Traditionally the subject and the predicate are regarded as the principal parts of the sentence and attribute, object adverbial modifier and apposition as the secondary parts of the sentence. The opposition principal-secondary is justified by the difference in their function – the subject and the predicate make the predication and constitute the structural an semantic basis of the sentence, the secondary parts serve to expand it by being added to the words of predication in accordance with their combinability. The subject is grammatically independent of any other part of the sentence. The subject denotes the thing (in the widest sense of the word) characterized by the predicate as to its action, state or quality. The subject is the independent member of a two-member predication, containing the person component of predicativity. It can denote a living being, a lifeless thing or an idea.
The subject in English can be treated from different points of view and classified into different subgroups.
1.Grammatical classification of the subject. From the point of view of their grammatical value subjects can be divided into notional and formal. The notional subject denotes a person or non-person and is expressed by a noun in the common case, by a pronoun, by a numeral, by a substantivized adjective or participle, by an infinitive or an infinitive phrase, by a gerund or gerundial phrase, by any other word when it is substantivized, by a syntactical word-combination.
From the point of view of its structure the notional subject can be:
1. simple (expressed by a noun, pronoun, a substantivized adjective or prticiple, numeral, infinitive, gerund);
2. phrasal (expressed by a phrase: e.g. a lot of students, a number of books, a quarter of an hour, a score of eggs. none of them, most of the evening, none of her relatives, the middle of the room);
3. clausal (expressed by a whole clause: e.g. What she needs now is a good rest);
4. complex (expressed by an infinitival, gerundial or participial complex: Paper is said to have been invented in China).
In Modern English there are two main types of notional subject that stand in opposition to each other in terms of content. From the point of view of their content subjects can be classified into definite and indefinite. Definite subjects denote a concrete person, thing, process. Indefinite subjects denote:
a) an indefinite group of people;
b) any person;
c) people in general.
Such subjects have a vague and general meaning and are expressed by the pronouns you, we, they, one: 1. You must be careful while crossing the street. 2. One must do one’s duty with the sense of responsibility. 3. They say this film is worth seeing.
The formal subject is of two kinds: the subject it and the subject there. The formal subject expressed by “ it ” is found in two patterns of sentences: with impersonal “ it ” (an impersonal sentence where it does not indicate any person or thing and is purely a grammatical formal subject: 1. It’s winter. 2. It’s cold. 3. It is raining) and the formal subject “ it ” is anticipatory if it introduces the notional subject expressed by an infinitive or gerund: 1. It is interesting to learn English. 2. It is no use speaking about this incident now.
Sentences with the formal subject “ there ”, which introduces a notional subject, are called existential as they serve to assert or deny the existence of something. In such sentences the predicate verb is usually the verb to be; occasionally some other verbs are found, such as to live, to occur, to come etc., which, similarly to the verb to be, indicate “ to exist ” or have the meaning of “ to come into existence ”. Thus, the sentences of this kind have two subjects – the formal subject “ there ” and the notional subject which is expressed by a noun, pronoun, gerund: 1. There were many flowers in the garden. 2. There was nobody in the room. 3. There was no arguing that evening.
The predicate is the second principal part of the sentence which expresses an action, state or quality of a person or non-person denoted by the subject. It agrees with the subject in person and number and has a definite grammatical structure: 1) simple, that is, expressed by one word-form (synthetic or analytical) and 2) compound (expressed by more that one word-form of verbal or non-verbal nature). Thus, there are the following predicates in English:
1. The simple nominal predicate, expressed by a noun, an adjective or a verbal, shows the incompatibility of the idea expressed by the subject and the idea expressed by the predicate. As N.A. Kobrina points out, “there is an implied negation in the meaning of the simple nominal predicate”: 1. Peter, a lawyer! 2. My suggestions absurd! 3. He lying!
