Predicates and arguments 369

the perfective is usual in the infinitive. Negating the main verb will not evoke the genitive in the object of the infinitive.

Many verbs that describe acts of speech can be used to impose an order on someone else, by using the conjunction xnj,s ([369]):

[369]Enhjv vfnm crfpfkf tve, xnj,s jy e[jlbk.

In the morning mother told him that he must leave.

[370]Vfnm ecgtkf itgyenm ntnt Cfit, xnj,s jntw yb d rjtv ckexft yt itk.

Mother had time to whisper to Aunt Sasha, that under no circumstances should father go.

5.10.11 Final constructions

Infinitives are used in final constructions, to name the intended result of an activity. Final infinitives are normally preceded by xnj,s or the more explicit lkz njuj´, xnj,s.

[371]Vjkxb, xnj,s lhe;,e yt gjnthznm.

Be quiet, so as not to ruin our friendship.

In final constructions, there is normally an agentive subject in the main predicate that wills and controls the eventual, final, result. Final constructions can have xnj,s and a finite predicate, if the implicit subject of the final predicate is not the agent of the main predicate:

[372]Ldjt hfytys[ gjghjcbkb, xnj,s b[ rjqrb gjljldbyekb gj,kb;t r jryfv. Two of the wounded asked that their cots be moved up closer to the windows.

While infinitives can be used in English as relative clauses, as in a difficult role to perform, they cannot in Russian: nhelyfz hjkm bcgjkybnm [as if: ‘a difficult role to fulfill’]. Infinitives can, however, be attached to modal nouns: djpvj´;yjcnm ‘possibility’ (djpvj;yjcnm hfcrjkjnm ghfdjckfdbt ‘the possibility of splitting Orthodoxy’), ytj,[jl∫vjcnm ‘necessity’ (ytj,[jlbvjcnm xthnbnm rfhns ‘the necessity of drawing maps’).

5.10.12 Summary of infinitive constructions

Infinitive constructions attached to main predicates are summarized in Table 5.19.

The constructions here are arranged in order of increasing autonomy of the infinitive clause. The infinitive is tightly bound to “impersonal” modal predicates (yƒlj, etc.). The modality of the main predicate applies to the whole event

370A Reference Grammar of Russian

named by the infinitive, and is directed to a dative goal, who is then the implicit subject of the infinitive. At the opposite extreme, the subject of the main predicate transfers control to another individual (expressed as dative goal of the transfer or the accusative site of transfer) who is the implicit subject of the infinitive. Intermediate are constructions in which the subject of the main predicate controls the development of the event named by the infinitive.