Грамматика английского языка Морфология. Синтаксис (стр. 49 из 71)
The notional subject introduced by there is expressed:
1. By any noun or by a noun phrase denoting an inseparable unit or an indefinite amount of something.
There, was silence for a moment.
There was a needle and thread in her fingers.
There were a lot of people in the street.
As the notional subject usually introduces a new idea, the noun expressing it is generally used with the indefinite article.
2. By some noun-pronouns:
a) indefinite.
Is there anybody there?
There was something wrong about the whole situation.
b) negative.
There was nobody in.
There was nothing to do.
c) universal (only some of them).
There were all of them on the bank.
There were both of them present.
The pronouns of these three classes are the most frequent in existential sentences. The ones that follow are very seldom used:
d) detaching.
There was the other to be asked.
e) demonstrative.
There is this which is to be settled.
3. By a gerund or a gerundial phrase.
There was no talking that evening.
There’s no going against bad blood.
4. By a clause.
First, there is what we might call a pattern.
The predicate in such sentences is generally a simple verbal predicate expressed by the verbs to be, to appear, to live, to come, to go, or some other similar verbs.
At last far off there appeared a tiny spot.
Once upon a time there lived a king.
Then there came a lightning.
Occasionally the predicate may be a compound verbal modal predicate or a predicate of double orientation. In both cases their second parts are expressed by the verb to be, or one of the others mentioned above.
a) There must be something wrong with him.
There may come a time when you’ll regret this.
b) There seemed to be only two people in the room.
There did not appear to be anything of importance in what he said.
There are said to be those who are “unfit for living”.
Negative sentences with introductory there are formed in the usual way for the verbs which are their predicates, that is, by means of appropriate auxiliaries for all the verbs but to be. In the latter case two negative constructions are possible:
a) either with the negative pronoun no, as in:
There was no sign of him in the hall.
There is no knowing when he will come.
b) or with the negation not, often followed by the indefinite pronoun any, or without it, as in:
There weren’t (were not) any flowers on the balconies.
There isn’t a cloud in the sky.
The sentence is also negative if the subject itself is a negative pronoun:
There was nobody in.
There was nothing to say.
§ 46. The predicate is the second main part of the sentence and its organizing centre, as the object and nearly all adverbial modifiers are connected with, and dependent on, it.
The predicate may be considered from the semantic or from the structural point of view. Structurally the predicate in English expressed by a finite verb agrees with the subject in number and person. The only exception to this rule is a compound modal and a simple nominal predicate, the latter having no verb form at all (see § 49).
According to the meaning of its components, the predicate may denote an action, a state, a quality, or an attitude to some action or state ascribed to the subject. These different meanings find their expression in the structure of the predicate and the lexical meaning of its constituents.
Structural classification of the predicate
§ 47. From the structural point of view there are two main types of predicate: the simple predicate and the compound predicate. Both these types may be either nominal or verbal, which gives four sub-groups: simple verbal, simple nominal, compound verbal, compound nominal. Compound verbal predicates may be further classified into phasal, modal and of double orientation Compound nominal predicates may be classified into nominal proper and double nominal.
The simple verbal predicate
§ 48. The simple verbal predicate is expressed by:
1. A verb in a synthetic or analytical form.
John runs quickly.
I was sent in to get my tea.
Perhaps you will even remember that woman.
When did life begin on earth?
I didn’t care about the consequence.
Don’t come too late.
2. A verb phrase (a phraseological equivalent of a verb denoting one action).
Here belong:
a) Phrases denoting single actions:
to have a look, to have a smoke, to have a talk, to give a look, to give a laugh, to give a cry, to take a
look, to make a move, to make a remark, to pay a visit, etc.
They comprise a transitive verb and a deverbal noun with the indefinite article.
Nurse Sharp gave him a look and walked out.
The man gave a violent start.
Did you have a sleep?
It’s time we were making a move.
b) Phrases denoting various kinds of actions. In most cases they comprise an abstract noun used with no
article but often preceded by an attribute:
to change one's mind, to get rid (of), to get hold (of), to lose sight (of), to make fun (of), to make up
one's mind, to make use (of), to take care (of), to take leave (of), to take part (in), etc.
I have never taken much interest in German songs.
She paid little heed to what was going on in the world outside.
Are you taking part in the concert?
The simple nominal predicate
§ 49. The simple nominal predicate is expressed by a noun, or an adjective, or a verbal, ft does not contain a link verb, as it shows the incompatibility of the idea expressed by the subject and that expressed by the predicate; thus in the meaning of the simple nominal predicate there is an implied negation.
| He a gentleman! You a bother! Never. Fred, a priest! Rondal, jealous! Nick, dishonest! Such an old lady to come so far! | Ну какой же он джентльмен! Ты - зануда! Ну, что ты! Чтобы Фред был священником! Рондел - ревнует! (Быть того не может!) Ник - нечестный! Не может быть! Чтобы такая пожилая дама пришла издалека! |
Sentences with the simple nominal predicate are always exclamatory evidently owing to the implication of a negation or of an evaluation.
The predicate is mostly commad off (separated by a comma), but a comma is not regarded as a strict rule.
These predicates are used in colloquial English, although not frequently.
The simple nominal predicate can be expressed by:
1. A noun.
My son a clergyman!
She, a nun!
Me, a liar!
2. An adjective.
My ideas obsolete!
Ronnie, good-looking!
You sad!
3. An infinitive or an infinitive phrase.
Hercule Poirot to sleep while murder is committed!
My boy insult a gentleman at my table!
4. Participle I or a participial phrase.
She spying!
Me trying to be funny!
§ 50. The compound predicate consists of two parts: the notional and the structural. The structural part comes first and is followed by the notional part.
