Predicate (grammar)
Encyclopedia
There are two competing notions of the predicate in theories of grammar
. Traditional grammar tends to view a predicate as one of two main parts of a sentence
, the other being the subject
, which the predicate modifies. The other understanding of predicates is inspired from work in predicate calculus (=predicate logic
, first order logic). On this approach, the predicate of a sentence corresponds mainly to the main verb and any auxiliaries that accompany the main verb, whereby the arguments
of that predicate (e.g. the subject and object noun phrases
) are outside of the predicate. The competition between these two concepts has generated confusion concerning the use of the term "predicate" in theories of grammar. This article considers both of these notions.
is inspired by propositional logic of antiquity (as opposed to the more modern predicate logic
). A predicate is seen as a property that is predicated of a subject. A predicate is therefore an expression that can be true of something; Thus, the expression "is moving" is true of those things that are moving. This classical understanding of predicates was adopted more or less directly into Latin and Greek grammars and from there it made its way into English grammars, where it is applied directly to the analysis of sentence structure. It is also the understanding of predicates that we find in dictionaries of the English language. The predicate is one of the two main parts of a sentence
(the other being the subject
, which the predicate modifies
). The predicate must contain a verb
, and the verb requires, permits, or precludes other sentence elements to complete the predicate. These elements are: objects
(direct, indirect, prepositional), predicatives
, adverb
s:
(1) a. She dances. (verb-only predicate)
c. Ben's mother, Felicity, gave me a present'. (indirect object without a preposition)
d. She listened to the radio.(prepositional object)
e. They elected him president. (predicative / object complement)
f. She met him in the park. (adverb
ial)
g. She is in the park. (complement)
The predicate provides information about the subject, such as what the subject is, what the subject is doing, or what the subject is like. The relation between a subject and its predicate is sometimes called a nexus
. A predicate nominal is a noun phrase
that functions as the main predicate of a sentence, such as "George III is the king of England", the king of England being the predicate nominal. The subject and predicate nominal must be connected by a linking verb, also called a copula. A predicate adjective is an adjective
that functions as a predicate, such as "Ivano is attractive", attractive being the predicate adjective. The subject and predicate adjective must also be connected by a copula.
This traditional understanding predicates has a concrete reflex in all phrase structure
theories of grammar, which divide the generic declarative sentence into a noun phrase
(NP) and verb phrase
(VP). This concept of sentence structure stands in stark contrast to dependency structure
theories of grammar, which place the finite verb
(=conjugated verb) as the root of all sentence structure and thus reject the binary NP-VP division.
. This understanding sees predicates as relations or functions
over arguments
. The predicate serves either to assign a property to a single argument or to relate two or more arguments to each other. Sentences consist of predicates and their arguments (and adjuncts) and are thus predicate-argument structures, whereby a given predicate is seen as linking its arguments into a greater structure. This understanding of predicates sometimes renders a predicate and its arguments in the following manner:
(2) a. Bob laughed. → laughed (Bob)
Predicates are placed on the left outside of brackets, whereas the predicate's arguments are placed inside the brackets. One acknowledges the valency
of predicates, whereby a given predicate can be monovalent (laughed in 2a), divalent (helped in 2b), trivalent (gave in 2c). These types of representations are analogous to formal semantic analyses, where one is concerned with the proper account of scope facts of quantifiers and logical operators. Concerning basic sentence structure however, these representations suggest above all that verbs are predicates and the noun phrases that they appear with are their arguments. On this understanding of the sentence, the binary division of the clause into subject NP and predicate VP is hardly possible. Instead, the verb is the predicate, and the noun phrases are its arguments.
When auxiliary verbs appear, they are viewed as part of the predicate. The predicates are underlined in the following examples:
(3) a. Bill will have laughed.
The understanding of predicates suggested by (3a-e) sees predicates consisting of one main verb and zero, one, two, or more auxiliary verbs. These verbs need not form a string, but they can be interrupted by their arguments. The approach to predicates illustrated with (2-3) is more widespread in Europe, particularly in Germany, where the understanding predicates from traditional grammar
discussed above seems to hardly exist (for those who know German, see the Wikipedia article in German on the predicate).
There are certainly many questions about this understanding of predicates. For instance, while the predicate nouns and adjectives mentioned above can easily be viewed as forming the predicate, the situation is much less clear for the object NP of a preposition, e.g.
(4) a. The books is on the shelf.
