Locative constructions

E.g. They are in Moscow.

They are here.

A model for these sentences - to be + adverb(or a prepositional phrase)

Traditional point of view - an adverb or a prepositional phrase in such sentences function as predicatives and is considered together with to be CNP. To be is the only possible link here.

Other grammarians disagree. Смирницкий: the verb to be is not always devoid of lexical meaning. The lexical meaning of tobe depends on its syntactic environment.

E.g. He is here => the meaning of the verb tobe is very close to the meaning of the verb to stay.

The meeting is tonight => the meaning of tobe is totake place.

è To be + adverb = a special kind of predicate = an adverbial predicate

The principal parts of the s-ce.The predicate.Diff-t classifications of the predicate.

The pred. Is one of the two main parts of the sent. (1)meaning It denotes the action or property of the thing expressed by the subj. (2)syntactical relations in the sent. It is not dependent on any other part of the sent. (this statement requires some comment- sometimes it`s claimed that pred.agrees in number with subj.-subj.singular,pred.singular;subj.plural,pred.plural - but it`s doubtful in sent. like “My family were sitting in the kitchen” )

(3)its morphological realization Ways of expressing the pred. are varied and their structure will better be considered when discussing types of predicate

Usually pred. is a rheme of the sentence, it conveys new info about the subject, it is what is being discussed in the sentence. Indicates whether the subj is or is not viewed as the doer of the action denoted by the predicate(through its active oe passive form) Is the principle means of expressing predication, establishes relations b\n reality.

Categories of predication: tense, mood, person, number.

Pred.may be classified in 2 ways,one-based on their structure(simple&compound)

A Simple Pred.1)Verbal,2)Nominal B Compound Pred.1)Verbal,2)Nominal

the other- based on their morphological characteristics(verbal&nominal)

A Verbal Pred.1)Simple2)Compound B Nominal Pred1)Simple2)Compound

The ultimate result is of course the same in both cases

A simple pred is generally expressed by one word- a verb in its finite form – “The boy went there alone”(synthetic verb form), “We shall see him tomorrow”(analytical verb form)

A special kind of simple verbal pred.in English are those formed by multi-word verbs (to catch sight of=to see, to have a look = to look,to have adinner= to dine,to make use = to use,etc.)

The compound predicate is expressed by a group a interrelated components.In accordance with their principle component predicates may be subdivided into compound verbal&compound nominal.

Compound verbal predicate = modal/aspective verb +main part(expr.by a notional verd in the form of hte inf/gerund occasionally) “He can go home” He began working”

Also may be compound modal aspective “Why will you continue to write about this?” “We have to keep on hoping”

Compound nominal predicate(CNP) = link verb(link verbs of being-to be,to continue,to feel,etc;of becoming- to become,to grow,to turn,to get; of seeming(appearing – to seem,to look,to tasre,etc)+predicative(a single word – “He was happy”, a phrase-“He seemed quite happy”, a syntactic complex – “That is for me to decide” )

A special kind of CNP will be “double predicate”,a CNP where insted of the link verb ther`s a notional verb-it preserves its original lex.meaning&at the same time performs the function of a link – “He stood quiet near the window”=He stood near the window.He was quiet. The term double pred. was originally introduced and discussed by Смирницкий и Ильиш. Note:a special type of “double” when nothional verb is followed by an object ant the predicative part follows the object& refers to it semantically-all this is called compound nominal with an objective predicative “They elected him president for a second term”

Note: CNP may also be modal/aspective.In this case the link verb will be preceded by a modal or an aspective verb “Beginning to be smug already,are you ,Ian?” “He must be at least 20years younger than she is!” Occasionally we come across compound nominal aspective modal predicates(ахуеть!!!) “He must begin feeling better now”

The majority of predicates are used both in written and oral,double pred.and modal aspective – mainly in written English

(сл.какая-то хуйня, но может кому-то интересно)

Смирницкий: has its own classification of predicates. The existing class-n of pred-s disregards the meaning of the predicate. Pred-s should be cass-d into:1. pred-s, denoting processes( He arrived). 2. qualifying the sub. (He is old\ a doctor). 3. objective predicates ( The book consists of five chapters. He has many friends. He resembles his father) has\consist\resemble serve to express relations b\n the sub. and the obj. here. Their lex. Meaning is weakened. Besides chapters\ father\friends don`t qualify the sub. They`re objects with different reference. Such sent-s shouldn`t be mixed up with: He sings songs. He reads books. – here the words possess their lex. M-g to the full extend. 4. adverbial pred-s ( He is here in Moscow).