The present and the past participles may sometimes present difficulties for inexperienced translators when these verbals are used as part of the compound verbal predicate or in participial (secondary predication) constructions.
Thus, the compound verbal predicate with the component present participle is usually transformed in Ukrainian into the simple verbal predicate expressed by a perfective verb. For example:
He stopped, and took me up, ³
and the light came tumbling down , the steps on me too... (Saroyan) .
When used as part of a compound nominal predicate, the participle with its linking verb is transformed in Ukrainian into a simple
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perfective verbal predicate or becomes a compound nominal predicate:
The trade fair was closed last week. (F.News) .
This predicate in Ukrainian may also be compound nominal (like in English): / / . Difficulties may present, however, some secondary predication constructions with the present and past participle which have to be treated/analysed separately.
A. Ways of Translating the Objective with the Participle Constructions/Complexes
Like the objective with the infinitive complexes, the secondary predication constructions with the present or past participle are used with the verbs of physical and mental perception, as well as with the verb to have. The participial construction thus formed has the function of the complex object and may be translated in different ways, the choice of which is predetermined by some factors like in case of the functionally corresponding infinitival complexes. The main of them are as follows:
1) the lexical meaning of the participle;
2) the lexical meaning of the verb (for example, of physical perception) with which the participle is used;
3) the availability of the lexico-syntactic means in Ukrainian to convey the peculiar content and structural peculiarity of these secondary predication constructions.
Taking into account the above-named factors, the objective with the present participle constructions may be faithfully translated into Ukrainian in one of the following ways:
1. With the help of the object subordinate clause introduced
by the conjunction or by the adverbial connectors , :
...he heard her moving about... ,
the room. (W.Jacobs) .
listened to his uncle talk- ³ ,
ing to him... (Hemingway) / .
2. With the help of the adverbial subordinate clauses of time,
purpose, manner, etc., which testifies to the existence of functional
discrepancies in the two languages at the level of syntactic structure, function, and content. For example:
/ had seen him last Septem-
ber coming across the square ,
towards the bar of the Continen-
tal... (Greene) ...
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took pains not to send them ,
(stones) tumbling down the slope, -
(S. Veil) .
3. On rarer occasions a faithful translation of the objective with
the present participle construction may be achieved either with the
help of an object subordinate clause or with the help of a semantically
equivalent substantival word-group:
/ heard someone weeping. , /
(G.Green) .
Then I heard Pvle whispering:
Thomas, Thomas. (Ibid.) / : -
, .
found the prices declining ³ /
in summer. (Int. Her. Tribune) .
4. With the help of the finite form of the verb, i.e., with the help
of the simple verbal predicate:
I can see vou marrying after , , ',
a drink too many. (Greene) .
Some objective with the present participle construction may be translated with the help of two object subordinate clauses, as in the following sentence:
He didn't care that they saw him crying. (Hemingway)
, 1) , 2) .
The objective with the past participle constructions having actually almost the same N/I/Ven (noun/pronoun+past participle)structural pattern as the previously analysed complexes are characterized by a stronger predicative motivation and meaning. This is because these complexes are used to express the state of an object/person, the meaning of someone's experience in something, one's witness or that something is made/done for the benefit of someone other. As a result, some ways of translation of the objective with the past participle constructions sometimes differ from those employed for the translation of the objective with the present participle or the objective with the infinitive constructions. The main of these ways coincide, however, and are the following:
1. With the help of an object subordinate clause:
/ heard his name mentioned , / '
in the crowd. (Saroyan) .
2. This objective with the participle construction may also be
translated with the help of a noun in the metaphorical paraphrase:
' . One should not be misled by the compound nominal predicate which is not the N(l,Q)Ven complex but a simple verbal predicate in Ukrainian:
She grew more and more
alarmed by the intrusion. (O'Dell) / .
The N(I,Q)V n complex may also be translated into Ukrainian as a predicative to The noun being the subject of the sentence as in the example below:
Some of the houses had their
windows broken. (Cheever) .
