Ways of rendering the lexico-grammatical meanings and functions of the English infinitive

TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH VERBALS AND VERBAL CONSTRUCTIONS/COMPLEXES

Common English and Ukrainian non-finite forms of the verb, i.e., the infinitive and both participles, are characterized by identical functions in the sentence. Some of their lexico-grammatical mean­ings, however, are considerably broader in English than in Ukrainian and include the combined tense and aspect, or tense, aspect and voice forms of the infinitive as well as of the present participle derived respectively from the intransitive and from transitive verbs (cf. to live -to be living, to have lived; but: to do - to be done, to be doing; doing -being done, having been done, etc.)

To render faithfully some of these lexico-grammatical mean­ings (semes) of English verbal paradigms into Ukrainian is, naturally, not always possible. An exception make, however, the simple para­digms, which usually have semantic and structural equivalents in both languages. For example:

English Ukrainian

to ask - to be asked запитувати - бути запитаним,

working (Participle I) - працюючий, працюючи;

having worked (Perfect Participle) - попрацювавши, пропрацювавши.

Translation of English verbals depends not only on their struc­tural, i.e., paradigmatic forms but also on their nature. Thus, a special approach is needed to render into Ukrainian the complexity of mean­ings contained by some paradigms of the English gerund (or to render the meanings of the Ukrainian diyepryslivnyk into English).

Consequently, the ways of rendering the meanings of verbals are predetermined by some factors which include a) the structural form of the verbal and b) the function of the verbal in the sentence, where it may be either a single part of the sentence or a component of an extended complex part of the sentence.

And yet, despite the existing differences in their morphological

nature and lexical meaning, some verbals may perform the same func­tions in English sentences and in their corresponding Ukrainian syntaxemes. Hence, in order to translate them correctly, it is expedi­ent to contrast the functions and meanings of English and Ukrainian verbals in the corresponding sentences of these two languages.

Translation of the English infinitive is greatly predetermined by its form and sometimes by its function in the sentence. The infinitive functioning as a single part of the sentence, i.e., not being a component of a secondary predication complex, has usually corresponding equivalents in Ukrainian. The latter are a single infinitive or infinitival phrase when the infinitive functions as

1. The subject:

It was pretty nice to get back Було так приємно знову

to my room. /Salinger/ дістатися до своєї кімнати.

То get Irene out of London... «Вивезти Айріні за місто...

that was the thing. /Galsworthy/ - в цьому було все!»

There was no need to desribe He було жодної потреби

the Kelseys. (Christie) описувати родину Келсів.

2. The simple nominal predicate:

«A gentleman to strike а «Щоб чоловікові вдарити /

lady!» (B.Shaw) бити жінку!»

His son - descend to this! Його синові... так

(Norris) опуститись!

This function of the infinitive is often observed in Ukrainian liter­ary speech style, eg: Hi. He бути панам на Вкраїні! (Сосюра) Нам своє робить... (П.Тичина) Вже скоро бути бабиному літу. (Дмитерко)

3. Part of a compound modal or aspect predicate /or predicative:

No, you couldn't have called Hi, її не можна було назвати

her beautiful. (Mansfield) гарною.

"We are bound to win our next "Нашу наступну гру ми

game", their coach promised (The зобов'язані виграти "- пообіцяв

Jordain) тренер.

... the company began to mark...товариство заходилося/

the time. (LDurrel) розпочало відраховувати час.

Her next step was to sgeak to її наступним кроком було

Llewellyn. (Cronin) поговорити з Ллевеллином.

«You will ha ve to wait until you «Вам доведеться почекати.

hearfrom me again.» (Dreiser) доки я знову сповіщу про себе».

4. The Object (simple, extended or expanded):

Julia found it very pleasant to Джулії дуже подобалось

sjt then in the shade looking at тоді сидіти в затінку і

the river. (Maugham) дивитися на річку/воду.

She taught him to sit at a ta- Вона вчила його сидіти за

ble and not gut his elbows on it. столом і не класти на нього

(Ibid.) руки.

The infinitive has also its equivalents in Ukrainian when it is

used as a complement to an adjective or adjectivized past participle:

«I'm very glad to have seen you «я дуже радий, що

again...» (Cronin) зустрівся з вами знову/що

побачив вас знову...»

