The Simple Predicate

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We know that a sentence is made up of two main parts: a subject and a predicate. The subject is what we are talking about, and the predicate is what we say about the subject. Look at the sentence below:

The big black eagle sailed effortlessly in the air. 

The words in red make up the subject of the sentence, and the words in green make up the predicate.

Obviously what we are talking about is “the big black eagle”, and what we say about it is that it “sailed effortlessly in the air”.

The words “sailed effortlessly in the air” make up the complete predicate, but there is one word that is most important in the phrase. The word “sailed” is the key or most important word in the predicate. This is the simple predicate. All other words in the complete predicate add meaning to the simple predicate. The most important word in the predicate part of the sentence is called the simple predicate.

In the sentences below, the words in green make up the complete predicate and the underlined word in green is the simple predicate.

The boy rode the horse all over town.

The girl read all the books she could find.

The children go to school regularly.

Jack and Jill went up the hill.

More on the sentence:

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Article Location: Patrickcarpen.com >> English >> English Language >> Grammar >> The Sentence

Keywords: the predicate, the simple predicate, the predicate of a sentence, parts of the sentence, the sentence, English language, grammar

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