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, predi- cates 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 some- times found in the function of predicative (see below).

The link-verb expresses all the verbal characteristics of the predicate whereas the nominal part is the main bearer of mean- ing. The most commonly occurring link-verbs are to be, to be- come, to get, to grow, to look, to seem, to turn.

e.g. He was a mining engineer by profession. The leaves are turning yellow. Dave looked surprised.

3) compound verbal predicates — they consist of a finite form and a verbal or an adjective. The meaning of the first component is very pale. It mainly serves as a finite verb and usually express- es the speaker's attitude or indicates the position/motion of the subject. The meaning of the verbal or the adjective is quite promi- nent and determines the meaning of the whole unit.

As the first component of a compound verbal predicate we find:

a) modal verbs (can, may, must, be to, have to, shall, should, will, would, ought to, need, dare),

e.g. You oughtn't to go back on your word. You should have gone to the concert. He had to tell the story to his room-mate. She must have regretted doing it.

b) verbs of seeming (to seem, to appear),

e.g. He seemed to have heard the news.

For a moment she appeared to be hesitating.

c) verbs of unexpected occurrence (to happen, to turn out, to chance, to prove),

e.g. They happened to meet at the bus-stop.

He turned out to have no feelings for his nephew.

d) some verbs of position and motion (to stand, to sit, to lie, to be in/out/away, to come, to go),

e.g. He sat staring at the letter. The boys have gone fishing. Mother is out shopping. They stood motionless with their backs to the wall.