The notional part may be expressed by a noun, an adjective, a stative, an adverb, a verbal, a phrase, a predicative complex, or a clause.
The structural part is expressed by a finite verb - a phasal verb, a modal verb, a verb expressing attitude, intention, planning, etc., or a link verb.
From the point of view of meaning the most important part of the compound predicate is the notional part as it contains the information about the person or non-person expressed by the subject.
From the point of view of structure the most important part of the predicate is the first one, since it is expressed by a finite verb and carries grammatical information about the person, number, tense, voice, modal, attitudinal and aspective (phasal) meaning of the whole predicate.
The compound verbal predicate
The compound verbal phasal predicate
§ 51. The compound verbal phasal predicate denotes the beginning, duration, repetition or cessation of the action expressed by an infinitive or a gerund. It consists of a phasal verb and an infinitive or a gerund, Accordingly its first component may be a phasal verb of:
1.Beginning:
to begin, to start, to commence, to set about, to take to, to fall to, to come.
Andrew and he began to talk about the famous clinic.
Jack started training out at Hogan’s health farm.
So I took to going to the farm.
He fell to poking the fire with all his might.
I come to think that you are right.
2. Duration:
to go on, to keep, to proceed, to continue.
The talk kept running on the possibility of a storm.
As we continued to laugh his surprise gave way to annoyance.
3. Repetition:
would, used (denoting a repeated action in the past).
Alfredo used to talk to me about it.
During her small leisure hours she would sit by the window or walk in the fields.
4. Cessation:
to stop, to finish, to cease, to give up, to leave off.
The band had ceased playing.
Give up smoking.
Note the difference in the functions of the gerund and the infinitive after the verb to stop:
She stopped talking to him. (part of a compound verbal phasal predicate) - Она перестала с ним
говорить.
She stopped to talk to him. (an adverbial modifier of purpose) - Она остановилась, чтобы поговорить с
ним.)
The compound verbal modal predicate
§ 52. The compound verbal modal predicate consists of a modal part and an infinitive (or a gerund). It shows whether the action expressed by an infinitive is looked upon as possible, impossible, obligatory, necessary, desirable, planned, certain, permissible, etc. In most cases it denotes the attitude to the action of the person expressed by the subject or by the speaker.
The modal part may be expressed by:
1. A modal verb.
You must forget it.
He can’t say a word, he can’t even apologize.
I had to bite my lip to prevent myself from laughing.
Ought he not to treat her generously?
May I ask you a question?
2. A modal expression of nominal nature:
to be able, to be allowed, to be willing, to be going, to be anxious, etc.
You are going to attend the college at Harvard, they tell me.
Are you able to walk another two miles?
We were anxious to cooperate.
The modal part may have two modal verbs or a modal verb and a modal expression.
He may have to return.
She must be willing to come here again.
З. Аn attitudinal verb such as to like, to hate, to attempt, to expect, to hope, to intend, to mean, to plan, to try, to have a mind, to wish, to want followed by an infinitive denote the attitude of the person expressed by the subject to the action denoted by the infinitive.
The predicate of this type may be called a compound verbal attitudinal predicate.
He hoped to see them the next day.
I mean to find out the truth.
The compound verbal predicate
of double orientation
§ 53. The compound verbal predicate of double orientation consists of two parts. The first part is a finite verb which denotes the attitude to, evaluation of, or comment on, the content of the sentence expressed by the speaker or somebody not mentioned in the sentence. The second part denotes the action which is (was/will be) performed by the person/non-person expressed by the subject.
The Gadfly seemed to have taken a dislike to her ———>It seemed (to the people) that the Gadfly had
taken a dislike to her.
Philip Bosinney was known to be a young man without fortune ———> They knew that Philip Bosinney
was a young man without fortune.
He is said to be looking for a new job. (Говорят, что он ищет новую работу)
The plane is reported to have been lost. (Сообщают, что самолет пропал)
In this case we see different orientation of the actions which are regarded from two points of view: that of the speaker and that of the person (or non-person) expressed by the subject. .
In a number of cases semantically this type of predicate has much in common with the compound verbal modal predicate, as in: You can’t have misunderstood me, but formally these predicates are different, because in the compound verbal modal predicate the first component is a modal verb, whereas in the compound predicate of double orientation it is a verb or phrase expressing attitude, evaluation, or comment. They belong to one of the following verb groups:
1. Intransitive verbs of seeming or happening with the general meaning of evaluation in the active voice:
to seem, to appear, to prove, to turn out, to happen, to chance.
He seemed to understand everything I said.
Money just doesn’t happen to interest me.
No one appears to have noticed his escape.
2. Some verbs in the passive voice:
a) Verbs of saying:
to say, to declare, to state, to report, to rumour.
This country is said to be rich in oil.
The rocket is reported to have started its night at 6.30.
b) Verbs of mental activity:
to believe, to consider, to expect, to find, to know, to mean, to presume, to regard, to suppose, to think,
to understand.
Mr. Sharp was always expected to say he preferred cold meat.
He has never been known to lose his temper before.
c) Verbs of perception:
to feel, to hear, to see, to watch.
My dog was heard to bark in the yard.
The lady was seen to leave the house.
3. Phrases with some modal meaning:
to be (un) likely, to be sure, to be certain.
The adjectives likely, unlikely, sure and certain indicate the speaker's attitude to the future:
The weather is not likely to change.
This event is certain to produce a sensation.
If you don’t post the letter at once, it is unlikely to arrive in time.
George is sure to see Mary. (Sure indicates the attitude of the speaker, it is the speaker rather than George
who is sure)
The compound nominal predicate
The compound nominal predicate proper