THE PREDICATE

The predicate is the second principal part of the sentence which expresses an action, state, or a quality of a person or a thing denoted by the subject.

We distinguish simple and compound types of predicate.

PREDICATE:

simple verbal: He came there.

simple phraseological: She gave a cry.

compound nominal: I am 17.

compound modal: I can do it.

compound aspect: She stopped talking.

The simple verbal predicate is expressed by a verb in a simple or a compound tense form.

# Erick arrived early.

# I have been waiting for you for two hours.

There is a special type of predicate – the phraseological predicate. Here we use different phraseological constructions (to get rid of, to take care of, to pay attention to, to lose sight of, to have a smoke, to give a cry, to make fun of, to take part in, to change one’s mind, to get in touch, etc).

# The man gave a violent start.

# He was making fun of us.

The compound predicate consists of two parts: a finite verb and a predicative expressed by some other part of speech (a noun, a pronoun, an adjective, etc).

The compound nominal predicate consists of the link verb and the predicative (expressed by a noun, adjective, numeral).

# He grew more cheerful.

# He was a nice-looking fellow.

# The dance continued fast.

# She will make a good wife.

The compound verbal modal predicate may consist of a modal verb and an infinitive, modal expression, a verb with a modal meaning and a infinitive or gerund (can, may, must, to hope, to intend, to try, to want, to wish, to be able, to be obliged, to be willing, to be going, to be bound, to be anxious, to be capable, etc).

# You can prove everything.

# I have to work for my living.

# He wanted to throw himself into the whirlpool of Paris.

The compound verbal aspect predicate expresses the beginning, repetition, duration or ending of the action (to begin, to start, to go on, to finish, to keep on, to continue, to give up, etc). After the verb comes either infinitive or gerund.

# She began to study English.

# He kept speaking.

# It has stopped raining.

1. Read the following sentences. State the type of the predicate in each sentence:

1. Mary came rather late that morning.

2. She’s been working here for 20 years.

3. She used to be beautiful in her youth, but now she seemed rather weary.

4. Mark didn’t take any part in our work.

5. The British Isles were known as «Tin Islands».

6. He was looking through the window at the river.

7. I can tell at once what is going on.

8. She remained silent.

2. State the type of the predicate in each sentence:

1. He speaks English well.

2. He is speaking English now.

3. Do you know him?

4. He has invited me to his birthday party.

5. They will return tomorrow.

6. When Helen had gone, I returned to Rose.

7. «Well, what do you make of it?» – «I think, she’s telling the truth now,» said Rose decidedly.

8. The dog began to bark.

3. Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Я сегодня иду в библиотеку.

2. В нашем городе есть хороший парк.

3. На нашей улице не было магазина.

4. Ему следует быть более вежливым.

5. Ты выглядишь усталым.

6. Мой брат станет инженером.

7. Она вполне здорова.

8. Когда ты будешь свободен сегодня?

9. Мой отец против моего поступления в колледж этой осенью.

10. Что ты делаешь? – Я готовлюсь к урокам.

11. А можешь мне помочь?

12. Килограмм винограда, пожалуйста.

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