The Predicate

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 413.

§ 430. The predicate is the member of a predication con­taining the mood and tense (or only mood) components of predicativity.

E. g. This dictionary employs a pronunciation that i s easy to learn. (Thorndike). I was thinking that Dinny has probably had no lunch. (Galsworthy). I s h о и l d hate to make you cry. (Ib.).

§ 431. The predicate can be a word or a syntactical word-morpheme. When it is a notional word, it "is not only the structural but the notional predicate as well.

E. g. A picture often shows the meaning of a word more clearly than a description. (Witty).

When the predicate is a semi-notional verb or a syntactical word-morpheme, it is only a structural predicate and is usu­ally connected with a notional word which makes the notional predicate.

E.g. He was strong enough for that. (Galsworthy). We can assist our oppressed brothers in South Africa in their struggle for freedom. (Daily Worker). Does anyone know of that but me? (Galsworthy).

Syntactically strong, assist and know are complements to the corresponding verbs.

Similarly, if we agree with A. I. Smirnitsky that have in I have friends is a semi-notional verb, we may consider friends as the notional predicate. But syntactically friends is a com­plement to the verb have.

§ 432. As we have seen, predicates may be divided morpho­logically into words and word-morphemes, and semantically into notional, semi-notional and lexically empty (struc­tural).

§ 433. What is traditionally called a predicate is really the combination of the structural and the notional predicate. If we had a name for the combination, that would enable us to make the traditional analysis. Let us then call the combina­tion a communicative predicate. We may say then that communicative predicates are in accordance with their struc­ture divided into 'simple' (consisting of one word) and 'com­pound' (of more than one word). According to their morpho­logical composition they are divided into 'verbal' (must see, is to believe) and 'nominal' (is a sudent, became angry). As we see, the latter division depends on the complements as well as the division into process and qualifying predicates, which will be discussed in the corresponding chapter (§ 438).

§ 434. When comparing the predicates in English and in Russian, we must first of all note the absence of syntactical word-morphemes used as predicates and the scarcity of mor­phological word-morphemes in Russian. So the division into structural and notional (parts of) predicates is not so essen­tial in Russian as it is in English.

Secondly, there are many more sentences without finite verbs in Russian than in English. Он студент. Она больна. Ему холодно. Кому ехать?

Thirdly, a Russian predication contains a predicate with­out a subject much more often than in English. (See § 429).

SECONDARY PARTS