot wash charcoal white;

She might have been more thoughtful about her elders;

The car would not start;

b) a modal expression be able, be about, be allowed, be anxious, be bound, be capable, be going, be obliged, be willing and an infinitive:

Most schools are not legally obliged to follow national curriculum;

We are anxious to restore friendly links with them;

The company is willing to pay you handsomely;

That was bound do happen sooner or later,

c) a verb with a modal meaning manage, fail, try, attempt, long, wish, want, intend, etc. and an infinitive or, sometimes, a gerund:

The new party has so far managed to recruit only 10,000 members;

England failed to win the cup last year;

I'll try to come on time;

We do not intend relinquishing the deal.

The structural part of the compound modal predicate may contain both a modal verb and a modal expression:

She might be able to come.

The compound verbal dispositional predicate is a sub-type of the compound verbal modal predicate. The compound verbal dispositional predicate together with the subject of the sentence make up a subjective infinitive construction (see 10. Verbals) whose peculiarity is that it does not serve as one part of the sentence. In the compound verbal dispositional predicate the first (structural) part is expressed by a finite verb often used in the passive voice and denotes the attitude, disposition of the speaker to the content of the sentence. The second (notional) part is expressed by the infinitive and denotes the action performed by the subject:

She seems to know everything.

They were reported to have co-operated with the police.

The weather is not likely to change.

The first part of the compound verbal dispositional predicate can be expressed by a number of verbs used in the passive voice. The most important of them are:

a) the verbs of mental activity — know, believe, suppose, consider, expect, etc.:

The government is believed to have come to some decision. The decision is expected to be made public soon.

b) the verbs of reporting — say, report, declare, state, rumour, etc.:

His new book is reported to be selling well.

She is rumoured to have been banned from the stage.

c) the verbs of perception —feel, hear, see:

She has never been heard to utter a dirty word.

They were seen to succeed in living a happy married life.

d) the verbs denoting the imposition of the following action—make, force, compel, press:

We were made to shake hands.

I was compelled to intervene in the dispute.

The first part of the compound verbal dispositional predicate can also be expressed by intransitive verbs of evaluation used in the active voice — seem, happen, appear, prove, turn out, etc.:

I happen to know her quite well.

She seemed to be listening attentively.

or by phrases with a modal meaning — be sure, be certain, be (un)likely:

You are sure to like her. It is unlikely to rain.

The compound verbal aspect predicate expresses the beginning, repetition, duration or cessation of the action expressed by an infinitive or a gerund. Its first element is a verb of

a) beginning begin, start, commence, take to, fall to, come to:

He started working at the tender age of twelve.

Some teenagers have taken to wearing a gold stud through their nostrils.

b) duration go on, keep (on), proceed, continue, carry on:

Having listened to my advice she proceeded to do the exact opposite.

We carried on working until ten o'clock last night.

c) repetition would, used (denoting a repeated action in the past):

We used to talk much about it.

When a boy he would spend a whole day by the river.

d) cessation — stop, finish, cease, quit, give up:

The factory has stopped making this sort of car.

Suddenly she quit talking and turned to me.

Mixed types of compound predicates are the crossbreeds of all above described compound predicates. They can be of various composition:

Our plans are to become reality, (the compound modal nominal predicate)

They seem to be very happy, (the compound dispositional nominal predicate)

They used to be good friends, (the compound aspect nominal predicate)

You should give up smoking, (the compound modal aspect predicate)

They must be made to sign this paper, (the compound modal dispositional predicate)

They are reported to have started using the new technique, (the compound dispositional aspect predicate)

She must have stopped feeling young long ago. (the compound modal aspect nominal predicate)

14.3.3. Concord

In the English language the predicate agrees with the subject in person and number, i. e. a singular subject requires a predicate in the singular, a plural subject requires a predicate in the plural.

This rule of grammatical agreement — concord — affects the use of the finite verb in all present tenses and also the past indefinite tense (simple past tense) of the verb be.

