We have seen that there exist several syntactic ties within a sentence. Very peculiar is the secondary predicative tie. It is implicit, formally unexpressed. It is concealed in infinitival, gerundial, participial constructions, predicative constructions with nouns, adjectives, statives.
In a predicative construction we can distinguish a secondary subject and a secondary predicate. A secondary subject can be expressed by a noun in the common case, or a personal pronoun in the objective case (before an infinitive, a participle II, a gerund, a participle I, an adjective, a noun or a stative), a noun in the genitive case or a possessive pronoun ( before a gerund). A predicative construction functions usually as a complex subject, a complex predicative, a complex object, a complex attribute, a complex adverbial modifier, A simple sentence with any of these complex parts can be transformed into a complex sentence with a subordinate clause.
Predicative constructions with an infinitive are:
1.The Accusative (Objective) with the Infinitive construction (I saw him cross the street. I heard him sing. I want you to do it) which functions as a complex object.
2. The Nominative (Subjective) with the Infinitive construction (He was seen to cross the street). Some linguists believe it to function as a complex subject. There is an opinion, according to which “was seen to cross” is a predicate of double orientation.
3. The For-To-Infinitive construction (It is a book for you to read), which functions as a complex attribute, or a complex adverbial modifier.
4. The Nominative Absolute Infinitival construction (He was happy, with the wholeuniverse to improve), which functions as a complex adverbial modifier of cause.
Predicative constructions with a participle are:
1. The Accusative (Objective) with the Participle construction (I saw him running), which functions as a complex object.
2. The Nominative (Subjective) with the Participle construction (He was seen tobe crossing the street). ). Some linguists believe it to function as a complex subject. There is an opinion, according to which “was seen to be crossing” is a predicate of double orientation.
3. The Nominative Absolute Participial construction (with the preposition with or without it (The dishes done, children to bed, herbook read, she watches news on TV (a complex adverbial modifier of attendant circumstances).He entered the room, (with) his dog following him).
4. The Absolute Participial construction (Riding side by side, the night was beautiful). The subject of the action expressed by the participle is beyond the borders of this sentence. The construction functions as a complex adverbial modifier of attendant circumstances.
Predicative constructions with a gerund:
1.The wholly gerundial construction with a noun in the genitive case or a possessive pronoun (John’s having come late has amazed me). It functions here as a complex subject.2. The half-gerundial construction (I am amazed at John having come late). It functions as a complex prepositional object.
There are predicative constructions with nouns, adjectives and statives. They function as a complex object. They can be transformed into sub-clauses (I find him a genius (a secondary subject and a secondary predicate )=> I find that he is a genius ; I found the houseaflame(( a predicative construction with a stative) => I found that the house was aflame; I find him clever (a predicative construction with an adjective)=> I find that he is clever).