3. By transplanting the participial complex to Ukrainian sen
tences having here identical predicative constructions:
When I returned I found the ,
fence broken and the house door ,
opened. (O'Dell) .
Note. Care should be taken as not to confuse attributive constructions of the V/I/V.ng pattern with those of the V/I/Ven pattern. The former are translated in two ways:
1) either with the help of a subordinate clause (when the noun
is followed by the present participle):
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He looked at his father listen- ³ ,
ing with a kind of painful despera-
tion. (Cronin) .
2) or with the help of an identical attributive construction (in
which the noun is equally followed by the past participle):
He had seen towns destroyed ³ ,
by bombing. (Cheever) .
. Ways of Translating the Subjective with the Participle Constructions
The subjective with the participle (or the nominative with the participle constructions, as they are traditionally called) are trans-
lated into Ukrainian much like the above-treated subjective with the infinitive secondary predication constructions. There is, however, some difference between the action expressed by the NV.n( pattern constructions and the action expressed by the subjective with the participle N/I/V.ng pattern construction. The latter also in Ukrainian expresses an action in process. For example:
He was heard to sing. , .
was heard singing. , / .
English simple sentences with the subjective present participle constructions/complexes are mostly transformed in Ukrainian into a complex sentence introduced by the one-member indefinite-personal principal clause or by the infinitive performing the same syntactic function. The introductory indefinite personal/principal clauses and infinitives are / ; ; , ; , /, .
This kind of transformations have to be performed when the present participle in the secondary predication construction is used with the verbs of saying/reporting or with the verbs of physical or mental perceptions (to see, to hear, to know, etc.). The principal clause then (the single verb indefinite personal sentence) is followed by an object subordinate clause:
He had been seen... press- ,...
ing his warm lips to the marble
brow of an antique statue,
(. Wilde) .
They were heard talking to- ,
gether. Maitlaud beside him, fan- , ,
ning him with a copy of the Light, ,
(Cronin) .
Deputy Prime Minister Vasyl , -
Rohovyi is reported as saying the '- . -I.M.F. will delay its resumption of , , , loans under a $2.6 billion loan program until March. (Kyiv Post)
2,6
.
The subjective with the past participle constructions, which are
used in English with the verbs to appear, to seem, to have etc., do
not require considerable structural transformations in the process of
translation into Ukrainian. Their meaning is usually conveyed by means
of the same simple sentences as in English, with the past participle turned into the predicate verb:
He had his eyes fixed always ³
on the future. (London) .
This sentence, accordingly, may also be translated word-for-word: ³ ./ .
Ruth Morse seemed furtherPvm . , -
removed than ever. (Ibid.) , -
.
The last sentence can be translated with the help of a complex sentence as well, with the verb seemed turned into the introductory principal clause: , , -.
It should be pointed out in conclusion that there are some constructions with the past participle in English which may erroneously be taken for the nominative absolute participial complexes, which in reality they are not. These constructions have also a past participle for their syntactic head and may occupy an initial, middle or final position in the sentence:
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Taken hostage, the French -
Red Cross officials fell in the -
hands of a Maskhadov rival group -
in Chechnya. (The Guardian)
.
Participial constructions of the kind are often formed from intransitive verbs:
Arrived at this point, we halted. ,
(S. Leacock) / .
The nature and meaning of the kind of participial construction is more transparent, when it follows the noun and occupies a concluding position, as in the following sentence:
He spoke with rare affection ³ '
of his sister Jean, now married ,
and comfortably settled in ,
castle. (Cronin) .
Nothing in common with the NAPC have also constructions with the concluding past participle as in He had his haircut, she had her photo taken, which are translated with the help of finite forms of the verb (predicate): ³ , .
Certainly the most confusing for inexperienced translators are participial constructions with the grammaticalized past participles given, taken, granted etc. which are translated into Ukrainian with the help of diyepryslivnyks, diyepryslivnyk constructions or even via prepositional noun phrases. Cf.:
| Taken together, the results of the reaction proved the existence of some touch in the solution. Given the present financial situation in South Korea, no other move from the IMF could be expected. (Fin.News) |
ϳ/ .
/ ϳ , .
