We can all speak and understand each other; do we need to investigate how?

5.5 The subject

The notional subject denotes or points out a person or non-person, that is, various kinds of concrete things, substances, abstract no­tions or happening.
The formal subject expressed by it is found in two patterns of sentences: those with impersonal it and those with introductory it.


All sentences are about something or someone. The something or someone that the sentence is about is called the subject of the sentence. In the following sentences the subjects are shown in red. Note how the subject is often, but not always, the first thing in the sentence.
John often comes late to class.
The old hotel at the end of the street is going to be knocked down to make way for a new supermarket.
On Saturdays I never get up before 9 o'clock.


The predicate contains information about the someone or something that is the subject. The example sentences above are shown again, this time with the predicate marked in green.
John often comes late to class.
The grade 7 Korean boy who has just started at FIS speaks excellent English.
Lying on the sofa watching old films is my favourite hobby.

5.6 The predicate

The predicate is the second main part of the sentence and its organizing centre, as the object and nearly all adverbial modifiers are connected with, and dependent on, it.
The predicate may be considered from the semantic or from the structural point of view. Structurally the predicate in English expressed by a finite verb agrees with the subject in number and person. The only exception to this rule is a compound modal and a simple nominal predicate, the latter having no verb form at all.
According to the meaning of its components, the predicate may denote an action, a state, a quality, or an attitude to some action or state ascribed to the subject. These different meanings find their expression in the structure of the predicate and the lexical meaning of its constituents.

The simple verbal predicate is expressed by:

1. A verb in a synthetic or analytical form.

John runs quickly.
I was sent in to get my tea.
2. A verb phrase (a phraseological equivalent of a verb denoting one action).
Here belong:

a) Phrases denoting single actions:

to have a look, to have a smoke, to have a talk, to give a look, to give a laugh, to give a cry, to take a
look, to make a move, to make a remark, to pay a visit, etc.

They comprise a transitive verb and a deverbal noun with the indefinite article.

Nurse Sharp gave him a look and walked out.
The man gave a violent start.

b) Phrases denoting various kinds of actions. In most cases they comprise an abstract noun used with no

article but often preceded by an attribute:
to change one's mind, to get rid (of), to get hold (of), to lose sight (of), to make fun (of), to make up
one's mind, to make use (of), to take care (of), to take leave (of), to take part (in), etc.

I have never taken much interest in German songs.