Do you know what a predicate is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on predicate, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!
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Kevin
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January 1, 2022
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What is a predicate?
According to Collins English Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, and the American Heritage Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, predicate is a grammatical part of a sentence or clause that is not the subject. It is the part of a sentence in which something is said about the subject. Predicate is three syllables – pred-i-cate, and the pronunciation of predicate is ˈprɛdɪkɪt. It is one of the two main constituents of a simple sentence, main constituents of a sentence, or major components of a sentence. There are different types of predicates, including a complete predicate in dependent clauses, predicate of a proposition, term of a categorial proposition, verb phrase, linking verb, compound predicate, categorial statement, deletion of a name, indirect-object, direct-object, independent clauses, the subject of a proposition and more in the main parts of a sentence. One can add the suffixes ing, ed, and tive to predicate.
Many different languages also contain words that mean predicate. You may notice that some of these translations of predicate look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that likely have the same root or language of origin, causing them to sound the same. The below list of translations of predicate is provided by Word Sense.
- Tagalog: panaguri
- Romanian: predicat (neut.)
- Esperanto: predikato
- German: Prädikat (neut.)
- Belarusian: выка́знік (masc.), прэдыка́т (masc.)
- Czech: přísudek (masc.)
- Spanish: predicado (masc.)
- Turkish: yüklem
- Icelandic: umsögn (fem.), umsagnarliður (masc.)
- Vietnamese: thuộc từ, vị ngữ
- Greek: κατηγόρημα (neut.)
- Mongolian: өгүүлэхүүн
- Armenian: ստորոգյալ
- Southern Altai: айдылаачы (aydılaaçı)
- Mandarin: 謂語, 谓语 (wèiyǔ), 述語, 述语 (shùyǔ)
- Dutch: gezegde (neut.)
- Ukrainian: прису́док (masc.), предика́т (masc.)
- Swedish: predikat (neut.)
- Buryat: хэлэгшэ
- Russian: сказу́емое (neut.), предика́т (masc.)
- Ido: predikato (masc.)
- Kalmyk: келгч
- Arabic: خَبَر (masc.)
- Roman: predikat (masc.), prirok (masc.)
- Tajik: мустанад
- Slovak: prísudok (masc.)
- Cyrillic: предикат (masc.), прирок (masc.)
- Hebrew: נָשׂוּא (nasu)
- Irish: faisnéis (fem.)
- Macedonian: при́рок (masc.)
- Interlingua: predicato
- Persian: مسند
- Polish: orzeczenie (neut.)
- Finnish: predikaatti; predikaattiosa
- Bulgarian: сказу́емо (neut.)
- Slovene: povedek (masc.)
- Hungarian: állítmány
- Portuguese: predicado (masc.)
- Korean: 술어
- French: prédicat (masc.)
- Japanese: 述語 (じゅつご, jutsugo)
What is the origin of the word predicate?
According to Dictionary, the word predicate has been used since late Middle English, and comes from Middle French predicat or directly from Medieval Latin praedicātum. This is considered to be the noun use of neuter of Latin praedicātus and Latin praedicāre, as well as the past participle of praedicāre and the equivalent to prae and dicā.
What are examples of predicates?
Predicates can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or grammatical technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! Below are a couple of examples of predicates that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use. Take a look at these predicate examples from Your Dictionary and see how many you can identify the predicate in!
- Children grow older every day.
- The climate here appears idyllic and temperate.
- My homes have been a basement apartment, a trailer, and a house.
- After my workout, I feel powerful and energized.
- Aspen leaves turn yellow in the fall.
- Apples taste sweet and delicious.
- The purchase of the black opal ring is extravagant.
- The mountain air smells piney and clean.
- Finally, all the laundry is washed, dried and folded.
- Mount Rushmore looks amazing.
- Dinner can be whatever you find in the refrigerator.
- I think the house is well-built and affordable.
- Jupiter is massive and gaseous.
- Wind turbines are a renewable source of power.
- His stand-up routine proved funny and thought-provoking.
- Bosses can be demanding.
- The lumber is large and heavy.
- Rhonda used to be the tallest girl in her class.
- I would like to remain anonymous.
- Kathy has been my neighbor since I moved in.
- The flag is red, white and blue.
- Tornadoes appear menacing.
- Larry is mortal and his behavior is rude.
What are other literary techniques and devices?
There are many different literary and grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these terms because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of grammatical devices from OED and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you.
- phrasal verb
- present participle
- declarative
- feminine
- finite
- object | direct object | indirect object
- active
- head
- appositive
- masculine
- phrase (phr.)
- present tense
- attributive
- past tense
- filler
- count noun
- dative
- stem
- simple
- complement
- common noun
- passive
- verb (v.)
- agree | agreement
- quasi-
- nominal relative | nominal relative clause
- protasis
- transitive
- absolute (absol.)
- parasynthetic
- indirect object
- comparative
- vocative
- modify | modifier
- preposition (prep.)
- postmodify | postmodifier
- superlative
- complementary
- that-clause
- proper noun | proper name
- ellipsis | elliptical
- demonstrative
- definite article
- predicative
- verbal noun
- adverbial | adverbially
- non-finite
- conditional
- auxiliary verb | auxiliary
- possessive pronoun
- positive
- noun phrase
- bare infinitive
- conjunction (conj.)
- cataphoric
- to-infinitive
- neuter
- construction
- collocation | collocate
- apposition
- suffix
- genitive
- indefinite
- agent noun
- possessive adjective
- mass noun
- modal verb | modal auxiliary verb | modal auxiliary
- parenthetical | parenthetically
- antecedent
- concrete
- special use
- personal pronoun
- abstract
- main clause
- relative
- cognate object
- compound | compounding
- part of speech
- article
- direct question
- similative
- prefix
- apodosis and protasis
- indicative
- past participle
- optative
- objective
- zero
- double object
- instrumental
- unmarked genitive
- periphrasis | periphrastic
- number
- pleonasm | pleonastic
- mood
- collective noun
- combination
- impersonal (impers.)
- infinitive
- progressive
- subordinate clause
- combining form (comb. form)
- prepositional object
- construed (const., constr.)
- anaphoric
- participial adjective
- person
- dual
- accusative
- first person
- subject
- second person
- locative
- noun (n.)
- intensifier
- subjective
- case
- indirect passive
- causative
- sentence adverb |sentence adverbial
- third-person
- clause
- adjective
- indirect speech
- determiner
- possessive
- premodify | premodifier
- interrogative
- imperative (imper.)
- element
- pronoun (pron.)
- nominative
- adverb (adv.)
- intransitive
- prepositional phrase
- participle | past participle | present participle
- subjunctive
- direct speech
- morpheme
- copular verb | copula
- non-referential
- predicate
- perfect
- pro-form
- direct object
- plural
- reflexive
- indirect question
- passive infinitive
- prepositional passive
- tense
- main verb
- gender
- singular
- inflection | inflected | inflectional
- interjection
- base form
- gerund
- anticipatory
Overall, a predicate is used in grammar and logic to refer to the part of a sentence that describes an attribute or makes an assertion about the subject. This syntactic unit of syntax is used to eliminate confusion. This is used in English grammars with or without a comma.
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