Predicate and ways of expressing it. Predicate Predicate in English examples

From the Russian language we know that the predicate is one of the main members of the sentence, which expresses the action of the subject. The predicate is part of the grammatical basis of the sentence. All this is true in English. And, just like in the Russian language, the English sentence has a compound predicate or Compound Predicate.

Since we have already looked at the predicate in general on our website, today we will talk specifically about Compound Predicate, that is, about the compound predicate. Why is it so necessary to get acquainted with Compound Predicate, know it and use it in speech? What is a compound predicate, what is its design and structure? We will try to answer these questions in this article. In any case, using a compound predicate in speech will make it richer and more complex.

If you want to thoroughly study the compound predicate in an English sentence, then you are in the right place by opening this article. So, let's begin!

Features of Compound Predicate in an English sentence

In English, a compound predicate is not just a compound, but a compound nominal, that is, Compound Nominal Predicate. Its structure is as follows: linking verb to be in personal form + predicative (nominal part). The predicate denotes the attribute of the subject, and the linking verb connects the subject with the predicate (nominal part) and expresses person, number, mood and tense.

Unlike Russian, in English the verb to be is never omitted. Let's compare:

• Susan is so beautiful in this dress. —Susanlike thisbeautifulVthisdress.
• Are you busy this evening? —Are you busy this evening?
• Thomas is sick and tired of all these problems. — Thomastiredfromeveryonetheseproblems.
• We are ready to go to the cinema with you. - WereadygoVmovieWithyou.
• Michael is very intelligent. - MichaelVerysmart.

But not only the verb to be can act as a linking verb. The following verbs can also be linking verbs:

• To seem - to seem
• To look - to seem, to look
• To appear - to seem, to appear
• To feel - to feel

For example:

• Alexseemedveryexcited. — Alex seemed very excited.
• Youlookverywell! -You look very good.
• Itappearsverystrange. - This seems very strange.
• Howdoyoufeeltoday? - How are you feeling today?
• Thechildlookstiredafterphysicalexercises. — The child looks tired after exercise.

In addition, the linking verbs can be the verbs to get, to become, to turn, to grow in the meaning “to become, to be done.” Eg:

• Amanda turned pale suddenly. — Amandaall of a suddenturned pale.
• My elder sister will become a teacher. - Myoldersisterwill becometeacher.
• Michael got angry with me. — Michael was angry with me.
• Hegrewold. — He has become older (aged).
• Alexbecomesmoreandmoreirritable. — Alex is becoming more and more irritable.

Also, the following linking verbs:

• To remain - to remain
• To keep - store, continue
• To continue - continue
• To begin - to begin
• To start - start
• To finish - finish
• To stop - finish, stop (Xia)
• To cease - to stop
• To go on - continue

For example:

• PaulandMarykepttalking. — Paul and Mary continued talking.
• Everybody in the room remained silent. - AllToroomkeptsilence.
• Start writing the dictation, please. - Startwritedictation, Please.
• Suddenly they stopped chatting. - All of a suddenTheystoppedchat.
• They began working in the early morning. - Theystartedworkearlyin the morning.
• Continue reading, please. - Continue reading, please.
• Stoptalking,please! - Stop chatting, please!
• Icannotceaseadmiringmymother “I can’t stop admiring my mom.”
• Goonwritingplease. - Continue writing, please.
• We finished discussing at two o'clock. — We finished the discussion at two o'clock.

Now, dear readers, let’s move on to the predicate, that is, to the nominal part of the compound predicate.

How is a predicate expressed in a compound predicate?

The predicate or nominal part in Compound Predicate is expressed by the following words or groups of words:

By a noun in the general or possessive case, with or without a preposition:

• This is my brother Alex. Heisapupil - This is my brother Alex. He's a student.
• Is it your pencil? No, it is not mine, it is Michael’s. - Thisis yourspencil? No, it's not mine, it's Michael's.
• My parents are in good health. - MyparentsVgoodgood health.
• It is my book. - Thismybook.
• It is Nick's cat. - ThiscatNika.

