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: