II. Monotransitive verbs

THE PREDICATE

VERB COMPLEMENTATION

The predicate is the verbal component of a sentence or clause which expresses a state, an action, or an event.

The predicate may consist simply of a verb as in Tom disappeared or of a verb followed by one or more complements, that is words or phrases added to a verb to complete the predicate, without which sentences would be incomplete as in All the men wore [dark suits], or have a different meaning as in They found the test [difficult].

I. Intransitive verbs (непереходные)

Intransitive verbs denote actions and events which involve only one person or thing – the performer of the action.

1. Pure intransitive verbs: appear, fade, rise, rain.

e.g. It is raining. The sun rose.

Many intransitives express behaviour which is involuntary: blush, faint, smile, scream.

e.g. He screamed, she fainted.

!!! Verbs of position such as be, belong, hang, lie, live, remain, sit, stand, stay and verbs of movement such as come, creep, flow, go, run, stroll, travel, walk require a complement (an obligatory adverbial) denoting place, direction or time.

e.g. I used to live here.

He strolled towards the bar.

2. Ergative verbs. These verbs can be used transitively, followed by the object, or intransitively, without the original performer being mentioned. The object of the transitive verb, which is the subject of the intransitive verb, usually refers to a thing, not a person.

e.g. I opened the door.

Suddenly the door opened.

There are a number of ergative verbs which relate to food and cooking: bake, boil, cook, fry.

e.g. The porridge is boiling.

A small number of ergative verbs have an obligatory adverbial of manner. These verb are: clean, freeze, polish, sell, wash.

e.g. Wool washes well.

II. MONOTRANSITIVE VERBS

Monotransitive verbs describe events which in addition to the subject involve someone or something else. These verbs take one object (a direct object or a prepositional object).

e.g. Children seek independence.

How can you account for his mistake?

There are a small number of verbs which are usually intransitive, but can be transitive when used with one particular object, a cognate object. The object is directly related to the verb.

e.g. to dance a dance, to die a death, to dream a dream, to laugh a laugh, to live a life

He smiled a patient smile.

A transitive verb may be followed by a complement, which, unlike objects, cannot become the Subject in a passive structure. The complement can be an infinitive or gerundial phrase, an infinitive, gerundial or participial complex, or a clause.

e.g. He doesn’t enjoy dancing.

He wants to stay.

He asked what I meant.

The verbs which take complex objects are called complex transitive verbs.

e.g. She saw them enter the shop.

I can smell something burning.

We found the house deserted.

Delexical verbs. These are verbs which are used with nouns to indicate that someone performs an action, often a brief one. The noun is often used in the singular and is usually preceded by the indefinite article. These verbs have little meaning when they are used in this way. The most common delexical verbs are: give, have, make, take.

Delexical structures are very common in English. Although the total number of delexical verbs is small, they include some of the commonest words in the language. Delexical structures contribute to the impression of fluency in English given by a foreign user.

In most cases only one delexical verb is used with a particular noun.

The verb have is followed by:

belief chat

dance fall

grumble need

quarrel respect

sleep talk

The verb take is followed by:

chance decision interest

photo picture risk

care offence blame

office power responsibility

shape time trouble

There are a number of nouns which can be used after either have or take. Have is more common with these nouns in British English, whereas take is more common in American English. These nouns refer to physical activities or to actions which involve using our senses.

bath break drink

holiday job rest

run shower swim

bite look sip

smell sniff taste

The verb give is followed by nouns which often refer to verbal or facial reactions or speech actions:

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