Can be expressed by a participle or an adjective:

• Willyoubebusytonight? — Will you be busy tonight?
• Thisgirlisbeautiful. - This girl is beautiful.
• We are glad to see you. - Wegladyousee.
• I am happy. - I'm happy.
• Theseconditionsarebeneficialforoursituation. — These conditions are favorable for our situation.

Sometimes expressed by a pronoun in the common or objective case, which replaces a noun. Or a possessive pronoun in absolute form:

• It is him. - ThisHe.
• Thatissomething! - This is already something!
• Whosewatchisthis?It is mine. — WhoseThiswatch? These are my.
• Who is there? It is me. - Whothere? It's me.
• This is your pencil and that is mine. - Thisis yourspencil, AThat- my.

Can be ordinal or cardinal:

• They came only ten. - Theirit's arrivedTotalten.
• Alex was the first to come. — Alex was the first to come.
• We are twenty-five in our classroom. - UstwentyfiveVourclass.
• Thomas is the third in the group. — Thomas- thirdVgroup.
• We were just two. - There were only two of us.

Can be expressed by an infinitive or an infinitive phrase:

• Our discussion was to start at once. — Ourdiscussionstartedstraightaway.
• It is up to my mother to decide. - Thisdecidemymom.
• I want to help my children. - IWanthelpminechildren.
• We desire to see you every day. - We want to see you every day.
• Our conversation was to finish suddenly. - Ourtalksuddenlyended.

It can be a participle (gerund):

• My hobby is collecting books. - Myhobby— collectingbooks.
• I hate smoking. - II hatesmoking.
• Myfatherhatesconsumingalcohol. — My father hates drinking alcohol.
• His favorite occupation is reading books. - Hisfavoriteclass- readingbooks.
• Mybesttimeisbeingwithmyparentsandfriends. — My favorite pastime is being with my parents and friends.

Can be expressed as a complex with a gerund or infinitive:

• My parents are against my entering the college this autumn. - MyparentsagainstmyreceiptsVcollegethisin autumn.
• We do not accept going to the cinema tonight. — We don’t agree to go to the cinema tonight.
• Ichoosestayingathometoday. — I choose to stay at home today.
• Amanda prefers reading at the library. — AmandaprefersreadingVlibrary.
• I want listening to the music. - IWantlistenmusic.

And finally, it can be expressed by an adverb.

The main members of the proposal ( main parts of the sentence), both in Russian and in English, are the subject and the predicate. This is the second article devoted to another main member of the sentence - the predicate ( the Predicate). You can find more detailed information about the subject in the article “”, posted on the blog in the “” section. If you have already studied it, let’s move on to studying the predicate in English. This main member of a sentence denotes the action, state, and quality of an object or person expressed by the subject of this sentence. As we can see, the subject and predicate are completely related to each other and dependent on each other, and, as a rule, when analyzing the structure of a sentence, they should be studied together.

Two types of predicate in English

In English there are two types of predicate: verbal ( the Verbal Predicate) and nominal ( the Nominal Predicate). The verb predicate determines the action and is expressed by the verb in personal form (tense, and can be any).

He arrived early in the morning.

We are working at the moment.

This woman studies English.

My mother and I have been living here for some years already.

John will move to another city.

All sentences presented contain a simple verbal predicate ( the Simple Verbal Predicate). But this predicate can also be complex ( the Compound Verbal Predicate). We can talk about a complex modal ( the Modal Verbal Predicate) and complex phase predicate ( the Aspect Verbal Predicate). The first consists of and the infinitive of the verb without to(exceptions include modal verbs ought to, to be to, to have to):

She can run fast.

We have to stop working.

My mother ought to be more polite to other people.

Jackie should join their group.

Tourists must respect traditions of foreign countries.

Phase predicate in English is a predicate consisting of certain verbs that denote the beginning, continuation, end of an action, and an infinitive or gerund. Here are some phase verbs: to start, to begin(both – start), to go on(continue), to finish, to stop, to cease(all three – finish, stop).

His friend began to study foreign languages.

She started crying.

We went on strolling down the street.

A stranger finished introducing himself.

