Predicates and arguments 351

Table 5.14 Properties of passives and near-passives

	reflexive imperfective	perfective passive	non-specified third
	passive	participle	plural
	(rjyabcrjdsdfkbcm,	(edjktys, hfpjhdfy)	(c[dfnbkb, edjpbkb,
	ghjdtnhbdftncz)		uhjpbkb, pf ytq
			yf,k/lf/n)
expression of agent	extremely rare (3%)	rare (9%)	---
view of event	repeated activity	event presented as	responsible agent
	presented as stative	stative resultative	asserted to exist,
	property of patient/	property of	but remains
	subject	patient/subject	unnamed

Common to all uses of the passive participle is that a potential event is presented as a static property of the subject. Accordingly, the passive participle is used in description or summary rather than narrative (as in [309]). The unspecific third plural, in contrast, presents a pure event -- in [310], one event in a narrative series.

[309]<jktt gjkjdbys b[ jrfpfkbcm yfheibntkzvb lbcwbgkbys. Vyjubt bp yb[ edjktys<psv> pf ghjueks.

More than half of them turned out to be violators of discipline. Many of them were removed for absenteeism.

[310]Pfvtifyyst d “ltkj” dspsdfkbcm yf ljghjcs, bv euhj;fkb. Jlyjuj bp yb[ ghbcelbkb r ghbyelbntkmysv hf,jnfv. Ytcrjkmrb[ edjkbkb<pst pl> .

Those who were mixed up in the “affair” were called in for interrogation, they threatened them. They sentenced one of them to forced labor. They removed several from work.

5.8.6 Passives and near-passives

Use of passive and near-passive constructions is summarized in Table 5.14.

5.9 Agreement

5.9.1 Basics

Finite verbs agree with their subjects.62 Verbs express gender--number in past-- tense forms and person--number in present-tense forms (including the presenttense forms of perfective verbs). In [311], the past-tense verb is feminine, in agreement with the overt subject, a feminine singular noun.

62 See Crockett 1976, Corbett 1979[a], Corbett 1983[a], 1983[b], 1988[b], Robblee 1993[b].

352 A Reference Grammar of Russian

[311]<f,eirf ?kz<\fem sg> et[fkf<fem pst> d Gfhb;. Grandma Iulia left for Paris.

If the subject is not expressed as an overt argument phrase, the predicate expresses the features of the implicit referent of the subject, as in the continuation of [311] as [312]:

[312]<. . .> b ghj;bkf<fem pst> nfv ,jktt ltcznb ktn.

<. . .> and lived there for more than ten years.

If the sentence is impersonal -- that is, lacks the possibility of a subject -- the verb appears in the neuter in the past ([313]) or in the third-person singular in the present ([314]) and future:

[313]Vtyz njiybkj<nt pst> , ljvjq tkt lj,hfkcz. Nausea overcame me, I hardly made it home.

[314]Vtyz njiybn<3sg prs> , ljvjq yt lj,thecm. I’m overcome by nausea, I won’t make it home.

5.9.2 Agreement with implicit arguments, complications

Agreement is largely without problems in Russian, but there are some contexts of interest.

Collectives: Subjects that are nouns cause little uncertainty. Even singular nouns with collective sense elicit singular number, with the gender appropriate for the noun (fem sg for rjvƒylf in [315]):

[315]Rjvfylf<\fem sg> ,skf<fem> ljcnfnjxyj cbkmyf<fem sg> b [jhjij gjlujnjdktyf<fem sg> .

The team was quite strong and well-prepared.

The subsequent context maintains the singular number (gjlujnj´dktyf) unless the individual members of the collective are explicitly named (for example, buhjr∫ ‘players’). Plural is not used in Russian, unlike in varieties of English:

The Barcelona player said his side were not prepared for the vociferous support given by Korean fans.

Implicit gender of personal pronouns: When the subject is a first or second person, a past-tense verb reflects the gender of the referent of the pronoun, though the pronouns themselves do not distinguish gender:

[316]Ns yt vj;tim ct,t ghtlcnfdbnm, rfre/ [jhjie/ dtcnm ns vyt gthtlfkf<fem> . You cannot imagine what good news you’ve given me.

Predicates and arguments 353

Universal second-person singular: Second-person singular agreement in the predicate is used without any overt subject noun phrase in a universal sense of any possible addressee:

[317]Gjckt djqys z epyfk, xnj ,sk nfv ecnhjty kfuthm lkz pfrk/xtyys[. Lf, vtcnj ds,hfkb gjl[jlzott -- ukeim, ,tpljhj;mt, rheujv ktcf b ,jkjnf. Yt e,t;bim<2sg> .

After the war I learned that a prison camp had been built there. Yes, they picked a good place -- wilderness, no roads, nothing but forests and swamps all around. You won’t escape.

Formal second-person plural: The second-person plural pronoun ds is used in formal address to a single individual (the formal “B-form”: §4.6). In agreement with formal ds, verbs are second-person plural, and predicative (“short”) adjectives are plural ([318]):

[318]-- Bhbyf, ds vjkjls<pl> , rhfcbds<pl> , vyjuj buhftnt<2pl> b, yfdthyjt, joeoftnt<2pl> ct,z ljcnfnjxyj rjvajhnyj.

-- Irina, you are young, beautiful, you get many roles, and no doubt you live rather comfortably.

