Predicative Complexes with the Infinitive

The infinitive may have a ‘subject’ of its own. Compare:

I want to go there. (I is the ‘subject’ of the predicate want & the infinitive to go.) I want you to go there. (I is the subject of the predicate want, while you is the ‘subject’ of the infinitive to go.)

In this case the infinitive and its ‘subject’ form
a complex (you to go). The relation between them is predicative (the same as that between the subject and the predicate in the sentence). That’s why such complexes are called predicative complexes.

Predicative complexes are syntactic units consisting of a nominal element (a noun or a pronoun) and a non-finite form of the verb, where the verbal element is in predicative relation to the nominal element.

pred. relation pred. relation

I saw that he threw it away. I saw him throw it away. ↓ ↓;

finite form non-finite form (infinitive)

predicate of the sentence verbal element of the predicative complex

Predicative complexes usually correspond to Ukrainian subordinate clauses: Я бачила, що він його викинув.

A predicative complex could be easily transformed into a subordinate clause. In that case the nominal part of the complex becomes the subject of the sentence and the infinitive is used in the finite form.

e.g.: I believed him to be the best candidate. =

I believed that he was the best candidate.

Therefore,when you are trying to identify a predicative complex, make sure that ‘a noun or a pronoun + the infinitive’ could make the subject and the predicate of a subordinate clause. e.g.: I have some letters to write. ‘Letters to write’ is not a predicative complex. It can’t be transformed into a subordinate clause (‘letters’ is not the subject of the action ‘to write’ but its object). It’s a phrase with the head-word ‘letters’ and the infinitive as an attribute.

I have some letters (what kind of letters?) to write.

Be careful not to confuse a predicative complex with an infinitive phrase ‘the infinitive + a noun or pronoun’. Note that in predicative complexes the nominal element always comes before the infinitive and names the subject of the action. In infinitive phrases the nominal element, if there is one, comes after the infinitive and names the object of the action.

There’s nobody for me to help. ( predicative complex)

= Нема нікого, кому б я допомагала.

There’s nobody to help me. infinitive phrase (infinitive phrase)

= Нема нікого, хто б мені допоміг.