ABSTRACT
Question: What is a predicate? Answer: The predicate is the part of the sentence that contains the verb
and everything that goes with the verb.
During grammar lessons in elementary school, hearing the word predicate would somehow numb my brain. I learned nothing after I heard that word, and neither teacher nor textbook ever gave a clear
definition of the term. If you are like I was way back then, you’ll appreciate a basic definition, taken from Chapter 1 of a book called Grammar: the predicate is the part of the sentence containing the verb (which can be a single word or include helping verbs) and everything that goes with the verb. In writing, the predicate is usually on the right side of the sentence. (The left side usually contains the subject.)
While subsequent chapters give a fuller explanation of subjects and verbs, and what “everything that goes with the verb” means, for now we can say that the subject of a sentence is the entity either doing something or standing in the spotlight, i.e. the focus of the sentence. The verb is the word conveying action or some state of being or feeling. The subject-predicate boundary is of major importance in grammar.
