With the infinitive constructions

This predicative infinitival construction or complex, as it is often referred to in grammars, consists of the secondary subject, usually noun or pronoun, and secondary predicate expressed by the infinitive. The latter is mostly separated from the nominal part of the complex subject by the primary predicate: Mr. Chritchlow had never been known to be glad to see anybody. (Bennett) or: You are to live here for the next six months. (B.Shaw)

The secondary subject may often be expressed by the antici­patory pronoun it lt_was considered a virtue not to talk unnecessarily at sea. (Hemingway).

Translation of the infinitival complexes into Ukrainian depends on or is predetermined by some factors, the main of which are the following:

1) the lexical meaning of the verb or rather the semantic group to which the verb (after which the syntactic construction is used) belongs;

2) the voice form (active or passive) of the subjective (nomina­tive) infinitive;

3) the structure of the parts of the sentence and that of the sentence itself, which may be simple or composite;

4) the translator's choice of the means and language units conveying the meaning of the subjective with the infinitive construc­tions.

Thus, when used with the verbs expressing permission, request, intention, order, compulsion (to allow, to permit, to order, to command, to force, to make, to request, to intend, etc.), the subjective with the infinitive construction may be rendered in Ukrainian in the following ways:

a) with the help of an indefinite personal sentence;

b) with the help of an impersonal sentence having the passive verbal predicate in -ho, -to;

c) with the help of an object subordinate clause, for example:
A. The inmates were ordered not to try to leave their wards.

(USA Today)

1) В 'язням наказали не робити спроб залишати камери;

 

2) В 'язням було наказано/наказали не виходити з камер...

3) В 'язням наказали, щоб вони не робили спроб залишати камери.

B. The subjective with the infinitive construction used with the
verbs of physical perception (to feel, to hear, to see, to taste, etc.)
can be translated:

a) with the help of the one-member introductory indefinite per­sonal sentences followed by an object subordinate clause as in the following sentence:

He was seen the first to come. Бачили, що він прийшов

(D. Carter) першим.

A certain man was seen to reelБачили, що якийсь чоловік.

into Mr.Twain's hotel last night, заточуючись, ввалився вчора
(Mark Twain) ввечері в готельний номер

містера Твена.

Alongside the introductory definite personal sentence, some­
times the impersonal introductory sentence may be used in Ukrainian
to render the meaning of the nominative with the infinitive construc­
tion. Thus the sentence below can be translated in two ways:
The garden gate was heard to bang. (Lawrence)
1) Чули/було чути, як 2) Почулося, як у садку

хляпнула хвіртка в садок. хляпнула хвіртка.

Similarily in the sentence below where the Ukrainian reflexive verb performs the functions of the introductory/subject clause:

It was felt to be hopeless. Відчувалося. що це

(Galsworthy) безнадійно УВідчувалося. що з

цього нічого не буде.

This sentence may have in Ukrainian one more quite unex­pected condensed version of a two-member simple sentence: 1) Відчувалася безнадія. 2) Відчувалася якась безвихідь.

C. Similar ways of translation are employed when the subjective
with the infinitive complex/constrtuction is used with the verbs of mental
perception (to believe, to deny, to expect, to know, to suppose, etc.):

He is supposed to be working Вважають (вважається), що

in the sanatorium. (Cusack) він нібито працює в санаторії.

Irene was known to take very Знали, що Айріні приймає

sudden decisions. (Galsworthy) зовсім несподівані рішення

(здатна на несподівані рішення).

Depending on the context, the translator may suggest some other structural (and, naturally, semantic) versions for the last sen­tence. As for example:

Айріні знали як людину, що здатна на зовсім несподівані (непередбачені) рішення. Знали, що Айріні може приймати зовсім непередбачені рішення.

