The compound verbal predicate of double orientation

The compound verbal predicate of double orientation consists of two parts. The first part is a finite verb which denotes the attitude to, evaluation of, or comment on, the content of the sentence expressed by the speaker or somebody not mentioned in the sentence. The second part denotes the action which is (was/will be) performed by the person/non-person expressed by the subject.

The Gadfly seemed to have taken a dislike to her ———>It seemed (to the people) that the Gadfly had taken a dislike to her.

Philip Bosinney was known to be a young man without fortune ———> They knew that Philip Bosinney was a young man without fortune.

In this case we see different orientation of the actions which are regarded from two points of view: that of the speaker and that of the person (or non-person) expressed by the subject.

In a number of cases semantically this type of predicate has much in common with the compound verbal modal predicate, as in: You can’t have misunderstood me, but formally these predicates are different, because in the compound verbal modal predicate the first component is a modal verb, whereas in the compound predicate of double orientation it is a verborphrase expressing attitude, evaluation, or comment. They belong to one of the following verb groups:

1. Intransitive verbs ofseeming orhappening with the general meaning of evaluation in the active voice: to seem, to appear, to prove, to turn out, to happen, to chance.

He seemed to understand everything I said. Money just doesn’t happen to interest me. No one appears to have noticed his escape.

2. Some verbs in the passive voice:

a) Verbs of saying: to say, to declare, to state, to report, to rumour.

This country is said to be rich in oil. The rocket is reported to have started its night at 6.30.

b) Verbs of mental activity: to believe, to consider, to expect, to find, to know, to mean, to presume, to regard, to suppose, to think, to understand.

Mr. Sharp was always expected to say he preferred cold meat.

He has never been known to lose his temper before.

c) Verbs of perception: to feel, to hear, to see, to watch.

My dog was heard to bark in the yard. The lady was seen to leave the house.

3. Phrases with some modal meaning: to be (un) likely, to be sure, to be certain.

The adjectives likely, unlikely, sure and certain indicate the speaker's attitude to the future:

The weather is not likely to change. This event is certain to produce a sensation.

George is sure to see Mary. (Sure indicates the attitude of the speaker, it is the speaker rather than George who is sure)

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The compound verbal modal predicate	\|	WAYS OF EXPRESSING THE PREDICATIVE

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