Is a predicate one word

This lesson helps us understand what a simple predicate is, what it can be, where it appears in a sentence, and how to identify it.

What is a Predicate in English?

A predicate in English is a word or a group of words (phrase) that gives information about the subject of the sentence. It either tells us what the subject does or what or how it is.

Subject = Ashish
Predicate = cries

Here, the predicate is just a word (verb). It tells us what the subject does.

Subject = Ashish
Predicate = is an English teacher

The predicate of this sentence gives information about the subject and tells us what it is; it basically gives it a name. The simple predicate here is the linking verb ‘is‘, and ‘is an English teacher’ is the complete predicate.

What is a Simple Predicate?

A simple predicate is a verb or a verb phrase (auxiliary verb + main verb) of a sentence. It does not include other parts of a complete predicate: object, complement, adjunct, and adverbial.

Mangesh loves pizza.

Subject = Mangesh
Simple predicate = loves
Complete predicate = loves pizza

Subject = you
Simple predicate = are
Complete predicate = are a stubborn person

I have been to many countries.

Subject = I
Simple predicate = have been (verb phrase)

We could have saved his life.

Subject = we
Simple predicate = could have saved (verb phrase)

Subject = The students
Simple predicate = have been told (verb phrase)

You can see from the above examples that a simple predicate is usually not enough to give complete information about the subject. The sentence is usually incomplete without the other parts (object/complement). All these sentences seem incomplete without the remaining parts, especially the object/complement. Let’s rewrite the first example without its object.

Does the sentence look complete? No, it does not. It raises the question ‘loves what?’. Let’s rewrite the second example without its complement.

You are.

This looks even more incomplete. You are what? So, we clearly understand that simple predicates are not enough to render a clear meaning in a sentence; we need a complete predicate for that.

The difference between a simple predicate and a complete predicate is that the former includes the main verb/verb phrase and the latter has everything leaving the subject.

How to identify a simple predicate in English?

Identifying a simple predicate is not a big challenge. The first step in order to identify a simple predicate is to identify the subject of the sentence. Once the subject is identified, see if it is followed by any modifier/adverbial. If there is no modifier after the subject, it would definitely have a main verb or a verb phrase, and that is your simple predicate.

Note that the subject can be a word, phrase, or clause. When it’s a clause, it will have its own predicate too. A sentence would have as many simple predicates as it would have a number of clauses.

What I am saying to you all is that we should have him in our team.

Breaking down the sentence gives us three parts: subject, verb, and subject complement. Notice that the subject and the complement are dependent clauses, meaning they would have their own simple predicates.

Simple predicate of the main clause = is (linking verb)
Simple predicate (What I am saying (subject)) = am saying
Simple predicate (that we should have him in our team (complement)) = should have

Some of us never learn from our mistakes.

The subject of the sentence is ‘some of us’. Notice that it does not have a verb right after it; it has an adverb after it: never. The simple predicate (main verb) comes after it.

This is a complex sentence. It has two clauses: dependent and independent. Both clauses have their own predicates.

Simple predicate (first clause = when she gets angry) = gets
Simple predicate (second clause = no one dares to talk with her) = dares

Simple Predicate in famous quotes

• Whoever is happy will make others happy too. -Anne Frank

(The sentence has two simple predicates: the predicate of the main clause (will make) and the predicate of the dependent clause (is). Notice that the dependent clause is the subject of the sentence: whoever is happy.)

• In the end, it is not the years in your life that count. It is the life in your years. -Abraham Lincoln

• You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. -Dr. Seuss

• You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. –Mae West

• In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: it goes on. -Robert Frost

• There are no secrets to success. It results from preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. –Colin Powell

More examples of simple predicates:

1. I am the best here.
2. He was working very hard.
3. The company’s goal is to expand its verticals to all the states in the next 12 months.
4. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you need to take a different route.
5. We, once in a while, like to do what scares us.
6. His elder sister Jane is planning to go to London next week.
7. You don’t want to make him angry. You would hate his version when he gets angry.
8. Going there alone at this time is probably not the right decision.
9. To be able to do what he did to a legend in Mike was simply mind-blowing.
10. Drinking this much would kill you.

Simple predicate in complex sentences

Every sentence has a predicate of some type. This is important for us to note that there can be multiple predicates in a sentence if the parts of the sentence are clauses. The subject itself can have a predicate if it is a clause. The part leaving the subject is your complete predicate and the main verb or the verb phrase is the simple predicate of the sentence. The parts of the complete predicate, if they are clauses, have their own predicates.

Let’s study this with some examples.

The sentence has three main parts: subject, main verb, and object. The simple predicate of the sentence is ‘inspired’ and the complete predicate is ‘inspired everyone who was there’. Notice that the subject is a clause and has a predicate, and the object has a clause in it too.

Subject (noun clause) = what I said at the meeting
Simple predicate = said
Complete predicate = said at the meeting

Object = everyone who was there
Adjective clause modifying the pronoun ‘everyone’ = who was there
Simple predicate of the adjective clause = was
Complete predicate of the adjective clause = was there

Monica told whom I am dating to meet her where she lives.

The sentence has a subject, main verb, direct object, indirect object, and adverb clause. The simple predicate of the sentence is the main verb ‘told’. The indirect direct is a noun clause, and the adverb is a clause too. So, it’s important to note that apart from the sentence having a predicate, these two clauses have their own predicates. The complete predicate of the sentence is ‘told whom I am dating to meet her where she lives’. It tells us what the subject did. The subject told someone to do something at a place.

