Subject Predicate Relationship

"Beth is." Can you tell what's wrong with this sentence? The issue is, that it's not really a sentence at all. This is because every complete sentence must contain two parts: a subject and a predicate, and, in this example, the predicate is incomplete In this explanation, we'll define subject and predicate, and explore how we use them to build grammatically complete sentences.

Subject-Predicate Relationship Definition

Complete sentences must contain a subject and its predicate, but what do those terms mean? Let's take a look at some definitions:

As we mentioned, predicates often contain objects. An object of a sentence is the person, animal, place, or thing on the receiving end of a verb. Let's break down the following sentence as an example: "Josh kicked the ball"

• The subject = Josh

• The verb = kicked

• The object = the ball

• The predicate = kicked the ball

Remember: not all sentences need an object, but they do need a predicate.

Notice how the verb 'are' agrees with the plural subject 'they'

Types of Predicates

There are three main types of predicates: simple, compound, and complete.

• Simple predicates - The verb or verb phrase in a predicate

• Complete predicates - When the predicate contains a verb and more, such as its modifiers or additional information

• Compound predicates - When a singular subject contains two or more predicates joined together by a conjunction.

Predicates and Verbs

It is possible to have sentences with a simple predicate only, i.e. just a subject and verb. In this case, the verb must be intransitive, meaning it makes sense without an object. For example, "The bird flies."

Other, longer, predicates contain transitive verbs with direct objects, e.g., "The girl ate the cookie." As well as intransitive verbs with modifiers.

Predicates can also serve different purposes in a sentence depending on the type of verb they contain. When the predicate contains an auxiliary (helping) verb, rather than an action verb, we get predicate adjectives and predicate nominatives.

• Predicate adjectives describe the subject, e.g., "She was beautiful."

• Predicate nominatives tell us what the subject is, e.g., "They are players in the soccer team."

Rules of Agreement: Subject and Predicate

When forming sentences, it is essential that the subject and the verb within the predicate 'agree'. This means:

Singular subjects (e.g., he, she, it, Beyonce) agree with singular verbs/verb forms. Singular verbs include the auxiliary verbs is, was, and has. As well as main verbs + -s, e.g., likes, walks, runs, and jumps.

Plural subjects (e.g., we, they, Beyonce and Jay Z) agree with plural verbs/verb forms. Plural verbs include the auxiliary verbs are, were, and have. As well as main verbs without an -s, e.g., like, walk, run, jump.

There are a few exceptions to these rules (of course!). The singular pronouns I and you are accompanied by plural main verbs.

For example,

• I sings = Incorrect

• I sing - Correct

• You is angry = Incorrect

• You are angry = Correct

When using the singular pronouns I and you with auxiliary verbs, the general rule remains the same, i.e., singular subjects agree with the singular verb form.

For example,

• I are happy = Incorrect

• I am happy = Correct

When using the 3rd person singular (i.e. talking about a singular other person), we use the auxiliary verb is.

For example,

• He are happy = Incorrect

• He is happy = Correct

Although she doesn't appear first in the sentence, the old woman is still the main subject

Subject-Predicate Examples

Now we know what predicates are, the different types, and how to use them successfully, let's look at some further examples and see if we can identify each part of the predicate.