Parts of the Sentence In a sentence we distinguish the principal parts, secondary parts and independent elements.

The principal parts of a sentence are the subject and the predicate. The secondary parts are the attribute, the object and the adverbial modifier. The principal parts

The subject is the principal part of a two-member sentence which is grammatically independent of the other parts of the sentence and on which the second principal part (the predicate) is grammatically dependent. The subject can denote a living being, a lifeless thing or an idea. The subject can be expressed by a single word or a group of words . Thus it can be
expressed by: 1. A noun in the common case (including substantivized adjectives and participles) or a nominal phrase with a noun. e.g. A great number of trees were felled. 2. A personal pronoun in the nominative case. e.g. I shall do the best I can. 3. Any other noun-pronouns. e.g. Who told you this? 4. A numeral (either cardinal or ordinal) or a nominal phrase with a nu meral. e.g. Seven cant be divided by two. 5. An infinitive or an infinitive phrase. e.g. To understand is to forgive. 6. A gerund or a gerundial phrase. e.g. Working for someone keeps a woman calm and contented. 7. An infinitive or a gerundial predicative complex. e.g. For her to fall asleep in broad daylight was not at all usual. 8. Any word or words used as quotations. e.g. And is a conjunction. 9. A clause, which makes the whole sentence a complex one. e.g. What girls of her sort want is a wedding ring. From the point of view of its grammatical value the subject may be either notional or formal. The notional subject denotes or (if expressed by a pronoun) points out a person or a non-person . e.g. I know all about it. To be a friend takes time. The formal subject neither denotes nor points out any person or non-person and is only a structural element of the sentence filling the position of the subject. Thus a formal subject functions only as a position-filler. In English there are two formal subjects: it and there. The formal subject expressed by it is found in two patterns of sentences: those with impersonal it and those with introductory it. The formal subject it is impersonal when it is used in sentences describing various states of nature, things in general, characteristics of the environment, or denoting time, distance, other measurements. e.g. Its spring. Its cold today. The formal subject it is introductory if it introduces the notional subject expressed by an infinitive, a gerund, an infinitive/ gerundial phrase, a predicative complex, or a clause. The sentence thus contains two subjects: the formal (introductory) subject it and the notional subject, which follows the predicate. e.g. Its impossible to deny this. It was no good coming there again. Sentences with the notional subject introduced by there express the existence or coming into existence of a person or non-person denoted by the subject. Such sentences may be called existential sentences or sentences of presentation. They are employed where the subject presents some new idea or the most important piece of information. The notional subject introduced by there may be expressed by a noun or a noun phrase, a pronoun, a gerund or gerundial phrase, or by a clause. e.g. There was silence for a moment. There were a lot of people in the street.

The predicate is the second principal part of the sentence which expresses an action, state, or quality of the person or thing denoted by
the subject. It is grammatically dependent upon the subject. As a rule the predicate contains a finite verb which may express tense, mood, voice, aspect, and sometimes person and number. According to the structure and the meaning of the predicate we distinguish two main types: the simple predicate and the compound predicate. The simple predicate is expressed by a finite verb in a simple or a compound tense form or a phraseological unit. The characteristic feature of the latter type (the phraseological predicate) is that the first component has lost its concrete meaning, consequently the noun cannot be treated as an object to the verb. We distinguish two types of the phraseological predicate: 1) word combinations consisting of a finite verb which has lost its concrete meaning and a noun formed from a verb and mostly used with the indefinite article: to have a smoke, to have a swim, to have a run. to give a laugh, to give a push, to take a look, to make a move, etc. e.g. Nurse Sharp gave him a look and walked out. 2) word combinations in which the second component is in most cases an abstract noun used without any article: to get rid, to get hold, to make use, to take care, to lose sight, to make fun, to pay attention, to make up ones mind, to change ones mind, to take part, etc. e.g. Are you taking part in the concert? The compound predicate consists of two parts 1) a finite verb and 2) some other part of speech: a noun, a pronoun, an adjective, a verb, etc. The compound predicate may be nominal or verbal.