D. When used after the verbs of saying and reporting (to say, to report, to tell, etc.), the nominative with the infinitive complex is translated with the help of the introductory indefinite-personal sen­tence followed by an object subordinate clause. The choice of the form of this introductory clause is predetermined by the verb with which the subjective with the infinitive construction is used. Thus, the verb say, for example, can not have а -ся/-сь equivalent in Ukrainian, whereas the verb report can have both the :ся. form as well as the third person plural form introduced by the conjunction як.

Paper is said to have been invented in China. (Bennett)

Кажуть, що папір винайдений/винайдено в Китаї.

But: US Secretary of State is reported to have arrived in Ge­neva. (The Guardian)

1) Повідомляють, що державний секретар США прибув до Женеви.

2) Як повідомляють, державний секретар США прибув до Женеви.

3) Повідомляється, що державний секретар США прибув до Женеви.

Apart from the verbs of saying and reporting the verbs to ex­pect, to understand, and to see are used in oral and written mass media in the same functions. Their meaning may sometimes differ from their commonly known vocabulary meanings. For example:

Sax sales this year are ex- Очікується, що продаж

pected to blow past last year's платівок саксофонної музики
67000. (USA Today) цього року перевищить

торішню на 67000 (штук)

But: The rally was seen to beВиявилося (як виявилося),

much smaller than had been ex- мітинг зібрав менше людей,
pected. (The Guardian) ніж очікувалося.

The sentence can also be translated with the help of the imper­sonal -ся verbal clause introduced by the conjunction як: Як переконалися, мітинг зібрав менше людей, ніж спершу очікувалось.

 

The verb understand 'with which the subjective with the infini­tive construction is used, has a peculiar meaning - згідно наявних відомостей:

The trial is understood to beЗгідно наявних відомостей.

held next week. (The Guardian) суд відбудеться наступного

тижня.

Е. When used with the verbs to appear, to chance, to hap­pen, to prove, to seem, or with the mood phrases to be sure, to be certain, to be likely/unlikely the subjective with the infinitive con­structions may have different interpretations in Ukrainian. Thus, the verbs seem, believe, appear, etc, which function as simple verbal predicates in English are converted into parenthetic words or intro­ductory сь-1-ся impersonal/definite personal sentences (Вважається/ вважають, здається):

«Alice didn't seem to have Еліс, здавалося, не чула про

heard of me.» (Braine) мене./Здавалося, Еліс не чула

про мене.

She was believed to haveВважали/здається, вона

taken part in the first flight to Al- брала участь у першому по-
pha 73. (J. Christopher) льоті до Альфи 73.

Other contextual semantic variants of sentences with the predi­cate verbs to appear, to believe, to seem, etc. followed by the sec­ondary subject expressed by the subjective infinitive may be the ad­verb очевидно or the modal particle ніби/нібито:

He seemed to be thinking of Він, здавалося, думав про
something else. (Dreiser) щось зовсім Інше.

_ This sentence can also have some other equivalent in Ukrain­ian: Його думки, очевидно, були зайняті чимось іншим/Він ніби думав щось (про щось) зовсім інше.

Note. The structure of some English sentences containing the subjective with the infinitive constructions may undergo certain slight changes in Ukrainian translation:

Mrs. Cowperwood, in spite of Місіс Каупервуд, незва-

the differences in their years, ар- жаючи на різницю в роках,
peared to be a fit mate for him at виявилась для нього під цю
this time. (Dreiser) пору гідною партнеркою.

Sentences with the subjective with the infinitive constructions

may have predicates expressing the modal meanings of certainty, uncertainty, probability, etc. (to be sure, to seem, to be certain, to be likely/unlikely, etc). Such sentences are not transformed in Ukrain­ian translation, i.e., they maintain their simple structure, with the predi­cates turning into modal words/particles or adverbs (such as можливо, певне/напевне, навряд/чи/неможливо, обов'язково):

The fire is certain to produce Пожежа обов'язково зчи-

panic in the morning. (Dreiser) нить паніку взавтра вранці.

