A sentence in the English language may be defined as “a group of words that express a complete thought.” In other words, when a sentence is spoken, the listener can understand something without the need for staring into the skies. Examples include:
The airplane has just landed.
We are going to America.
The flight leaves tonight.
Tomorrow is Friday.
Basically speaking, a sentence is divided into two main parts:
1. A subject – what we are talking about.
2. A predicate – what we say about the subject.
Let’s examine the sentences above again.
The airplane has just landed.
In the sentence above, what are talking about? We are talking about “the airplane.” Therefore, “the airplane” is the subject of the sentence.
What did we say about the airplane? We said that the airplane “has just landed.” Therefore “has just landed” is the predicate of the sentence.
To help you better understand, we will use red letters to indicate the subjects, and green letters to indicate the predicates of the sentences below.
The airplane has just landed.
We are going to America.
The flight leaves tonight.
Tomorrow is Friday.
