JS Tip 532: The Grammar Series, Part III

We promised a series on grammar. 

Last week, we talked about one of the two critical parts of a sentence: the subject. We identified the subject of a sentence as the word or words the sentence is about. 

“My friend Amy is a master carpenter.” Simple subject: “Amy.” Complete subject: “My friend Amy.” Yup. The sentence is about Amy (your friend Amy). 

This week, we’ll talk about the other of the two critical parts of the sentence: the predicate.

The predicate is what you’re saying about the subject.

What are you saying about Amy? That she’s a master carpenter. Bingo. “[I]s a master carpenter” is the predicate of the sentence.

Two Kinds of Predicates

“Information” predicates. You’re telling us something about the subject: “My friend Amy is a master carpenter.” What? She’s a master carpenter. That’s an information predicate. (Often called a “state of being” predicate.) There’s no action involved. It’s just information. 

“Action” predicates. You’re telling us what the subject is doing (or has done, or will do, whatever): “She built a beach house in San Diego.” That’s an action predicate. What did she do? She built a beach house in San Diego. 

Why is This Important? 

Identifying subjects and predicates is the critical skill in grammar. The decisions you make about sentence structure, word choice, and word order depend on the subjects and the predicates in your sentences.

Next week: We’ll talk about how sentence structure, word choice, and word order depend on the subjects and the predicates in your sentences. 

Oh, wow.