Whether the object NP the shelf should be included in the predicate, as shown in (4a), or excluded from the predicate, as in (4b), is not clear.
This alternative understanding of predicates is more compatible with the dependency grammar
approach to sentence structure, which places the finite verb as the root of all structure, than it is with the phrase structure grammar
(=constituency grammar) approach to sentence structure, which assumes the binary division of the clause into noun phrase
(NP) and verb phrase
(VP).
S-l predicates can occur in a wide range of grammatical constructions and is probably the most versatile kind of predicate.
I-l predicates are more restricted than s-l ones. I-l predicates can't occur in presentational "there" sentences (a star in front of a sentence indicates that it is odd or ill-formed):
S-l predicates allow modification by manner adverbs and other adverbial modifiers. I-l ones do not.
When an i-l predicate occurs in past tense
, it gives rise to what is called a "lifetime effect": The subject must be assumed to be dead or otherwise gone out of existence.
Certain types of noun phrase
can't be the subject of a k-l predicate. We have just seen that a proper name
can't be. Singular
indefinite
noun phrases are also banned from this environment:
Other examples of collective predicates include "meet in the woods", "surround the house", "gather in the hallway" and "carry the piano together". Note that the last one ("carry the piano together") can be made non-collective by removing the word "together". Quantifiers differ with respect to whether or not they can be the subject of a collective predicate. For example, quantifiers formed with "all the" can, while ones formed with "every" or "each" cannot.
yields very distinct predicates (as the comment). Indeed, Japanese adjectives
and Japanese verbs behave rather similarly (for example, the negative form of a verb is an adjective), and can be understood as being two forms of predicates; predicate form is referred to as 終止形 (shūshikei, terminal form). Further, unlike in English, Japanese adjectives do not exist independently of predication, and the dictionary form is the predicate form – for example, 小さい (chiisai) is the predicate form of "small", and means "is small", not simply "small". Accordingly, while some textbooks translate Japanese adjectives as English adjectives (translating 小さい as "small"), other textbooks, such as Japanese: The Spoken Language
, translate Japanese adjectives as English predicates (translating 小さい as "is small").
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
. Traditional grammar tends to view a predicate as one of two main parts of a sentence
Sentence (linguistics)
In the field of linguistics, a sentence is an expression in natural language, and often defined to indicate a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that generally bear minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it...
, the other being the subject
Subject (grammar)
The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
, which the predicate modifies. The other understanding of predicates is inspired from work in predicate calculus (=predicate logic
Predicate logic
In mathematical logic, predicate logic is the generic term for symbolic formal systems like first-order logic, second-order logic, many-sorted logic or infinitary logic. This formal system is distinguished from other systems in that its formulae contain variables which can be quantified...
, first order logic). On this approach, the predicate of a sentence corresponds mainly to the main verb and any auxiliaries that accompany the main verb, whereby the arguments
Verb argument
In linguistics, a verb argument is a phrase that appears in a syntactic relationship with the verb in a clause. In English, for example, the two most important arguments are the subject and the direct object....
of that predicate (e.g. the subject and object noun phrases
Noun phrase
In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives....
) are outside of the predicate. The competition between these two concepts has generated confusion concerning the use of the term "predicate" in theories of grammar. This article considers both of these notions.
Predicates in traditional grammar
The predicate in traditional grammarTraditional grammar
In linguistics, a traditional grammar is a framework for the description of the structure of language. Traditional grammars are commonly used in language education.Concepts treated in traditional grammars include:* subject* predicate* object...
is inspired by propositional logic of antiquity (as opposed to the more modern predicate logic
Predicate logic
In mathematical logic, predicate logic is the generic term for symbolic formal systems like first-order logic, second-order logic, many-sorted logic or infinitary logic. This formal system is distinguished from other systems in that its formulae contain variables which can be quantified...
). A predicate is seen as a property that is predicated of a subject. A predicate is therefore an expression that can be true of something; Thus, the expression "is moving" is true of those things that are moving. This classical understanding of predicates was adopted more or less directly into Latin and Greek grammars and from there it made its way into English grammars, where it is applied directly to the analysis of sentence structure. It is also the understanding of predicates that we find in dictionaries of the English language. The predicate is one of the two main parts of a sentence
Sentence (linguistics)
In the field of linguistics, a sentence is an expression in natural language, and often defined to indicate a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that generally bear minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it...
(the other being the subject
Subject (grammar)
The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
, which the predicate modifies
Grammatical modifier
In grammar, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure; the removal of the modifier typically doesn't affect the grammaticality of the sentence....