2. The simple verbal predicate expresses an action performed (active voice) or suffered (passive voice) by the subject, and it usually has synthetic or analytical forms: 1. He listens to the radio every day. 2. They will spend their holidays at the seaside. 3. This agreement was signed last week
3. The compound nominal predicate denotes a certain state or quality of the subject. It consists of a predicative, expressed by a noun, pronoun, numeral, adjective, adverb, infinitive, gerund or participle, and a link verb to be or to become, to grow, to turn, to remain, to keep, to look, to appear, to seem, to sound, to smell: 1. The weather was cold. 2. He grew red. 3. Peter remained silent. 4. The milk tastedsour. 5. Lena looked sad.
4. The compound verbal predicate consists of two parts: notional and semi-auxiliary. The notional part, expressed by an infinitive or gerund, denotes the action performed or suffered by the subject. The semi-auxiliary part comprises a modal verb or a finite verb which imparts by its lexical meaning a modal or aspective character to the action denoted by the infinitive or the gerund. The compound verbal predicate is of two types: the compound verbal aspective predicate (1. She began to write poems last year. 2. He kept asking her difficult questions) and the compound verbal modal predicate, which shows whether the action expressed by an infinitive is looked upon as possible, impossible, obligatory, necessary or desirable. It consists of a modal part and an infinitive and denotes the attitude of a person or non-person, expressed by the subject, to the action. The semi-auxiliary part is expressed by a modal verb (must, can, should etc.) or a modal expression (to be able, to be allowed, to be willing): 1. You must study well. 2. Lena can run quickly. 3. They were able to cope with a difficult task in time.
5. The double predicate presents the crossing of two predicates – the simple verbal predicate and the compound nominal predicate: He lived a coachman at Mrs. Reed’s place. Thus, in this sentence we have a double predicate which consists of a simple verbal predicate and a compound nominal predicate: He lived a coachman at Mrs. Reed’s place = He was a coachman when he lived at Mrs. Reed’s place.
The predicate always agrees with the subject in person and number – a singular noun-subject requires a singular verb-predicate, a plural noun-subject requires a plural verb-predicate.
III. Practical task
Task I. Point out the subject and say what it is expressed by. Translate the sentences into Ukrainian.
1. At that moment the postman, looking like a German army officer, came in with the mail. 2. The clock struck eight. There was no sign of any of the other guests. 3. Now there is something peculiarly intimate in sharing an umbrella. 4. Together we walked through the mud and slush. 5. Something impersonal and humble in that action seemed to reassure the Consul. 6. The sight of them, so intent and so quick, gave Berta a curious shiver. 7. Eight o’clock in the morning. Miss Ada Moss lay in a black iron bedstead, staring up in the ceiling. 8. Still, the good of mankind was worth working for. 9. Sometimes the past injects itself into the present with a peculiar force. 10. Forgetting some things is a difficult matter. 11. To cross from one end to the other was difficult because of the water.
Task II. Say where the predicate is simple and where it is compound (nominal or verbal).
1. Two young girls in red came by. 2. Demetrius came alive and pressed a flock of inquiries. 3. He tried to be both firm and friendly. I’ve felt dependent on him. 4. No one was here to meet Dick. He felt a twinge of disappointment. 5. He was vaguely aware of his father standing by the kitchen-range with his coat off. 6. The day of our wedding came. He was to call for me to choose the furniture. 7. Michelangelo remained silent. 8. I gave up the attempt and went upstairs to unpack. 9. I looked at the photograph above the mantelpiece and saw my own face for the first time. 10. Giovanni looked crestfallen. 11. He was beginning to sound really angry.
Task III. Point out the predicative and say what it is expressed by.
1. Annette was completely dazed. 2. Their highest concept of right conduct, in his case, was to get a job. 3. Sally, herself, was quite content for a while to enjoy becoming acquainted with her son, washing and feeding him, taking him for walks in the bush, singing him to sleep. 4. Your resemblance to your mother is very striking. 5. Their interests were hers as well as the interests of everybody. 6. Either course seemed unthinkable, without any connection with himself. 7. The best thing for you is to move in with me and let the young lady stay with your mother. 8. How do you feel physically? 9. Who are you? 10. The Irish are a philosophic as well as a practical race. Their first and strongest impulse is to make the best of a bad situation.
