Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Examples of clauses showing subject and predicate

subject

predicate

My mother

was a friend of hers.

I

ate too much last night.

Their dog

died last week.

The garden

looks lovely.

They

made him a member of their gang.

494 | Introduction to sentences and clauses

Cambridge Grammar of English

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The predicate consists of the verb phrase followed by objects and predicative

complements (

Û

278 and 279

). 

The subject is most typically a noun phrase, though it may sometimes be a 

wh

-nominal clause, or, very occasionally, a prepositional phrase. The subject (in

green in the examples below) determines the person and number of the verb:

My sister

do

es singing lessons.

(noun phrase: determiner + noun)

They

ha

ve a matter-of-fact approach to everything.

(noun phrase: pronoun)

Skiing

do

esn’t appeal to me.

(noun phrase: the gerund -ing form of a verb functioning as a noun)

What we’re doing

is offering a scholarship.

(wh-nominal clause)

A: When shall I ring you?

B: 

After six

would be best.

(prepositional phrase; less common)

The subject comes before the verb in a simple declarative clause, and it is

obligatory, except in high-context, informal situations where it may be

unnecessary and omitted if it is obvious to the participants:

A: Have you been back to the ‘Shanghai Palace’? 

B: Yeah, I went a few weeks ago. It’s a really nice restaurant.

(Yeah, I went a few weeks ago. Is a really nice restaurant.)

A: Need a hammer. Is there one in the garage?

B: Yeah, think so.

(subjects are obvious to the speakers in the context; more explicit forms: I need

a hammer/I think so)