Now let's move on to the second type of predicate in English, namely, the nominal one. This predicate denotes states, qualities, characteristics of an object or person, that is, it cannot denote an action. A nominal predicate always consists of a verb - a connective ( link verb) and the nominal part ( the predicative). There are a lot of connective verbs, we will list only the main ones:

Verbs of being:

• be(be)
• look(to look like)
• feel(feel)
• taste(taste)
• sound(sound, seem)
• smell(smell)

Verbs of becoming:

• grow(grow)
• get(to achieve, to become)
• become(become)
• turn(become)
• prove(turn out)

Quality preservation verbs:

• remain(stay)
• keep(save)
• continue(continue)

Verbs of "appearance":

• seem(seem)
• appear(appear, appear)

By using linking verbs in speech, we make our speech more rich and emotional. For example:

He is upset. - He is sad.

He looks, feels, seems upset. – He looks sad, he feels sad, he seems sad.

As for the nominal part of the predicate in English, it can be expressed by the name

Hello, today we’ll talk about how to correctly agree the subject and predicate in a number. Yes, usually this does not raise any questions, since we can clearly distinguish whether the subject is singular or plural by the characteristic ending S (ES) and even know a few cases when .

However, there are times when all this does not help. It is precisely such cases that we will talk about today. However, before you start, I recommend that you remember. These are two related topics, so don't be lazy.

Agreement of uncountable nouns.

The first point of our rule will be to consider the case when the subject is expressed by an uncountable noun.

Let us dwell only on those moments that may cause difficulties.

The following nouns in English (unlike Russian) agree with a singular verb:

His research is progressing very well. – His research is going very well.

His advice is really useful. – His advice(s) are/are very helpful.

Some uncountable nouns externally coincide with the plural form, i.e. they end in “-s”, but the predicate verb must be used in the singular.

Separately, I would like to draw your attention to the word news. In English, the word news is used only in the singular.

Some special cases within the framework of this rule need to be analyzed further:

STATISTICS - is or are?

The word statistics, denoting the academic subject “statistics”, agrees with the verb in singular. However, in the second meaning - “statistical data” - it requires the use of a verb after itself in plural.

Compare:

Statistics was also my worst subject (statistics = statistics as a subject).

Statistics are able to prove anything you want them to (statistics = statistical data).

POLITICS – is or are?

The word politics, denoting an academic subject or field of activity - “politics / political science”, agrees with the singular verb.

However, in the second meaning - “political views” - it requires the use of a plural verb after itself:

Politics is popular at the university (politics = political science).

Her politics are bordering on the extremist (politics = political views).

ECONOMICS - is or are?

The word economics, denoting the academic subject - “economics”, agrees with the singular verb. However, in the meaning of “economic calculations” it requires the use of a plural verb after itself.

Economics has only recently been recognized as a scientific study (economics = economics).

The economics behind their policies are unreasonable (economics = economic calculations).

Agreement rules when a phrase is used as the subject.

There are 4 points to remember here.

PARAGRAPH 1.

If the subject is expressed by the name of books, newspapers, magazines, etc., even including a plural noun (i.e. ending in “-s”), the predicate verb must be used in the singular:

The Los Angeles Times is on the desk.

Gulliver's Travels is a well-known children’s book.

POINT 2

When a phrase is used as the subject, meaning period of time, amount of money or distance, then the predicate verb must be used in the singular:

Forty-five dollars is too much for this skirt. (amount of money)

Five hundred miles is too long to drive in one day. (distance)

Ten minutes was not enough to translate this text. (period of time)

POINT 3

The subject, which contains the following prepositions, is combined with the first noun.

The girl together with her parents was waiting in the room.

The parents together with their girl were waiting in the room.

The principal as well as the teachers has already left

The new manager accompanied by his wifeis arriving today.

PARAGRAPH 4

In the emphatic construction of the form

it is (was) he/they/the children who/that...

The predicate verb agrees with the pronoun it, regardless of the number of the following noun or pronoun:

It was the children who made that mess.

It was he who started that quarrel.

It is these questions that are difficult.

Agreement of subjects expressed by pronouns.

Let's look at those cases when pronouns act as subjects.