Used as predicatives, long-form adjectives reflect the referential gender and number of the subject -- singular when a single person is addressed by formal B, even as the verb is plural:63

[319]Gjxtve ;t ds ,skb<pl pst> {nfrjq uhecnysq<msc sg> nfrfz uhecnyfz<fem sg> }? Why indeed were you such a sad one?

[320]Ds {gthdsq<msc sg> gthdfz<fem sg> } yfxfkb<pl pst> . You started it first.

Other predicatives, such as g†hdsq ‘first’ ([320]), are likewise singular if the addressee is singular ([320]). If the addressee is plural, predicatives are plural: ds gtdhst<pl> yfxfkb ‘you (all) started it first’.

5.9.3 Agreement with overt arguments: special contexts

With overt subject arguments, agreement is unproblematic most of the time: singular agreement is used with a singular noun, plural with plural. Complications arise in three contexts. All three contexts have subject phrases that could be understood as referring to multiple entities. Though there are differences among the three contexts, there are also general principles that apply to all

63 Comrie 1975:408, 410.

354 A Reference Grammar of Russian

Table 5.15 Agreement of conjoined nouns, animacy, and word order

	SV order (%)	VS order (%)
animates	100	84
inanimates	85	28

three. In general, singular agreement in these contexts indicates that the group of elements is understood as a whole, as a unit, and the fact of the existence of some number of things is more significant than the activities of the individuals involved. Plural agreement means that the elements that make up the group are viewed as potentially distinct individuals. At the level of the argument phrase, animates are more likely to be individuated, and occur with plural, than inanimates; abstract nouns are unlikely to be individuated, and unlikely to trigger plural agreement. At the level of the predicate, since existential predicates are interested in the fact of existence, they are more likely to occur with singular agreement than individuating predicates such as transitive verbs or predicative constructions. At the level of discourse, the word order in which the subject is postposed is the order used for establishing the existence of a situation. Accordingly, a verb that precedes its subject is more likely to have singular agreement than a verb that follows its subject.

The three specific contexts are the following.

5.9.4 Agreement with conjoined nouns

With noun phrases composed of two or more conjoined singular nouns, the verb can appear in either the singular or the plural. (If any of the conjoined nouns is plural, agreement is plural.) As can be seen from Table 5.15,64 plural agreement is preferred with nouns that refer to animates. Also, plural agreement is usual when the subject precedes rather than follows the verb, as is especially visible with conjoined nouns referring to inanimates.

When variation is possible, plural is appropriate when the conjoined elements are distinct entities, and the predicate is independently valid for each. Entities can be distinct if they are different kinds of things ([321]) or two distinct individuals of one type ([322]):

[321]Gjhfpbkb<pl> tuj rhfcjnf<\fem sg> bp, b pfntqkbdjcnm<\fem sg> htpm,s. The charm of the huts and the intricacy of the carving amazed him.

64Corbett 1983[b]:181. For conjoined nouns, Corbett 2000:207 cites 67 percent plural agreement in literature, 96 percent in press (there without differentiating animacy or word order).

Predicates and arguments 355

[322]Tt cj,cndtyyfz ;bpym<\fem sg> b ;bpym<\fem sg> dtrf crkflsdfkbcm<pl> nfrbv j,hfpjv, <. . .>

Her own life and the life of the era had taken shape such that <. . .>

Singular agreement assumes that the elements are not distinct and are intrinsically associated; the predicate applies to all the elements together. The entities can amount to a higher order abstraction -- life and reason together define a universe ([323]):

[323]Dyenhb rf;ljuj эktrnhjyf cghznfyf dctktyyfz, ult ceotcndetn<3sg> ;bpym<\fem sg> b hfpev<\msc sg> , rfr d yfitq.

In each electron is hidden a universe, where there exists life and reason just as in ours.

Or one element can be understood as a concomitant of the other:

[324]<. . .> jcnfkfcm<fem> ;tyf<\fem sg> b vfkmxbr<\msc sg> . [After he died] there remained his wife and boy.

Or two abstract ideas are (nearly) synonymous:

[325]Yfcnegbkj<nt> ecgjrjtybt<\ntsg> b leitdyfz nb[jcnm<\fem sg> . There came a calm and spiritual quiet.

When singular agreement is used in the past tense, thereby expressing gender, the question arises as to which noun supplies the gender. It depends in part on word order. When the subject precedes the verb, as in [326], gender can be taken from either the first noun, which is typically the more significant, or from the second, which is nearer to the predicate.

[326]Ghjtrnbhjdfybt<\nt sg> b gjlujnjdrf<\fem sg> r cnhjbntkmcnde {pfyzkj<nt> pfyzkf<fem> } tldf kb yt 15 ktn.

The planning and preparation for construction took up virtually fifteen years.

[327]{Pfyzkj<nt> ?Pfyzkf<fem> } tldf kb yt 15 ktn ghjtrnbhjdfybt<\nt sg> b gjlujnjdrf<\fem sg> r cnhjbntkmcnde.

Almost fifteen years were taken up by the planning and preparation for construction.

When the subject follows ([327]), the gender of the verb is that of the first conjunct, which is both more significant and closer to the verb.

If pronouns of different persons are conjoined, first person outranks second (z b ns ctqxfc tltv<1pl> ‘I and you are going now’) and either outranks third (z b jy ctqxfc tltv<1pl> ‘I and he are just now going’, ns b jy ctqxfc tltnt<2pl>

‘you and he are just now going’).