The complex subject

(The Subjective with the Infinitive Construction. The Nominative with the Infinitive.)

The complex consists of a noun in the common case or a pronoun in the nominative caseand any of the six forms of the infinitive. The complex is considered to be the subject of the sentence. Its Russian equivalent is in most cases a subordinate clause.

* She was seen to leave the house.

Видели, как (что) она выходила из дома.

Ее видели, когда она выходила из дома.

seen

is heard

smb was expected to do smth

will be told to be done

ordered

asked

allowed

The Russian equivalent is: кого - то видели..., кому - то позволили...

* The rider was seen to disappear in the distance.

* She was expected to be back any minute.

considered to do smth

is known to be done

smb was supposed to be doing

will be believed to have done

reported to have been done

said to have been doing

The Russian equivalent is: считали, что...; полагали, что...

* He was thought to be clever and kind.

* She is supposed to have been taken to hospital.

sure to do smth

is certain to be doing smth

smb was bound to be done

will be (not) likely to have done smth

to have been doing smth

to have been done

The Russian equivalent is: конечно, обязательно, вряд ли, непременно...

* He is sure to marry her.

* The old man wasn`t likely to have made a mistake.

* The film is bound to be remembered.

seems, seemed, will seem to do smth

appears, appeared, will appear to be done

smb happens, happened, will happen to be doing smth

------ proved, will prove to have done smth

------ turned out, will turn out to have been doing smth

The Russian equivalents are: seem, appear - казаться

happen - случаться

prove, turned out - оказаться

* They seemed to have quite forgotten him already.

* The experiment proved to be a failure.

NOTE: The negative statement is formed by adding the negation to the predicate and not to the infinitive.

* He doesn`t seem to know it.

THE FOR - PHRASE

The for - phrase consists of three elements: the preposition for, a noun in the common case or a pronoun in the objective case and an infinitive. The for - phrase has different syntactical functions in the sentence.

The Subject

hard

easy

it is good for smb to do smth

was bad for smb to be doing smth

will be important for smth to be done

impossible

not

* It will be best for her to go back home.

* It`s silly for you to be asking me questions.

* It`s not for me to say so.

nice