9/25/2018 Predicate | What Is a Predicate?

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What Is the Predicate of a
possessive
noun Sentence? (with Examples)
Test
The predicate is the part of a sentence (or clause)
that tells us what the subject does or is. To put it
another way, the predicate is everything that is not Your scorecard:
possessive
the subject.
personal
pronouns

possessive
Q1: Click on the one
pronouns
with the predicate
in bold:

A:
predicate Democracy
is the name
we give the
people
At the heart of the predicate is a verb. In addition
whenever
predicate to the verb, a predicate can contain direct objects,
we need
adjectives indirect objects, and various kinds of phrases.
them.
A sentence has two parts: the subject and the
predicate. The subject is what the sentence is
B: Youth
predicate about, and the predicate is a comment about the
would be an
nominative subject. ideal state if
it came a
little later in
Quick Video
 Previous Topic: possessive pronouns Next Topic: predicate
life. adjectives 

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pre x Here is a video summarizing this lesson on the

term "predicate":

Click for a printable vers

Examples of Predicates of
Sentences
Here are some examples of predicates. In each
example, the predicate of the sentence is shaded
and the verb in the predicate is in bold.

Elvis lives.
Adam lives in Bangor.
The telegram contained exciting news.
The girls in our of ce are experienced
instructors.
They are experienced instructors, who
acquired their experience in France.

Predicates in Clauses
A clause contains a subject and predicate too. The
examples below are all clauses not sentences. The
predicate is shaded and the verb of the clause is in
bold.

who lives with her mother

(The subject is the relative pronoun who.)
which was somewhat unexpected
(The subject is the relative pronoun
which.)
that points to the North Pole
(The subject is the relative pronoun that.)

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Predicates within Predicates

It is common for a clause to feature within a
sentence predicate. For example:

who lives with our mother

(This is a clause. It is has its own subject
and predicate.)
Jane is my youngest sister, who lives with
our mother.
(Notice how the clause who lives with our
mother (which has its own subject and
predicate) is part of the longer sentence
predicate.)

Predicate in a Sentence Starting

There
When a sentence starts "There" + [verb to be], the
word there is not the subject. It is part of the
predicate. Look at this example:

There is a guy who works down our chip

shop who swears he's Elvis.

The subject is a guy who works down our chip shop

who swears he's Elvis. Everything else is the
predicate. It helps if you write it like this:

A guy who works down our chip shop

who swears he's Elvis is there.

In structure, it is no different from this:

He is here.

See Also
What is a clause?
What is a subject?
What is a sentence?
What is a predicate adjective?
Glossary of grammatical terms
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