What is Predicate (grammar)?
The '''predicate''' in traditional [[grammar]] is the second part of a [[clause]] or [[sentence]], the first being the [[subject (grammar)|subject]].<ref>A good introduction is: Crystal, David 1995. ''The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language''. Cambridge University Press, p220. {{ISBN|0-521-40179-8}}</ref> A predicate completes an idea about the subject, such as what it does or what it is like.<ref>Allerton D. 1979. ''Essentials of grammatical theory''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.</ref><ref>Huddleston, R. 1988. ''English grammar: an outline''. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.</ref> ::She '''dances'''. <small>- verb-only predicate</small> ::Ben '''reads the book'''. <small>- verb + direct object predicate</small> ::Ben's mother, Felicity, '''gave me a present'''. <small>- verb + indirect object + direct object predicate</small> ::She '''listened to the radio'''. <small>- verb + prepositional object predicate</small> ::They '''elected him president'''. <small>- verb + object + predicative noun predicate</small> ::She '''met him in the park'''. <small>- verb + object + adjunct predicate</small> ::She '''is in the park'''. <small>- verb + predicative prepositional phrase predicate</small> The predicate provides information about the subject. ::[[File:Predicate tree 1.png|Predicate tree 1]] The subject NP is shown in green, and the predicate VP in blue. There is a quite different theory of sentence structure, called [[dependency grammar|dependency structure]] grammar. This puts the [[finite verb]] (= conjugated verb) as the root of all sentence structure. It rejects the binary NP-VP division. == References == {{reflist}} {{Syntax}} [[Category:Grammar]]