Predicative
The predicative is the significant part of the compound nominal predicate. It can be expressed in different ways: #1. By a noun in the common case, occasionally by a noun in the possessive case She is a pretty child. (Galsworthy) The book is my sister’s. #2. By an adjective. He’s awfully dear and unselfish. (Galsworthy) Very often the predicative expressed by an adjective in English does not correspond to an adjective in Russian. It often corresponds to an adverb, serving as an adverbial modifier. In this connection particular attention should be paid to the following verbs as they are very [...]
Agreement Of The Predicate With The Subject
In the English language, the predicate agrees with the subject in person and number. The agreement implies that the use of one form necessitates the use of the other, for example, a singular subject requires a predicate in the singular, and a plural subject requires a predicate in the plural. The house was alive with soft, quick steps and running voices. (Mansfield) This evening there was no bright sunset; west and east were one cloud... (Ch. Bronte) But in Modern English there is often a conflict between form and meaning; in these cases the predicate does not agree with [...]
Mixed Predicates
Besides the compound nominal predicate, the compound verbal modal predicate, and the compound verbal aspect predicate, there is a type of predicate in which we have elements of two types of predicates. Such predicates contain three components. Thus we have: #1. The compound modal nominal predicate. The nephew was to be the means of introduction. (Da Maurier) He greatly longed to be the next heir himself. (De la Roche) Don’t think I mean to be unkind. (Du Maurier) #2. The compound aspect nominal predicate. The grey house had ceased to be a house for family life. (Buck) It was [...]
Compound Verbal Predicate
The compound verbal predicate can be divided into two types according to the meaning of the finite verb: the compound verbal modal predicate; the compound verbal aspect 1 Compound Verbal Modal Predicate The compound verbal modal predicate shows whether the action expressed by a non-finite form of the verb is considered as possible, impossible, obligatory, necessary, desirable, etc. These shades of meaning are expressed by the first component of the predicate. The compound verbal modal predicate may consist of the following components: #1. A modal verb and an infinitive. Here belong the combinations of such verbs as [...]
Compound Nominal Predicate
The compound nominal predicate denotes the state or quality of the person or thing expressed by the subject (e. g. He is tired, The book is interesting), or the class of persons or things to which this person or thing belongs (e. g. She is a student). The compound nominal predicate consists of a link verb and a predictive (the latter is also called the nominal part of the predicate). The link verb (or a verb of incomplete predication) expresses the verbal categories of person, number, tense, aspect, mood, and sometimes voice. All link verbs, as the result of a long development, have partly lost their [...]
Compound Predicate
As can be seen from the term itself 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), etc. The second component is the significant part of the predicate. The first part expresses the verbal categories of person, number, tense, aspect, mood and voice; besides it has a certain lexical meaning of its own. The compound predicate may be nominal or verbal.
Simple Predicate
The simple predicate is expressed by a finite verb in a simple or compound tense form. It generally denotes an action: sometimes, however, it denotes a state which is represented as an action. Erik arrived at the lab next morning full of suppressed excitement. (Wilson) And so, after all, the Padre had been thinking of letting him escape. (Voynich) Mr. Rivarez, I have been looking for you everywhere. (Voynich) When Mary was brought in he gave her the local anaesthesia. (Cronin) There is a special kind of predicate expressed by a phraseological unit, such as to get rid, to [...]
Predicate
The predicate is the second principal part of the sentence which expresses an action, state, or quality of the person or thing (The word thing is used in a broad sense.) 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 the weather, time, or distance, and the subject only makes the sentence structurally complete. As a rule, the predicate contains a finite verb that may express tense, mood, voice, aspect, and sometimes person [...]