In phrases forming a subject group, after pronouns all (of), any (of), half (of), most (of), some (of), none (of) Both countable and uncountable nouns can be used. The choice of the form of the predicate verb depends on the characteristics of this noun:

• After uncountable nouns, a singular verb is used
• After a plural noun, a plural verb is used

None of the information was made public

None of the answers are correct

Most of the information was made public

Most of the answers are correct

Note. After any of, each of, either of, neither of, none of in combination with a plural noun (or pronoun), a predicate verb can be used in both singular and plural:

I don’t think any of them knows/know where the money is hidden.

None of the TV programs is/are worth watching tonight.

The subject expressed by homogeneous members of the sentence and its agreement with the predicate.

These cases are especially difficult, so pay special attention to them.

If the subject contains two or more words connected by conjunctions and, both... and(both..., and), the predicate verb is used only in the plural:

John and Mary were absent from the lecture.

Both my sister and my brother are here.

However, if we agree similar nouns with the expression there is / there are– in this case, agreement occurs only with the first word:

There is a table and two chairs…

There are two chairs and a table…

Moreover, some stable combinations with the conjunction and are perceived as a single whole and therefore require the use of a singular verb after them:

• Fish and chips(dish) is very popular in Great Britain.
• Research and development (R&D)(industry) is the part of a business that tries to find ways to improve existing products or to develop new ones.

PAIR UNIONS

If the sentence uses paired conjunctions neither ... nor or either ... or, then agreement occurs with the last noun.

Neither the Prince ipal nor the lecturers were present

Neither the Chief Minister nor his colleagues have given any explanation.

Either you or John has to take the lead in this matter.

Matching phrases with the words majority/minority.

After the phrase a/the majority of+ plural noun (people, students, votes, books) (most people, students, votes, etc.) regardless of the article, a plural verb is required:

The majority of primary school teachers are women.

The majority of employees have a university degrees.

A large majority of people approve of the death sentence.

The phrase a/the minority of + plural noun (people, students, votes, books, etc.) is used similarly:

Only a tiny minority of people are causing the problem in the group.

NOTE! When used separately, the words majority and minority have a collective meaning. As a rule, they denote a group as a single whole and agree accordingly with a singular verb.

A majority has voted in favor of the proposal.

Most of the nation wants peace; only a minority wants the war to continue.

Coordination of phrases with fractional numbers or percentages

In phrases that include fractional numbers or interest, both countable and uncountable nouns can be used. This depends solely on the noun, and not on its quantity.

Fifty percent of the pollution in this river comes from industrial waste.

Ninety percent of the students are present at the lecture.

Nine tenths of the students are present at the lecture.

80 percent of the electorate is expected to vote,

The main parts of the sentence, both in Russian and in English, are the subject and the predicate. On our website, you and I, dear readers, have already talked about the subject. Today we will pay attention to the second main member of the sentence - the predicate.

This main member of a sentence in English (as well as in Russian) denotes an action, state, as well as the quality of an object or person expressed by the subject of a given sentence. As we see, the subject and predicate are completely related to each other in a sentence and are dependent on each other. This means that, as a rule, when analyzing sentence structure, they should be studied together.

There are four main types of predicate in English:

• simple verbal predicate;
• modal verb predicate;
• phrasal verb predicate;
• compound nominal predicate.

We will now engage in a detailed study of each of the four types of predicate.

What is a simple verb predicate?

A simple verbal predicate or The Simple Verbal Predicate is usually expressed by a semantic verb in a personal form, which can be a simple or complex form of any tense, mood and voice:

• They are going to the library today. —TheyTodayare comingVlibrary.
• Shall I change your books? —Changeyoubooks?
• Wait for me. I am coming — Waitme. II will come soon.
• Ann is not at home, she is — AnnaNoHouses, sheabsent.
• Iwant someice-cream. — I want some ice cream.
• We saw Green yesterday. — Yesterday we saw Mr. Green.
• Don't bother him; he is busy with writing an article. - Notbotherhis, Hebusywritingarticles.
• I listen to the music every day after work. - II'm listeningmusiceverydayafterwork.
• Themusiccalms me. — Music calms me down.
• My mother prefers tea without sugar. — My mother prefers tea without sugar.

