The Predicate Is The Main Member of The Sentence.: Verbal Nominal
The Predicate Is The Main Member of The Sentence.: Verbal Nominal
The principal difference in them lies in the fact that verbal predicates name actions or
processes, while nominal predicates name states or properties.
VERBAL PREDICATES
All the verbal predicates can be subdivided into Simple and Compound
The Simple Verbal Predicate denotes an activity performed (suffered) by the object. It’s
expressed by the finite form of the verb in the required tense, mood, aspect and voice. It
can also be expressed by a set expression (phrase)
E.g. I like grammar.
We are reading English books. (Analytical form)
He pays much attention to his grammar. (Set phrase)
The Compound Verbal Predicate consists of two parts. They are called
The semi-auxiliary part and the notional part.
The notional part names an action or a process and it’s mostly expressed by an infinitive
or a gerund.
The semi-auxiliary part expresses different grammatical categories (tense, mood, aspect
etc.)
Care should be taken that the compound verbal predicate is never used in its pure type.
It’s always used in one of its variants.
Depending on the nature of the semi-auxiliary part we differentiate the following types of
the compound verbal predicate:
REAL TYPES
In this predicate the semi-auxiliary part is expressed by a modal verb or by a word phrase
of modal semantics.
try,
intend,
have to,
to be to,
to be about,
to be going to,
had better,
would rather,
can’t help but,
on the point of ,
mean,
to be eager,
be able,
be anxious,
be capable.)
In this predicate the semi-auxiliary part is expressed by a verb of aspective semantics i.e.
by a verb denoting the beginning, continuation or end of some action.
begin,
continue,
go on,
stop,
finish,
cease,
start,
carry on,
commence,
set about,
keep,
proceed,
give up,
leave off)
It can also be expressed by the verbs used to or would which express a repeated action in
the past.
!!!! There is a special type of the compound aspective predicate in which the notional part
is expressed by a participle 1, while the semi-auxiliary part is expressed by a verb of
motion which loses its lexical meaning.
The compound nominal predicate denotes a certain state or quality of the subject, it’s a
qualifying predicate.
The compound nominal predicate consists of two parts the link-verb and the predicative.
The predicative names a state or a property. It serves to characterize the subject.
It can be expressed by a word of any notional part of speech or by a phrase or a clause.
1. Being (be, feel, look, smell, taste) (sound funny, burn dim, suck dry,)
2. Becoming (become, grow, get, turn) (to be called Bob, to be left alone,)
!!! Care should be taken that the verb to be is mostly used as a link-verb but it can also be
used as a notional verb denoting existence. In such cases the verb to be is a simple verbal
predicate.
E.g. There is a chair near the door.
The house was in the back street.
Unlike the compound verbal predicate the compound nominal predicate can be used in its
pure type. But like the compound verbal predicate it can have some variants.
E.g. The moon was pale when it rose —> The moon rose pale.
The difference between the double predicate and the compound nominal predicate is that
the link-verb loses its lexical meaning while in the double predicate the 1st component is
always meaningful(i.e. it’s translated)