But he is sure to marry her. Але він обов'язково (певно-

(T.Hardy) таки) одружиться з нею.

Alice did not seem to have Еліс/Аліс, очевидно/зда-

heard me. (Braine) валося. не почула мене.

Ukrainian semantic equivalents for the modal words likely/un­likely 'followed by the subjective infinitive may also be clauses of modal meaning:

є можливість (існує ймовірність), не виключена мож­ливість:

«... we're unlikely to get eve- «■■■ навряд чи можна в одній

rything we want in one man.» людині поєднати все, що хо-
(Snow) чеш.»

She was likely to consumeІснує можливість, що вона

contaminated food or water in споживатиме в Мексицізабруд-
Мехісо. (Hailey) нені продукти чи питиме заб-

руднену воду.

The last English sentence and sentences like that having nominal predicates with implicit modal meanings of supposition, doubt, uncer­tainty, etc. followed by the subjective infinitive may have other lexico-semantic equivalents in Ukrainian to express their meaning. Among these are the modal phrases as цілком імовірно/цілком можливо, не виключена можливість, може бути/статися: Цілком імовірно/Цілком можливо, що вона буде споживати в Мексиці забруднені продукти чи питиме забруднену воду. Може статися. що вона в Мексиці споживатиме забруднені продукти.

The subjective with the infinitive constructions may be used with some other English verbs as will be seen in the exercise below. They may sometimes influence the choice of faithful Ukrainian equiva­lents for these English sentences as well.

 

Exercise IV. Suggest possible contextual equivalents for the subjective with the infinitive constructions below and trans­late the sentences into Ukrainian:

1. They were seen to just touch each other's hands, and look each at the other's left eye only. (Galsworthy) 2. «She wants, I'm sure, to be seen today.» (J.G.Griff in) 3. Paper is said to have been invented in China. 4. Her situation was considered very good. (Bennett) 5.... he was impelled to reestablish their lines of communication (Seghal) 6.... the injured teacher had an operation for a head wound and is said to be improving. (The Guardian) 7. She was not expected to reply, but she did. (Dreiser) 8. «They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to feel respect for their opinions...» (H.Lee) 9. The economic problems facing France are certain to have strong repercussions. (The Guardian) 10. They were told to get the children back to sleep. (H.Fast) 11.... the fetters that bound their tongues were considered to be locked and the key thrown away. (M.Twain) 12. He was thought to be honest and kindly. (Dreiser) 13. He was never expected to recover his equilibrium. 14. «You appear to be in poor shape, all the same.» 15. Her name appeared to be Millicent Pole. 16. I happen to know young Tasburgh who isn't with his ship. 17. «I just happened to drive up.» (Galsworthy) 18. Bob finds it impos­sible to keep pace with stroke, because stroke rows in such an ex­traordinary fashion. (Jerome K.Jerome) 19.... he seemed to be ask­ing what was the matter with me. (Snow) 20. «I seem to have prom­ised that I'd take you into my laboratory.» 21. «I seem to be getting over it a little.» (M.Wilson) 22. The tower seemed to rock in wind. (Lawrence) 23. For about ten days we seemed to have been living on nothing but cold meat, cake, and bread and jam. (Jerome K.Jerome) 24. The goods are reported to have been awaiting shipment for several days. (The Guardian) 25. The girl seemed to perceive that a question of taste was concerned. 26. He seemed to take rather a fancy to me.

27. She seemed, indeed, to have heard it before.

28. Some fellows seem to know everybody and exactly how to work
them. (Galsworthy) 29. The child is likely to face a first period of un­
certainty and bewilderment on being taken into care. (Schimmels)
30. Being subject to endorsement by the Cortes, the «reform» is likely
to be of little practical significance. (The Guardian) 31. The money is
unlikely to be repaid, unless there is a fundamental change in the
policies of the United Federation... 32. The latest cease fire agree­
ment between the worrying forces in Bosnia is unlikely to hold. (The
Guardian)