The guidelines on the trickiest cases of the use of the rule of concord are presented below:

Subject expressed by …

Verb form

Example

I. NOUNS

1. SINGULARIA TANTUM NOUNS:

advice, homework, housework, information, money, progress, knowledge, news, debris, linguistics, mathematics, maths, physics, athletics, rmnastics, etc

Singular

The news on TV is always depressing. Gymnastics is part of our physical training course.

2. PLURALIA TANTUM NOUNS: clothes, trousers, jeans, shorts, tights, pyjamas, goods, stairs, spectacles, scissors, outskirts, proceeds, remains, belongings, earnings, congratulations, etc.

Plural

My belongings are all packed up in two suitcases.

The proceeds of the concert are going to the children's fund.

3. INVARIABLE COLLECTIVE NOUNS:

a) the audience, the public, the media, the press, the population, the majority, etc.

Singular or Plural

The public wants I want to know how it is I they are governed.

b) cattle, clergy, police, people (human beings), troops, vermin

Plural

Troops are being sent in the city today.

4. VARIABLE COLLECTIVE NOUNS:

committee, company, class, council, crew, crowd, family, firm, group, government, staff, jury, team, etc.

Singular or Plural when the noun is singular

My family is I are

on holiday.

BUT

Many families are in need of help.

5. INVARIABLE COUNT NOUNS:

deer, sheep, offspring, aircraft, means, series, species, kennels, headquarters, crossroads, Chinese, Swiss, etc.

Singular or Plural depending on the meaning

Her younger offspring is like her. Her two offspring are in the army now

6. NOUNS OF MEASURE:

The whole amount of time (days, years), distance (miles, meters), weight (pounds, grams), etc.

Singular

Ten years is a long time.

1,000 dollars is a large sum of money.

7. NOUNS OF QUANTITY + OF + NOUN:

a number of... a variety of...

a lot of... a mass of...

plenty of... the majority of …

Singular or Plural

The majority of us behave this way. The majority of the military has not been paid in three weeks.

8. Quantifier MANY + singular noun

Singular

Many a man knows about it.

9. A numerical expression of arithmetical addition, subtraction, division and multiplication

Singular but may be Plural

Four and two is six. Nine divided by three is three. Twice two is fare four.

II. PRONOUNS

1. EMPHATIC IT

Singular

It is they who are responsible

2. INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS: who, what

Singular but may be Plural

Who has done it? What is it? Who are absent?

3. RELATIVE PRONOUNS: who, which, that

Verb agrees with the antecedent

It is I who am wrong. It is me who is not right. It is they who are mistaken.

4. COMPOUND PRONOUNS: somebody, someone, anybody, anyone, something, anything, everybody, everyone, everything

Singular

Somebody has come. Everything is ready.

5. NEGATIVE PRONOUNS:

a) nobody, no one, nothing

Singular

Nobody knows it. Nothing belongs to me here.

b) none of... neither of...

Singular or Plural

None of them knows/ know about it. Neither of us is/are happy.

6. DISTRIBUTIVE PRONOUNS:

a) all

Singular

All is well that ends well.

b)all

Plural

All are welcome.

c)each

Singular

Each fancies a second existence.

III. TWO NOUNS AND A CONJUNCTION

1.Both... and...

Plural

Both they and she know it.

2. Either... or ..., Neither... nor ... Not only... but also...

Verb agrees with the nearest noun

Neither they nor I am interested. Neither I nor they are interested

3. ...as well as..., ...as much as..., ...rather than..., ...more than...

Verb agrees with the first noun

My parents as well as my sister are teachers.

My sister as well as my parents is a teacher.

4. bacon and eggs, bread and butter, gin and tonic, etc. when thought of as a unit

Singular

Gin and tonic is excellent long drink.

1 Some grammarians maintain that there is a simple nominal predicate expressed by a noun, or an adjective, or participle I, e. g.: He a gentleman! She pretty! Me telling lies ? Such an approach to the treatment of this pattern seems plausible but yet not adopted in this book. Sentences of this type are characteristic of colloquial English but marginal in use. Here they are treated as elliptical in form (compound nominal predicate with its link verb omitted) and either exclamatory or interrogative in meaning.