Difference Between Subject And Predicate

By elementary school, children begin to learn about the various components of a sentence. These components give each word a purpose. Every complete sentence requires two things: a subject and a predicate. But, what exactly are they?

The subject of a sentence is what (or who) it is about. In the sentence "The cat is sleeping in the sun," the topic is the word cat. A predicate is the component of a sentence or clause that describes what the subject is doing or being. Let's take the previous sentence: "The cat is sleeping in the sun." The clause sleeping in the sun is the predicate; it specifies what the cat is doing.

Subject

A sentence has two primary parts: the subject and the predicate, which changes the subject. In the simple sentence John runs, John is the subject, meaning the person or object about whom the statement is made. Traditionally, the subject is the word or phrase that controls the verb in the clause or with which it agrees (John is, but John and Mary are). If there is no verb, as in Nicola-such an idiot!-or if the verb has a different subject, as in John-I can't stand him!-'John'' is not the grammatical subject but rather the sentence's topic. While these definitions work for simple English statements, determining the topic becomes increasingly challenging in more complicated sentences and languages. For example, in the line, It is tough to learn French, the subject appears to be the word it, but arguably [according to whom?] the true subject (the thing that is difficult) is to learn French. The statement "It was John who broke the window" is even more difficult. Sentences that begin with a locative phrase, such as "There is a problem, isn't there?" and include the tag question "Isn't there?" seem to imply that the subject is the adverb there, which complicates the concept of subject.

In languages like Latin and German, the subject of a verb has a form known as the nominative case; for example, the form 'he' (not 'him' or 'his') is used in sentences like he ran, he shattered the glass, he is a teacher, and he was hit by a car. However, in certain languages, such as Basque or Greenlandic, the form of a noun or pronoun differs depending on whether the verb is intransitive (he ran) or transitive (he broke the window). The concept of subject may not be applicable in certain ergative languages.

Technical Definition

According to a tradition dating back to Aristotle (and associated with phrase structure grammars), the subject (glossing abbreviations: sub or su) is one of the two main constituents of a clause, the other being the predicate, which says something about the subject. According to a tradition linked with predicate logic and dependency grammars, the subject is the predicate's most obvious overt argument. According to this position, all languages with arguments have subjects; however, it is impossible to define this consistently across all languages. Even in languages like English, there is not always a perfect match between the semantic predicand and the subject, because a predicate can be predicated on an argument in another clause. From a functional standpoint, a subject is a sentence that combines the nominative case with the topic. Many languages (such as those with ergative or Austronesian alignment) do not accomplish this and hence lack subjects according to this definition. In all of these positions, the subject determines person and number agreement on the finite verb, as evidenced by the difference in verb forms between he eats and they eat. In declarative phrases, the prototypical subject appears immediately before the finite verb and symbolizes an agent or theme. The subject is frequently a multi-word constituent that must be separated from parts of speech, which approximately categorize words inside constituents.

The subjects in the following example sentences are boldfaced:

• The dictionary helps me find words.
• Strangely, ice cream arrived on the table.
• The man sitting over there informed me he had just bought a ticket to Tahiti.
• Nothing else is acceptable.
• It's hardly surprising that nothing else is good enough.
• Eating six different types of veggies each day is beneficial.
• Despite her concerns, he sold us five bags of clothing.

Predicate

Linguistics and its subfields give the term predicate two meanings. The initial one is that a predicate refers to every other thing in a typical declarative sentence except the subject while the second one only represents the main verb or any qualifying phrase that accompany it. That is why when we consider the first definition, "likes cake" becomes the predicate of this sentence while using the second definition it contains likes as its main word and Frank and cake as arguments. These different definitions can create confusion.

Syntax: Traditional Grammar

The concept of a predicate in traditional grammar has been in existence since Aristotle introduced logic. A predicate is something that either belongs to or characterizes a subject. Predicates are, therefore, statements that may be true about things or people. Thus, words like 'is moving,' refer to anything that does move about within some given context at least. This ancient understanding of predicates was more or less directly incorporated into Latin and Greek grammars which also later ended up in English grammars used for analyzing sentence construction purposes; it also involves knowing what predicates are according to English language dictionaries.

The predicate is one of the two main parts in a sentence (subject being the other part changed by the predicate). The verb is required in every predicate, and it takes additional elements, permits their presence or disallows them. These include objects (direct, indirect and prepositional), predicatives and adjuncts.

• She dances. verb-only predicate.
• Ben reads the book. verb-plus-direct-object predicate.
• Ben's mother, Felicity, gave me a present. verb-plus-indirect-object-plus-direct-object predicate.
• She listened to the radio. verb-plus-prepositional-object predicate.

The subject shows what something is like or what it does: that's what predicates refer to when describing a subject. A nexus refers to the relationship between the subject and its predicative. A noun phrase constitutes a predicative nominal. For example, in the sentence George III is the King of England, the phrase "the King of England" acts as a predicative nominal. In English, linking verbs (copula) join together predicator nouns and subjects; that is why both should be used in any sentence where copulative relations are needed. There can be also an adjective with copulas-predicatives such as "Ivano is attractive." In this case, we have also got some adjectives which serve as predicative ones with copula verbs connecting them to subjects.

Modern Ideas of Syntax

Some syntax theories distinguish between subjects and predicates. For example, a textbook phrase structure grammar usually splits an English declarative sentence (S) into a noun phrase (NP) and a verb phrase (VP). The subject NP is displayed in green, whereas the predicate VP appears in blue. Languages with more variable word order (commonly known as nonconfigurational languages) are frequently treated differently in phrase structure techniques. Dependency grammar, on the other hand, rejects the binary subject-predicate division and instead places the sentence's finite verb at its root. The matrix predicate is indicated in blue, while its two parameters are shown in green. While the predicate cannot be considered a constituent in the strict sense, it is a catena. Predicates and their arguments are always catenae in dependency structures, with the exception of discontinuities

• Semantic Predication
  The term predicate also refers to properties as well as the words or phrases that describe them. This usage derives from the concept of a predicate in logic. Predicates are symbols in logic that represent relations or functions over arguments. In semantics, the denotations of some verbal utterances are evaluated in comparable ways. Expressions that denote predicates in the semantic sense are frequently referred to as "predication."
• Stage-level Predicates
  A stage-level predicate is true for a certain temporal stage of the subject. For example, if John feels "hungry," he will usually eat something. His hunger lasts for a limited time, rather than his entire existence. Stage-level predicates can appear in a variety of grammatical formulations and are likely the most versatile type of predicate.
• Individual-level Predicates.
  An individual-level predicate holds true for the duration of an individual's life. For example, if John is "smart," this is a trait that he possesses regardless of the moment in time we consider. Individual-level predicates are more restrictive than stage-level ones. Individual-level predicates cannot appear in presentational "there" phrases.

Difference Between Subject And Predicate

Conclusion

Understanding the subject and predicate in a sentence is critical for comprehending its meaning and structure. The subject is the focal point of the sentence, signifying the "who" or "what" it is about, but the predicate supplements this by stating what the subject is doing or being. For example, in the sentence "The cat is sleeping in the sun," "the cat" is the subject and "is sleeping in the sun" is the predicate, which describes the cat's behavior. According to traditional grammar, the subject is the element that controls or agrees with the verb, whereas the predicate includes everything but the subject in a declarative sentence. This encompasses the main verb, objects, predicatives, and adjuncts. Modern syntax theories may approach subjects and predicates differently, stressing their importance in sentence constructions. Overall, grasping these components helps in constructing clear and meaningful sentences.