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performed in Ukrainian usually by the combination of the cardinal
numeral with the noun or by the combination of two nouns, joined
either by a conjunction or the preposition "з". At this the cardinal
numeral is used in the form of the nominative predicate: їхало
двоє молодих хлопців.
In English the nominative case is pertaining only to
personal and some interrogative or relative pronouns. This
nominative case is more specialized than the corresponding form
of the noun in Ukrainian. It is gradually being eliminated from
the compound predicate. Compare: It's me instead of It's I and its
meaning is narrowed to the meaning of the subject function.
Subjectless sentences (apart from imperative sentences)
are practically not used in the English sentence. The peculiarity
of the English language is the existence of the formal subject
alongside the notional one. It is expressed by the word deprived
of its lexical meaning and is necessary only to form the sentence
from the structural point of view. The notional subject
(повнозначний підмет) always expresses a certain acting person
(or object) and is used in personal sentences. The formal subject
(формальний або службовий підмет) does not express any
acting person or object. It is always used in impersonal sentences.
In Ukrainian subjectless sentences are widely used.
Especially often the subject is missing in negative sentences
where the center of the construction becomes the word немає,
e.g.: Тут немає стола. Almost all Ukrainian subjectless
sentences correspond to English sentences with the subject.
r
Compare: Кажуть. Ihey say. Сутеніє. It is getting dark.
In English the formal subject it is widely used in sentences
with predicates that have the following meaning: 1) With the
simple or compound predicate: It was cold. 2) With the
compound predicate that has modal or evaluating meaning: It was
difficult. It was evident. Було важко. Було очевидно.

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