A special type of simple verbal predicate is the predicate, which is expressed by the phrase there is in different tenses. In such sentences, the subject always follows the predicate:

• There is a fine park in ourvillage. -In our village there is a beautiful
  a park.
• There wasn't a supermarket in our street. -OnourstreetNotwassupermarket.
• There is a nice lawn in front of our block of flats. - BeforeourshomeThere isbeautifulflower bed.
  There were few students on the lessons yesterday. - Yesterdayonlectureswasfewstudents.
• There was fog outdoors and it was wet yesterday. - OnstreetwasfogAndwasdampyesterday.
• There are eighteen armchairs in the hall. - INhallThere iseighteenchairs.
• There were a lot of participants on the competition. - Oncompetitionwasa lot ofparticipants.

Modal verb predicate - what is it?

The modal verbal predicate The Modal Verbal Predicate consists of a modal verb (can, may, ought, must, should, need, be, have, have got) in the personal form and an infinitive (indefinite form of the verb) or its semantic verb stem.

The second part of the modal predicate can also be a combination of the infinitive of the linking verb to be, to look, to appear, to seem, to feel and others and the predicate. The modal predicate expresses a person’s attitude to an action or state (here the possibility, necessity, probability, desirability, etc. are expressed). Eg:

• Can you swim well? -Youcan you swim?
• He ought to be more polite. —Himshouldbemorepolite.
• It must be abouteight. —It's probably about ten now.
• My father can play chess very well. — My father knows how to play chess very well.
• Youshould drink thisvitaminjuice. — You should drink this vitamin juice.
• Children must not play with matches. — Children should not play with matches.
• He should be more courageous in that affair. “He should have been more courageous in that matter.”
• My mother can cook very tasty cakes. - MyMothercanprepareVerydeliciouspies(cakes).
• Theyneed to meet Mr.Anders. “They need to meet Mr. Anders.”
• Rogers may enter the room. - MisterRogersMaybeto come inVroom.

Phrase predicate - it's not difficult!

The phrasal predicate The Group Verb Predicate consists of a verb with a weakened meaning in the personal form (most often these are the verbs to have and to take) and a noun. This combination forms a single semantic and grammatical whole. This combination is often equivalent to a simple verbal predicate:

• I have dinner.— I I'm having lunch.
• They have a rest.— They resting.
• They rest.

A phrasal predicate, as a rule, denotes a short (one-time) action. The most commonly used combinations of this type are:

• tohavedinner (breakfast,supperlunch,teaasnack) - to have lunch (breakfast, dinner, lunch, drink tea, have a snack);
• to have a lesson (lessons) - to havelesson(lessons);
• to have a talk - talk;
• to have a look - take a look;
• to have a cold - freeze;
• to have a good time - goodconducttime;
• to have a rest - to rest;
• to have a bite -;
• to have a drink - to drink;
• to have a smoke - smoke;
• to have a quarrel - to quarrel;
• to have (take) a walk - take a walk;
• to take a bath - takebath;
• to take a seat - sit down;
• to take a tram (bus, etc.) - take a tram, bus;
• to take care - to take care;
• to pay a visit - givevisit;
• to pay attention - pay attention;
• to catch a cold - catch a cold.

Let's have a swim. — Let's swim.
Did you have a talk with him? — Have you talked to him?

Compound nominal predicate

The Compound Nominal Predicate consists of the linking verb to be in personal form and predicate (nominal part). The predicate in this case denotes any attribute of the subject, and the linking verb serves to connect the subject and the predicate and expresses person, number, mood and tense. Unlike Russian, in English the verb to be never goes down. Note:

• Our village is very beautiful. — Our village is very beautiful.
• Are they ready? — They are ready?

In addition to the verb to be, some other verbs can also be used as linking verbs:
Verbs to see, to look, to appear in the meaning of “appear, look” and the verb to feel meaning to feel:

• Yourcousin looks tired. — Your cousin looks tired.
• Theiraunt seemed very excited. — Their aunt seemed very worried.
• He feels— He feels great.

Verbs to get, to become, to turn, to grow meaning “to become”:

• Mucousin will become aprogrammer. — My cousin will become a programmer.
• She turned— She turned pale.

