I put together this little post to describe what the predicate is in a sentence. It’s part of the essential toolkit of grammar knowledge I feel all kids should have. The following parts can be found here: the subject, the predicate, the simple sentence, the compound sentence, the complex sentence, sentence fragments, and run-on sentences.

All sentences have both a subject and a predicate. The subject refers to the who or what of a sentence, and the predicate refers to the action or description of the subject. Here are some examples with the predicates underlined and the verbs bolded.

Jaeyun finishes her homework before dinner.

What does Jaeyun usually do? Oh, she finishes her homework before dinner.

Sunsets on the beach are spectacular.

What are sunsets on the beach like? Spectacular!

The predicate includes the verb and the words that follow it. The predicate’s most important word is the verb. As I frequently tell my students, “No verb! No sentence!” (irony intended!)

Predicates are often longer than the subject but not always. The easiest way to spot them is to find the verb and then note the words after the verb. Sometimes an adverb can slip by when you’re looking for the verb, but because adverbs are not essential words ot meaning and the fact that they can generally go anywhere in a sentence, this is not a big problem. For example:

Anastasia carefully picked her way through the ruins.

Notice how carefully proceeds picked. The principle is the same, and kids can generally understand that when it’s pointed to them.

If a sentence is missing a predicate, or a verb, it’s called a sentence fragment. Unfortunately, with students unintended sentence fragments are all too common. But if you’ve trained your students on what a complete sentence is—at least one subject and predicate which is a complete thought—then you can just underline the sentence and write “SF”. It’s good for them to figure out how to fix it on their own.

The word predicate is not part of most peoples’ day-to-day vocabulary. However, it is an extremely useful bit of grammar knowledge for the classroom, and it can serve as a powerful shorthand for students and teachers when discussing writing.

Some teachers may prefer to just find the verb in the sentence, and that can work too. But then students might get confused about the rest of the words, not seeing clearly that the predicate is one of the two parts of a complete sentence. Look below the page break to see the majority of the sentences in this passage with their predicates underlined.

Also, if you want more practice identifying subjects and predicates Khan Academy has some nice exercises.

Finally, if you’re wondering why some sentences have two predicates, then you’re ready for a discussion of compound and complex sentences. But first, the simple sentence.

All sentences have both a subject and a predicate. The subject refers to the who or what of a sentence, and the predicate refers to the action or description of the subject. Here are some examples with the predicates underlined and the verbs bolded.

Jaeyun finishes her homework before dinner.

What does Jaeyun usually do? Oh, she finishes her homework before dinner.

Sunsets on the beach are spectacular.

What are sunsets on the beach like? Spectacular!

The predicate includes the verb and the words that follow it. The predicate’s most important word is the verb. As I frequently tell my students, “No verb! No sentence!” (irony intended!)

Predicates are often longer than the subject but not always. The easiest way to spot them is to find the verb and then note the words after the verb. Sometimes an adverb can slip by when you’re looking for the verb, but because adverbs are not essential words ot meaning and the fact that they can generally go anywhere in a sentence, this is not a big problem. For example:

Anastasia carefully picked her way through the ruins.

Notice how carefully proceeds picked. The principle is the same, and kids can generally understand that when it’s pointed to them.

If a sentence is missing a predicate, or a verb, it’s called a sentence fragment. Unfortunately with students, unintended sentence fragments are all too common. But if you’ve trained your students on what a complete sentence is—at least one subject and predicate which is a complete thought—then you can just underline the sentence and write “SF”. It’s good for them to figure out how to fix it on their own.

The word predicate is not part of most peoples’ day-to-day vocabulary. However, it is an extremely useful bit of grammar knowledge for the classroom, and it can serve as a powerful shorthand for students and teachers when discussing writing.

Some teachers may prefer to just find the verb in the sentence, and that can work too. But I find that students might get confused about the rest of the words, not seeing clearly that the predicate is one of the two parts of a complete sentence. Look below the page break to see the majority of the sentences in this passage with their predicates underlined. If you’re wondering why some sentences have two predicates, then you’re ready for a discussion of compound and complex sentences. But first, the simple sentence.