THE PREDICATE

PREDICATE

SIMPLE COMPOUND

verbal nominal verbal nominal

Modal aspect

Simple verbal predicates

Predicates of this kind denote one action and may be expressed by:

1. synthetical forms of the verb (notional verbs with or without endings)

e.g. They never cook themselves

Mary cooks dinner every evening.

Mary cooked dinner yesterday.

1. analytical form of the verb (an auxiliary verb + a notional verb),

e.g. Mary is cooking dinner tonight. (is – an auxiliary verb; cooking is a notional verb)

Mary has been going out with Jake since April. (has been –auxiliary verbs; going out is a notional verb)

Yesterday she was invited to go out by Nick. (was – an auxiliary verb; invited – a notional verb)

1. phrasal verbs (e.g. to get up; to cut off; put on; to take off, etc.= a verb + post position)

e.g. She is going ou t tonight.

Jim never takes off his shoes when he comes home.

1. set expressions denoting short actions (e.g. to have a swim; to give a laugh, to make a move, etc.),

e.g. At the sight of the dog Sofia got frightened and gave a cry.

The expert took a look at the picture and said that it was a fake.

1. phraseological set expressions (to lose sight of, to take care of, to make fun of, to take part in, etc),

e.g. Bertha changed her mind about the trip to Liverpool.

Look through your papers and get rid of all you don’t need.