Verbs to remain, to keep, to continue, to begin, to start, to finish, to stop, to cease, to go on in the meaning of the beginning, continuation and completion of an action or state:

• Myparents kept talking. — My parents continued talking.
• Everybody in the room remained — Everyone in the room remained silent.
• Start workingrightnow,please. — Start working right now, please.
• He stopped chatting at once. — He stopped chatting instantly.

The subject (The Predicative) can be expressed by the following words and groups of words:

• a noun in general or (sometimes) in the possessive case without a preposition or with a preposition:

She is in good health. — Shequitehealthy.

• adjective or participle:

When will they be free tomorrow?— WhenTheywillfreeTomorrow?
This armchair is broken.- Thisarmchairbroken.

• a pronoun in the general or objective case that replaces a noun, or a possessive pronoun in absolute form:

It"s him. — ThisHe.
That"s something! — It's alreadysomething!
Whose book is this? — It's theirs.- Whose book is this? - Their.

• cardinal or ordinal number:

We were only three. — Uswasonlythree.
I was the first to come. - Icamefirst.

• infinitive or infinitive phrase:

Our plan was to start at once. —Weplannedbeginstraightaway.
It's up to you to decide.- Youdecide.

• gerund:

Myhobbyis collecting stamps. — My hobby is collecting postage stamps.

• adverb:

The lesson is over. — Lessonfinished.
Their time is up.- Theirtimeexpired.

• complex with an infinitive or gerund:

My parents are against my entering the college this autumn. - Myparentsagainst my receipts V college thisin autumn.

Agreeing the predicate with the subject in a sentence

The predicate agrees in person and number with the subject of the sentence:

• What are you doing? —WhatYouare you doing?

If the subject is expressed by an indefinite, negative or generalizing pronoun, then in this case the predicate is in the singular:

• Everybody knows — Everyone knows this.
• Either month is allright. - Any of these two months is suitable.

If the subject is expressed by a gerund or infinitive, then the predicate is singular:

• Meeting him was a pleasure. -It was nice to meet him.

If the subject is a collective noun, the predicate may be singular or plural, depending on whether the persons or things designated by the collective noun are considered as a whole, or whether individual persons (or things) are meant. , making up this whole:

• The crowdwas — The crowd couldn't do anything.

If the subject is expressed by a numeral or a noun, which denotes a measure of time, distance, weight, etc., with a definition expressed by a numeral, then the predicate can be singular or plural, depending on whether this quantity is considered as one whole or we mean the constituent parts of this whole:

• 6 cm of aluminum are required to stop all beta rays. - Requires 6 centimeters of aluminum,to stop all beta particles.

If two homogeneous subjects, which are expressed by nouns or pronouns, are connected by the conjunctions and or both... and, then in this case the predicate is in the plural:

• The Earth and other planets move around the Sun. — The Earth and other planets move around the Sun.

The predicate in English (The predicate) denotes the action or state of objects, persons, actions by which it is expressed. This member of the sentence answers the following questions: What is done with the subject? What does the subject do? What is it? What is it like? Let's consider the features of the formation of the predicate, its main forms, and also give examples for a better understanding of the topic.

The predicate is divided into several specific types. It happens:

• simple,
• composite.

If we talk about compound predicates, they are divided into two types:

1. compound nominal,
2. compound verb.

The first is formed in the following way => linking verb + nominal part.

Method of forming the second => modal verb + infinitive

This is only the basic diagram, but it is important to remember that in a compound nominal predicate the linking verb is expressed to be in different forms, but... the words to look, to seem, to turn, to get, to become, etc. can act as connectives. concerns the nominal part, it can be a gerund, participle, numeral, infinitive, pronoun, adverb, adjective, noun.

In a compound verbal predicate, must, may, can, ought etc are used as modal verbs. Moreover, please note that a compound verbal predicate can also be a construction that consists of some verbs + an infinitive or a gerund.

Simple predicates

They are expressed by verbs in personal form, and they can be in any mood, voice and tense:

She wears a uniform => She wears a uniform.

He looks at the window => He looks out the window.

Mary is cooking her favorite cookies => Mary is making her favorite homemade cookies.