^ The compound nominal predicate denotes the state or quality of the person or thing expressed by the subject. It consists of a link verb and a predicative (the latter is also called the nominal part of the predicate). The link verb expresses the verbal categories of person, number, tense, aspect, mood, sometimes voice. All link verbs have partly lost their original concrete meaning (the verb to be performs only a grammatical function). The most common of these link verbs are: to appear, to get, to grow, to continue, to feel, to keep, to look, to turn, to hold, to prove, to turn out, to loom, to rank, to remain, to run, to seem, to smell, to taste, to fall, to stand, to go, to work. e.g. This man is my father. The room looked snug and cheerful. There are some verbs which, though fully preserving their concrete meaning, perform the function of link verbs: they are used with a predicative and form a compound nominal predicate. Here belong: to lie, to sit, to die, to marry, to return, to leave, to come, to stand, to fall, to go, etc. e.g. She was left alone. The predicative is the significant part of the compound nominal predicate. It can be expressed in different ways: 1) By a noun in a common case or a noun in the possessive case. e.g. The face was Victorias. 2) By an adjective. e.g. It was difficult. 3) By a pronoun - personal, possessive, negative, interrogative, reflexive, indefinite, defining. e.g. Its me. 4) By a word of the category of state. e.g. I was wide awake by this time. 5) By a numeral, cardinal or ordinal. e.g. He was sixty last year. 6) By a prepositional phrase. e.g. She is on our side. 7) By an infinitive, infinitive phrase, or an infinitive construction. e.g. His first thought was to run away. 8) By a gerund, gerundial phrase or construction. e.g. My hobby is dancing. 9) By Participle II or very seldom Participle I: the latter is generally adjectivized. e.g. That sounded quite distressing. The objective predicative expresses the state or quality of the person or thing denoted by the object and is generally expressed by a noun, an adjective, a word denoting state, or a prepositional phrase. e.g. He painted the door green. The objective predicative doesnt form part of the predicate, in this case the predicate is simple. The compound verbal predicate can be divided into two types according to the meaning of the finite verb: 1) the compound verbal modal predicate, 2) the compound verbal aspect predicate. ^ The compound verbal modal predicate shows whether the action expressed by a non-finite form of the verb is considered as possible, impossible, obligatory, necessary, desirable, etc. The compound verbal modal predicate may consist of the following components: 1) A modal verb and an infinitive (can, may, must, should, would, ought, dare, need + Infinitive). e.g. You must forget it. 2) Modal expressions: to be + Infinitive, to have + Infinitive. e.g. He is to come at five. 3) A verb with a modal meaning and an infinitive or a gerund (to hope, to expect, to intend, to attempt, to try, to endeavour, to long, to wish, to want, to desire, etc. + Infinitive/ Gerund). e.g. He hoped to see them the next day. 4) Modal expressions and an infinitive. Here belong the combinations of such expressions as to be able, to be obliged, to be bound, to be willing, to be anxious, to be capable, to be going with an infinitive. e.g. Are you able to walk another two miles? 5) Verbs and expressions used in the predicate of sentences containing the Subjective Infinitive Construction (Nommative-with-the-Infinitive Construction). e.g. He is said to be looking for a new job. The compound verbal aspect predicate expresses the beginning, repetition, duration, or cessation of the action expressed by the non-finite form of the verb. It consists of such verbs as to begin, to start, to commence, to fall, to set about, to go on, to keep on, to proceed, to continue, to stop, to give up, to finish, to cease, to come and an infinitive or a gerund. Here also belong would and used + Infinitive, which denote a repeated action in the past. e.g. Andrew and he began to talk about the famous clinic. Mixed types of predicate are those in which we have elements of two types of predicates (compound nominal and compound verbal predicates). Such predicates contain three components. Thus we have: 1. The compound modal nominal predicate. e.g. We were anxious to cooperate. ^ 2. The compound aspect nominal predicate. e.g. He was beginning to look desperate. 3. The compound modal aspect predicate. e.g. You ought to stop doing that.