Yesterday we learned about subject of sentences, or who is doing something in the sentence. Today we will learn about what the subject is doing, or the predicate.

Read the Predicates graphic to learn more about sentences.

• A sentence tells a complete thought. It has a naming part and an action part.
• A predicate is the action part of a sentence.
• A predicate tells what the subject in a sentence does or did. It uses words that show action.
• The predicate of a sentence may be more than just the action word itself. (Example: The children looked for the book; the predicate is looked for the book.)

To identify the predicate, I ask myself: What did someone or something do in the sentence?

Examples:

• The cook stirs the soup
  • The action word is stirs, but the predicate is ‘stirs the soup’.
• I threw the ball.
  • ‘Threw the ball’ is the predicate, or action part. It’s what the subject did.