English Speaking

What is a predicate?

The predicate in a sentence is the section that informs the person what the subject is or what it is doing. It is a phrase that contains a verb. The verb is always in the predicate.

Let's look at the sentences we used in the subject lesson to identify the predicates. They will be underlined.

"I am hungry"

"My brother is very smart"

"That computer is very expensive"

"We are going to the store now"

"The building is very big"

In the above short sentences, we have identified the subject and predicate. In the most basic sentences, you need a subject and an action associated with the subject.

What is a verb?

A verb is an action, existence, or occurrence. In the simple sentences we used so far, the verb is mostly in the existence form. They are "am", "is", and "are".

Other types of verbs are action verbs such as:

Wash

Run

Walk

Throw

Jump

Dance

Laugh

Learn

Teach

There are many action verbs, but I only listed a few to let you know what I am referring to. Here are some sentences to help you understand.

"I need to wash my face"

"Jane taught Jill"

"Mike is laughing"

A verb can also start at the beginning of the sentence.

"Throw the ball at the catcher"

"Run towards the finish line"

It is important to understand the verb, but having just a subject and a verb is not sufficient. For example, "Jill run" is not a complete sentence. Although Jill can be the subject, and "run" is the verb, this is not a complete sentence. That is why the previous lesson on predicate is important. With the predicate, we can turn the sentence into a proper sentence. "Jill is running"