). The predicate must contain a verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
, and the verb requires, permits, or precludes other sentence elements to complete the predicate. These elements are: objects
Object (grammar)
An object in grammar is part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. Basically, it is what or whom the verb is acting upon...
(direct, indirect, prepositional), predicatives
Predicative (adjectival or nominal)
In grammar, a predicative is an element of the predicate of a sentence that supplements the subject or object by means of the verb. A predicative may be nominal or adjectival . If the complement after a linking verb is a noun or a pronoun, it is called a predicate nominative...
, adverb
Adverb
An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun . Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives , clauses, sentences, and other adverbs....
s:
(1) a. She dances. (verb-only predicate)
- b. Ben reads
Adverb
An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun . Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives , clauses, sentences, and other adverbs....
ial)
The predicate provides information about the subject, such as what the subject is, what the subject is doing, or what the subject is like. The relation between a subject and its predicate is sometimes called a nexus
Nexus Grammar
Nexus grammar is a system of analysing text which was first used in Denmark. It was a system that was heavily advanced by the Danish Linguist Otto Jespersen. It most often refers to the relationship between the action and the subject in the sentence...
. A predicate nominal is a noun phrase
Noun phrase
In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives....
that functions as the main predicate of a sentence, such as "George III is the king of England", the king of England being the predicate nominal. The subject and predicate nominal must be connected by a linking verb, also called a copula. A predicate adjective is an adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
that functions as a predicate, such as "Ivano is attractive", attractive being the predicate adjective. The subject and predicate adjective must also be connected by a copula.
This traditional understanding predicates has a concrete reflex in all phrase structure
Phrase structure grammar
The term phrase structure grammar was originally introduced by Noam Chomsky as the term for grammars as defined by phrase structure rules, i.e. rewrite rules of the type studied previously by Emil Post and Axel Thue...
theories of grammar, which divide the generic declarative sentence into a noun phrase
Noun phrase
In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives....
(NP) and verb phrase
Verb phrase
In linguistics, a verb phrase or VP is a syntactic unit composed of at least one verb and the dependents of that verb. One can distinguish between two types of VPs, finite VPs and non-finite VPs . While phrase structure grammars acknowledge both, dependency grammars reject the existence of a...
(VP). This concept of sentence structure stands in stark contrast to dependency structure
Dependency grammar
Dependency grammar is a class of modern syntactic theories that are all based on the dependency relation and that can be traced back primarily to the work of Lucien Tesnière. Dependency grammars are distinct from phrase structure grammars , since they lack phrasal nodes. Structure is determined by...
theories of grammar, which place the finite verb
Finite verb
A finite verb is a verb that is inflected for person and for tense according to the rules and categories of the languages in which it occurs. Finite verbs can form independent clauses, which can stand on their own as complete sentences....
(=conjugated verb) as the root of all sentence structure and thus reject the binary NP-VP division.
Alternative understanding
The alternative understanding of predicates is inspired by work in predicate calculus as associated with Gottlob FregeGottlob Frege
Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege was a German mathematician, logician and philosopher. He is considered to be one of the founders of modern logic, and made major contributions to the foundations of mathematics. He is generally considered to be the father of analytic philosophy, for his writings on...
. This understanding sees predicates as relations or functions
Function (mathematics)
In mathematics, a function associates one quantity, the argument of the function, also known as the input, with another quantity, the value of the function, also known as the output. A function assigns exactly one output to each input. The argument and the value may be real numbers, but they can...
over arguments
Verb argument
In linguistics, a verb argument is a phrase that appears in a syntactic relationship with the verb in a clause. In English, for example, the two most important arguments are the subject and the direct object....
. The predicate serves either to assign a property to a single argument or to relate two or more arguments to each other. Sentences consist of predicates and their arguments (and adjuncts) and are thus predicate-argument structures, whereby a given predicate is seen as linking its arguments into a greater structure. This understanding of predicates sometimes renders a predicate and its arguments in the following manner:
(2) a. Bob laughed. → laughed (Bob)
- b. Sam helped us. → helped (Sam, us)
- c. Jim gave Jill his dog. → gave (Jim, Jill, his dog)
Predicates are placed on the left outside of brackets, whereas the predicate's arguments are placed inside the brackets. One acknowledges the valency
Valency (linguistics)
In linguistics, verb valency or valence refers to the number of arguments controlled by a verbal predicate. It is related, though not identical, to verb transitivity, which counts only object arguments of the verbal predicate...
of predicates, whereby a given predicate can be monovalent (laughed in 2a), divalent (helped in 2b), trivalent (gave in 2c). These types of representations are analogous to formal semantic analyses, where one is concerned with the proper account of scope facts of quantifiers and logical operators. Concerning basic sentence structure however, these representations suggest above all that verbs are predicates and the noun phrases that they appear with are their arguments. On this understanding of the sentence, the binary division of the clause into subject NP and predicate VP is hardly possible. Instead, the verb is the predicate, and the noun phrases are its arguments.
