Predicate (grammar)

In traditional grammar, a predicate is one of the two main parts of a sentence, the other being the subject. The predicate is said to modify the subject. For the simple sentence "The apple is red," The apple acts as the subject, and is red acts as the predicate. The predicate is much like a verb phrase.

In linguistic semantics (notably truth-conditional semantics), a predicate is an expression that can be true of something; it expresses a relationship or property of an argument in a clause. Thus, the expressions "is yellow" or "is like broccoli" are true of those things that are yellow or like broccoli, respectively. This notion is closely related to the notion of a predicate in formal logic, which includes more expressions than the former one, such as nouns and some kinds of adjectives.

Predicate in traditional English grammar

A predicate is one of the two main parts of a sentence (the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies). The predicate must contain a verb, and the verb requires, permits, or precludes other sentence elements to complete the predicate. These elements are: objects (direct, indirect, prepositional), predicatives, adverbs:

She <u>dances</u>. (verb-only predicate)

Ben <u>reads 'the book.</u> (direct object)

Ben's mother, Felicity, <u>gave 'me a present.</u> (indirect object without a preposition)

She <u>listened 'to the...... ...
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