Very often the English infinitival object may have in Ukrainian an equivalent infinitival phrase introduced by the conjunction:

/ was too much disturbed to Я був аж надто стур-

go to bed. (C. P. Snow) бований, щоб іти спати.

5. An attribute (which is less often used in Ukrainian) as in the sen­
tence below:

«Can I give you anything to eat «Дати вам щось поїсти чи

or to drink?» (Lawrence) попити?»

He had a strong wish to win. Він мав бажання виграти.

Attributive infinitives can also be conveyed with the help of at­
tributive subordinate clauses: Ми склали список речей,
We made a list of things to be щоб узяти з собою/ які
taken... (Jerome) візьмемо з собою.

This same attributive syntaxeme may also be translated as які/що треба було взяти з собою.

Some English attributive syntaxemes can be conveyed in Ukrainian with the help of an attributive subordinate clause:

«... he wasn't a sort of boy to «... він був не з тих хлопців,

be moved from a purpose... Яких можна збити з
(Ibid.) пантелику.

Some English attributive infinitives may have apart from subor­dinate clauses or infinitival phrases/infinitives also prepositional nouns for their semantic equivalents in Ukrainian:

... there were instructions to... були дані інструкції до /

be carried out. (Cronin) dm виконання (які треба було

виконати).

Note. This function of the infinitive is often observed in Ukrain­ian colloquial speech: мати бажання поїсти/щось випити. Він мав надію ше зустрітися/виграти.

6. An adverbial modifier (usually of purpose, result or conse­quence) may be conveyed in Ukrainian with the help of an infinitival щоб-phrase, a prepositional noun or a noun word-group:

She wanted time to think ії їй треба було часу для

over. (Galsworthy) обдумування/иіоб обміркувати

це.
It was too dark to distinguish Було занадто темно, щоб

anything. (Lawrence) розрізнити що-небудь.

These were the main Ukrainian semantic equivalents for single English infinitives performing different functions in the sentence.

Exercise I. Prior to translating the English sentences be­low point out the function of the underlined infinitive and sug­gest a Ukrainian semantic equivalent for it.

1. Then she remembered about his own children; how most of them had been born but to sicken and die before they grew up. (Maugham)

2. «I hope you'll have enough to eat», said. Julia. (Ibid.) 3. You did it deliberately to separate us. (Ibid.) 4. In the creek there are birds to watch, and fish to catch, and streams to explore. (Maurier). 5. It was necessary to do something. (D.Lessing). 6. I have not had time to examine that room yet. (C.Doyle) 7. It must be a big thing to swing the telescope like that. (H. Wells) 8. Sometimes you retreat in order to advance. (Galsworthy) 9. I was too young to think such things at the time. (Ibid.). 10. His eyes were sharp enough to look after his own interest. (Ibid.) 11. George said we had better get the canvas up first. (Jerome K.Jerome) 12. He forgot to wind the watch when he went to

bed. (Ibid.). 13. We intended to camp in one of the inlets to be found round that tiny shore. (Ibid.) 14. «I think», he said, «that to prolong this discussion is to waste time.» (Galsworthy) 15. He felt that it was something to be connected with such a place, and he made her feel that way. (Dreiser) 16. It is useless to discuss this problem. (Cusack) 17. Soames put on his coat as not to be cold. (Galsworthy) 18. Katie surmised that something had gone wrong in school to upset Francie. (Mowat) 19. I crept back to my hut, to cast myself on my grass bed and sink into a dull, miserable, desponding stupor. (Ibid.) 20. Our job will be to investigate some of its properties. (M.Wilson) 21. I'm glad to meet you. (Dreiser) 22. She refused to answer him. (Lawrence) 23. Annie was now studying to be a teacher. (Lawrence) 24. It was sufficient to sit there to breathe, to look at the river and trees, simply to exist. (Braine)25.1 meant to have a talk to him. (Wells) 26. He was... too good a workman to be sacked and too outspoken about his Labour convictions to be promoted. (Braine) 27.1 told the driver the address to drive to. (Hemingway) 28. It was the automatic instinct to live. (London) 29. Anything was good enough so long as it paid - say, five dollars a week, to begin with. (Dreiser) 30. He was a fool to attempt to make a pretence that way. (London) 31. He was satisfied to turn his face away entirely, and any call to look back was irksome. (Dreiser).

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