When auxiliary verbs appear, they are viewed as part of the predicate. The predicates are underlined in the following examples:
(3) a. Bill will have laughed.
- b. Will Bill have laughed?
- c. We were helped by Sam.
- d. Were we helped by Sam?
- e. Who did Jim give his dog to?
The understanding of predicates suggested by (3a-e) sees predicates consisting of one main verb and zero, one, two, or more auxiliary verbs. These verbs need not form a string, but they can be interrupted by their arguments. The approach to predicates illustrated with (2-3) is more widespread in Europe, particularly in Germany, where the understanding predicates from traditional grammar
Traditional grammar
In linguistics, a traditional grammar is a framework for the description of the structure of language. Traditional grammars are commonly used in language education.Concepts treated in traditional grammars include:* subject* predicate* object...
discussed above seems to hardly exist (for those who know German, see the Wikipedia article in German on the predicate).
There are certainly many questions about this understanding of predicates. For instance, while the predicate nouns and adjectives mentioned above can easily be viewed as forming the predicate, the situation is much less clear for the object NP of a preposition, e.g.
(4) a. The books is on the shelf.
- b. The book is on the shelf.
Whether the object NP the shelf should be included in the predicate, as shown in (4a), or excluded from the predicate, as in (4b), is not clear.
This alternative understanding of predicates is more compatible with the dependency grammar
Dependency grammar
Dependency grammar is a class of modern syntactic theories that are all based on the dependency relation and that can be traced back primarily to the work of Lucien Tesnière. Dependency grammars are distinct from phrase structure grammars , since they lack phrasal nodes. Structure is determined by...
approach to sentence structure, which places the finite verb as the root of all structure, than it is with the phrase structure grammar
Phrase structure grammar
The term phrase structure grammar was originally introduced by Noam Chomsky as the term for grammars as defined by phrase structure rules, i.e. rewrite rules of the type studied previously by Emil Post and Axel Thue...
(=constituency grammar) approach to sentence structure, which assumes the binary division of the clause into noun phrase
Noun phrase
In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives....
(NP) and verb phrase
Verb phrase
In linguistics, a verb phrase or VP is a syntactic unit composed of at least one verb and the dependents of that verb. One can distinguish between two types of VPs, finite VPs and non-finite VPs . While phrase structure grammars acknowledge both, dependency grammars reject the existence of a...
(VP).
Carlson classes
After the work of Greg N. Carlson, predicates have been divided into the following sub-classes, which roughly pertain to how a predicate relates to its subject:Stage-level predicates
A stage-level predicate ("s-l predicate" for short) is true of a temporal stage of its subject. For example, if John is "hungry", then he typically will eat some food, which lasts a certain amount of time, and not his entire lifespan.S-l predicates can occur in a wide range of grammatical constructions and is probably the most versatile kind of predicate.
Individual-level predicates
An individual-level predicate ("i-l predicate") is true throughout the existence of an individual. For example, if John is "smart", this is a property of him, regardless which particular point in time we consider.I-l predicates are more restricted than s-l ones. I-l predicates can't occur in presentational "there" sentences (a star in front of a sentence indicates that it is odd or ill-formed):
- There are police available. ("available" is s-l)
- *There are firemen altruistic. ("altruistic" is i-l)
S-l predicates allow modification by manner adverbs and other adverbial modifiers. I-l ones do not.
- Tyrone spoke French loudly in the corridor. ("speak French" can be interpreted as s-l)
- *Tyrone knew French loudly in the corridor. ("know French" can't be interpreted as s-l)
When an i-l predicate occurs in past tense
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
, it gives rise to what is called a "lifetime effect": The subject must be assumed to be dead or otherwise gone out of existence.
- John was available. (s-l
no lifetime effect) - John was altruistic. (i-l
lifetime effect.)