Simple predicate of the main clause = told
Simple predicate of the noun clause (indirect object) = am dating
Simple predicate of the adverb clause = lives

Find out the simple predicate in the following sentences:

1. You are what you think you are.
2. His goals are way too unreal.
3. What he told me at the party changed my perception of dieting.
4. I will be there on time.
5. Some of us never get to achieve what we are capable of.
6. He had left before the start of the meeting.

Answers:

1. are (main clause), think, are (dependent clauses)
2. are
3. changed (MC), told (DC)
4. will be
5. get (MC), are (DC)
6. had left

NOTE: the FAQs are taken from the internet. They might have grammatical mistakes in them. Please ignore the mistakes you come across in the questions.

FAQs

In English grammar, a predicate is one of two main parts of a sentence or clause. (The other main part is the subject.) It is usually defined as a word group that comes after the subject to complete the meaning of the ​sentence or clause. The predicate is the portion of the sentence that contains the verb (or verb phrase); in very short, simple sentences, it might be only a verb.

The predicate tells what happened to the subject or what state it’s in. In the case of verbs that aren’t actions, those that describe states of being are called stative verbs. Examples include is or believe.

Sentences Vs. Clauses

A sentence cannot be complete (independent) unless it has both a subject and a predicate; otherwise, a group of words is just a phrase or a clause. For example, a complete sentence could be, «Go!» It has both a subject («you», understood, is the subject, as the sentence is in the imperative voice) and a verb («go»). A complete sentence could also be something like, «Could you please go there?» (subject: you; predicate: could go over there please).

But something like «after he heard the news» or «who was the fastest runner» aren’t full sentences—they’re dependent clauses. These groups of words each have a verb (predicate) and subject, but aren’t a complete thought. (Though posed as a question, Who was the fastest runner? is a complete thought.)

Types of Predicates

A predicate may be many words or just a single word: the verb. In this first example, the verb laughed is the predicate of the sentence:

• Felix laughed.

A predicate may be a word group made up of a main verb and any helping verbs. In the next example, will sing is the predicate. Notice that the helping verb (will) comes before the main verb (sing).

• Winnie will sing.

A predicate may also be a complete verb phrase—that is, the main verb and all the words related to that verb except the subject. (This construction is called the complete predicate.) In this last example, the predicate is the verb phrase is always greener on the other side:

• The grass is always greener on the other side.

Depending on how detailed you need to get with your analysis of a sentence and its parts, you can also label compound predicates. A predicate is compound if one subject has more than one verb associated with it, joined with a conjunction. In this example, the subject Sandy has two predicates joined by and. She prefers to run first and then eat breakfast afterward.

• Sandy prefers to run first and then eat breakfast afterward.

Notice that this sentence doesn’t have two independent clauses. There is just one subject for both verbs. The words that follow the conjunction (and) do not make up an independent clause. Thus, there is no comma placed before and. (This is a very common mistake in writing. Watch for it.)

Whether it’s just one word or many words, the predicate usually follows the subject and tells us something about it.

Finding the Predicate

Finding predicates isn’t difficult; it just takes some examination of the sentence. You just have to understand who is doing what. First, find the subject and then the verb (or verbs). Anything that isn’t the subject of the sentence is the predicate.

• After the long hike up the mountain, the tour group rested and took in the views.

The tour group is the subject, the verbs are rested and took in, and everything but the subject is the predicate. Even though the dependent clause comes at the start of the sentence, it still tells something about when the group rested, making it an adverbial phrase. It’s not the subject of the sentence and thus belongs in the predicate.

If you are asked to find the simple predicate, it’s just the verb or verb plus a helper. If you are asked to find the complete predicate, it consists of all the words besides the subject.

Examples of Predicates

In each of the following sentences, the predicate is in italics.

1. Time flies.
2. We will try.
3. The Johnsons have returned.
4. Bobo has never driven before.
5. We will try harder next time.
6. Hummingbirds sing with their tail feathers.
7. Pedro has not returned from the store.
8. My brother flew a helicopter in Iraq.
9. My mother took our dog to the vet for its shots.
10. Our school cafeteria always smelled like stale cheese and dirty socks.

A predicate is a group of words that complete a sentence. The subject names the person who performs the action. The predicate does the rest of the work.

A simple predicate consists of just one word – a verb. It may also consist of a verb string, or compound verb.

Study the examples given below.

The dog barked. (Here the predicate barked consists of just one word.)

The dogs have been barking. (Here the predicate consists of a verb string – have been barking.)

John took out his pen and started writing. (Here the predicate consists of a compound verb – took out his pen and started writing.)

As you can see, a compound predicate consists of two or more simple predicates.

A complete predicate consists of the verb and all accompanying modifiers.

The adjective that follows a linking verb usually tells us something about the subject.

Melissa is beautiful.

Here the predicate adjective beautiful says something about the noun.

His actions have been despicable.

The noun that follows a linking verb tells us what the subject is.

My sister is a doctor.

Exercise

Identify the subject and predicate in the following sentences.

1. My father works at a bank.

Subject ……………………………., Predicate ……………………………………….

2. The garbage smells bad.

Subject ……………………………., Predicate ……………………………………….

3. The glacier has been melting.

Subject ……………………………., Predicate ……………………………………….

4. He hit the ball with his head.

Subject ……………………………., Predicate ……………………………………….

5. Children rush about.

Subject ……………………………., Predicate ……………………………………….

Answers

1. Subject: my father; Predicate: works at a bank

2. Subject: the garbage; Predicate: smells bad

3. Subject: the glacier; Predicate: has been melting

4. Subject: hit; Predicate: hit the ball with his head

5. Subject: children; Predicate: rush about