Note! A predicate in English can be either one word or consist of several words. In the latter case, we will use auxiliary and semantic verbs. Predicates can be expressed by verbs in any voices and modified forms (the table clearly shows this):

On a note! Simple predicates also include those that are expressed by phrasal verbs and stable combinations, which in general form one integral concept, in other words - a phraseological expression =>

She pays no attention to his remarks => She doesn't pay attention to his remarks.

The grandparents take care of their little grandchildren => Grandparents take care of their little grandchildren.

Compound nominal predicate

As we have already said, it consists of a linking verb and a nominal part. Speaking of a linking verb, in most cases it will be the verb to be, which can be in any person and time => is/are/were/was/am…

On a note! Unlike the Russian language, in English the verb to be is not omitted in the present tense.

As for the nominal part, it serves to express the main semantic meaning of the predicate. In this case, the nominal part characterizes the subject => what it is, what it is, what it is, or who.

On a note! By nominal part of speech we mean any part of speech except interjection and conjunction. In addition, the nominal part can be expressed as a subordinate clause.

Sentences in which the nominal part is represented =>

1. Pronoun

The cake is yours=> The cake is yours.

It is him=> This is him.

1. Noun

He was a gardener=> He was a gardener.

She is the brightest student=> She is the smartest (smartest) student.

1. Pronoun or noun with preposition

My parents are strongly against it=> My parents are completely against this.

Her grandmother was in despair=> Her grandmother was in despair.

1. Numeral

She is twenty-five=> She is 25 years old.

This young girl is seventeen=> This young girl is 17 years old.

1. Adjective

The sky is blue=> The sky is blue.

The paper is yellow=> The paper is yellow.

The cake is delicious=> The cake is amazingly delicious.

1. Adverb

My close friends are far away=> My close friends are very far away.

The theory was over so we began to practice => The theory is over, so we started to practice.

1. Infinitive

Her task was to help them to cope with everything => Her task was to help them cope with everything.

His ideology is to help everyone who is in need => his ideology is to help everyone who is in need.

1. Communion

The store is closed=> The store is closed.

The eggs are boiled=> The eggs are boiled.

1. Gerund

His most sincere wish was painting=> His most cherished desire was to draw.

Her greatest wish is cooking=> Her greatest desire is to cook.

Compound verb predicate

The formation scheme for such a predicate => combination modal verb+infinitive.

Modal verbs that are used in compound verb predicates:

• Need - necessary, necessary,
• Shall/should – expresses necessity, order,
• Must - necessary, necessary,
• May – be able, have the opportunity,
• Can – be able to, could,
• Ought (to) – should, must
• Will/would – expresses intention, desire, promise,
• To have (to) – must (strong form),
• To be (to) – must (in the form of an order).

After modal verbs there is a semantic verb, which is expressed by an infinitive without the particle to:

• I can write an article => I can write an article.
• You must start learning English => You must start learning English.
• She may not come today => She may not come today.

But!

• They are to start that project => They must start that project.
• I have to visit my relatives => I have to visit my relatives.

As you noticed, in the last two examples we use the to particle. But this is not an exception to the rule, but a feature of the formation of a modal verb, which contains the particle to (have to, be to, ought to).

A few more striking examples of compound verbal predicates in sentences:

• You should have followed their advice =>
• She may have seen that movie earlier => It is likely that she has already seen the movie earlier.
• A lot of things are to be done because of this statement => Because of this decree, a lot of things need to be done.

Pay attention to the verbs that are most often used with compound verb predicates:

to start, to begin, to go on, to stop, to continue, to finish.

A few examples:

• He began to do everything as you said => He began to do everything as you said.
• I have finished translating this => I have finished translating this.
• She stopped explaining everything => She stopped explaining everything.

Let's sum it up

The predicate in English plays an important role in constructing a sentence. Having learned to use them correctly in different forms, tenses and persons, you will learn to speak correctly, without errors and blunders. At the same time, pay attention to the agreement of subject and predicate in English.

From the examples given above, it is clear with what prepositions, particles and connectives the main members of the sentence are used and in what form, number and person they are best used. But... English grammar is rich in exceptions, which makes its study interesting. By studying the subject and predicate together, you increase the chances of developing a better understanding of the topic. And here grammar also helps you!

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