Lesson 3: Describing Words
Predicates and Linking Verbs
We are almost ready to learn our fourth sentence pattern! But first, let’s talk about linking verbs and discover the predicate noun and predicate adjective.
Predicates
pre·di·cate The predicate of a sentence includes the verb and everything after it, and describes the action done by the subject. —Grammarly
In a sentence, you have a subject (and any words modifying that subject), a verb, and perhaps other words. The predicate is the verb and all of the words after it.
The subject is Blackbeard, and the predicate is the action verb “commands” plus everything afterward. The entire predicate describes the action done by Blackbeard: he commands the ship.
Predicate Nouns and Predicate Adjectives
Now we’ll begin turning our attention to linking verbs. Previously we brushed over them, but now we will really learn what they are. We will start by looking at their predicates. Linking verbs have a special predicate, made up of the linking verb and what is called the subject complement, which describes the subject.
Regular predicates describe the action whereas linking verbs have a subject complement which describes the subject.
Here, the subject is still Blackbeard, but we have a linking verb “is” and then the subject complement that describes not an action, but rather the subject himself—he is a good captain.
Don’t worry, you will not need to label predicates at all in this course; you just need to know what they are so that we can talk about the predicate noun and the predicate adjective. If the term subject complement made you think of the object complements (that we learned in the last lesson), you are on the right track! Remember that the object complement noun (OCN) renames the object (“I call Blackbeard captain.”), and the object complement adjective (OCA) describes the object (“I call Blackbeard fearsome.”)
In a similar manner, the predicate noun¹ (PN) renames the subject (“Blackbeard is captain.”) and the predicate adjective (PA) describes the subject (“Blackbeard is fearsome.”). Take note! Sometimes the “renaming” that a predicate noun does is in a figurative sense! In Psalm 18:2 it says, ”The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.” Each of these “is” statements presents a predicate noun, even though it may seem like God is being described, not renamed—”rock,” “fortress,” and “deliverer” are nouns.
Clear as mud? It is a bit dense, but the idea of renaming or describing is the same; you just need to focus on what is being renamed or described—the subject of the sentence or the direct object. As an extra clue, a PN or PA will always be preceded by a linking verb.
Linking Verbs
A linking verb is a verb that links its subject to a description or renaming.² The most commonly used linking verb is “to be” (“I am”, “you are”, “ she was”, “ we will be”, and so on). Linking verbs can be tricky because while there are three verbs that are always linking (“to be,” “to become,” and “to seem”), there are plenty of other verbs that may be linking in one case and not linking in another. Sensory verbs, in particular, can be either linking or not, depending on how they are used.
“Blackbeard looked out from the prow of his ship.”
(“looked” as an action verb)
“Blackbeard looked moody today.”
(“looked” as a linking verb)
So how do we figure out when we have a linking verb with a predicate noun or adjective, when we have a transitive verb with a direct object, and when we have an intransitive verb? Introducing the The Grand List of Questions. (Numbers 1 and 7 will be filled in during later lessons. Adverbs come up later in this lesson.)
The Grand List of Questions (for Sentence Parsing)
1. ...
2. What are the verbs?
For each verb, determine the sentence pattern...
3. What is the subject?
4. Is the verb “to be/become/seem,” or is there a word after the verb that renames or describes the subject?
Yes = linking verb. Find the PN/A.
5. Is there a direct object?
Yes = transitive verb. Is there an OCN/A? …
No = intransitive verb.
6. Are there any adjectives or adverbs? ...
7. ...