Kind-level predicates
A kind-level predicate ("k-l predicate") is true of a kind of thing, but cannot be applied to individual members of the kind. An example of this is the predicate "are widespread." One can't meaningfully say of a particular individual John that he is widespread. One may only say this of kinds, as in- Humans are widespread.
Certain types of noun phrase
Noun phrase
In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives....
can't be the subject of a k-l predicate. We have just seen that a proper name
Proper name
"A proper name [is] a word that answers the purpose of showing what thing it is that we are talking about" writes John Stuart Mill in A System of Logic , "but not of telling anything about it"...
can't be. Singular
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
indefinite
Article (grammar)
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
noun phrases are also banned from this environment:
- *A cat is widespread. (compare: Nightmares are widespread.)
Collective vs. distributive predicates
Predicates may also be collective or distributive. Collective predicates require their subjects to be somehow plural, while distributive ones don't. An example of a collective predicate is "formed a line". This predicate can only stand in a nexus with a plural subject:- The students formed a line.
- *The student formed a line.
Other examples of collective predicates include "meet in the woods", "surround the house", "gather in the hallway" and "carry the piano together". Note that the last one ("carry the piano together") can be made non-collective by removing the word "together". Quantifiers differ with respect to whether or not they can be the subject of a collective predicate. For example, quantifiers formed with "all the" can, while ones formed with "every" or "each" cannot.
- All the students formed a line.
- All the students gathered in the hallway.
- All the students carried a piano together.
- *Each student gathered in the hallway.
- *Every student formed a line.
Japanese
The topic–comment structure of Japanese grammarJapanese grammar
The Japanese language has a regular agglutinative verb morphology, with both productive and fixed elements. In language typology, it has many features divergent from most European languages. Its phrases are exclusively head-final and compound sentences are exclusively left-branching. There are many...
yields very distinct predicates (as the comment). Indeed, Japanese adjectives
Japanese adjectives
According to many analyses, the Japanese language does not have words that function as adjectives in a syntactic sense, i.e. tree diagrams of Japanese sentences can be constructed without employing adjective phrases. However, there are words that function as adjectives in a semantic sense...
and Japanese verbs behave rather similarly (for example, the negative form of a verb is an adjective), and can be understood as being two forms of predicates; predicate form is referred to as 終止形 (shūshikei, terminal form). Further, unlike in English, Japanese adjectives do not exist independently of predication, and the dictionary form is the predicate form – for example, 小さい (chiisai) is the predicate form of "small", and means "is small", not simply "small". Accordingly, while some textbooks translate Japanese adjectives as English adjectives (translating 小さい as "small"), other textbooks, such as Japanese: The Spoken Language
Japanese: The Spoken Language
Japanese: The Spoken Language is an introductory textbook series for learning Japanese. JSL was written by Eleanor Harz Jorden in collaboration with Mari Noda. Part 1 was published in 1987 by Yale Language Press, Part 2 in 1988, and Part 3 in 1990...
, translate Japanese adjectives as English predicates (translating 小さい as "is small").
See also
- ClauseClauseIn grammar, a clause is the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. In some languages it may be a pair or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in other languages in certain clauses the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun phrase,...
- Inflectional phraseInflectional phraseAn inflectional phrase or agreement phrase is essentially the same as a sentence in which the verb has finite form.It is a functional phrase which has inflection ....
- PhrasePhraseIn everyday speech, a phrase may refer to any group of words. In linguistics, a phrase is a group of words which form a constituent and so function as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. A phrase is lower on the grammatical hierarchy than a clause....
- Predicative (adjectival or nominal)Predicative (adjectival or nominal)In grammar, a predicative is an element of the predicate of a sentence that supplements the subject or object by means of the verb. A predicative may be nominal or adjectival . If the complement after a linking verb is a noun or a pronoun, it is called a predicate nominative...
- Secondary predicateSecondary predicateA secondary predicate is a predicative expression that conveys information about the subject but is not the main predicate of the clause...
- Sentence (linguistics)Sentence (linguistics)In the field of linguistics, a sentence is an expression in natural language, and often defined to indicate a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that generally bear minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it...
- Subject complementSubject complementIn grammar, a subject complement is a phrase or clause that follows a linking verb and that complements the subject of the sentence by either renaming it or describing it. In the former case, a renaming noun phrase such as a noun or pronoun is called a predicate nominative...
- Topic–comment
- VerbVerbA verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...