ABSTRACT
A typical sentence in English and many other languages consists of a subject and a predicate saying something about whoever or whatever the subject refers to. In much the same way as word level heads take particular complements, so predicates combine with particular subjects. This chapter explains the relation between subjects and predicates. There are various ways in which subjects and predicates must agree. The chapter considers the variety of ways in which predicates constrain their subjects. It focuses on certain principles and parameters (P&P) ideas about subjects and predicates. It elaborates how subject-predicate structures can be handled within head-driven phrase structure grammar (HPSG), introducing the SUBJ feature. To utilize the SUBJ feature, we must ensure that a predicate has the same value for the feature as its head. There is no SUBJ daughter in a head-complement structure. Hence, head and mother will have the same value for the SUBJ feature.
