Subject and Predicates

In our history class today we learned about Benjamin Franklin. (Benjamin Franklin is the subject that they were learning about.)

He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and he wanted the turkey to be the bird of the new country.

These two highlighted sections are predicates as they are telling us something about the subject, i.e., Benjamin Franklin.

Predicate Nominative: A predicate nominative is a noun or a pronoun that follows a linking verb to further describe or rename the subject in a sentence. A linking verb does not express an action but, rather, connects the subject to additional information in the sentence about the subject. For example, if you were to say “Mr. Smith is the Principal,” the verb “is” is a linking verb because it connects Mr. Smith with being the Principal.

Now, in order to find the predicate nominative, you need to locate the noun that comes after the linking verb. In the sentence above, the noun that comes after the linking verb is “Principal.”

Predicate Adjective: A predicate adjective is simply an adjective that modifies the subject of a sentence. Again, a linking verb needs to be used. Here is an example: “The roses are red.” “The roses” are the subject of the sentence and “red” is the adjective as it describes the rose. However, as the word “red” comes after a linking verb, in this case “are”, it is a predicate adjective.