Grammar 6.7 - Predicate Nominatives and Predicate Adjectives

​6.7 Predicate Nominatives and Predicate Adjectives

By Allison Macha

What's wrong with this sentence?

The tall young man next to Sally is. He seems.

Answer: The verbs is and seems are linking verbs, and neither group of words express a complete thought.

• That noun or adjective is called a subject complement.

• A linking verb needs a noun or an adjective after it in order to express a complete thought.

Linking Verbs and Subject Complement

​Example: the tall young man next to Sally is my cousin.

"Is" is a linking verb, and "cousin" is the noun that follows it so it is the subject complement.

Multiple Choice

The puppy wagging its tail seems happy.

The underlined word is an example of.....

• subject complement

• linking verb

• noun

• direct object

Multiple Choice

The puppy wagging its tail seems happy.

The underlined word is an example of.....

• noun

• subject complement

• indirect object

• linking verb

Predicate Nominative

a noun or pronoun that follows a linking verb and renames or identifies the subject.

Example: Nina's aunt is a police officer.

Officer is the predicate nominative - it renames the subject of aunt.

Multiple Choice

The person deciding the homecoming theme is the Student Council President.

Which word in this sentence is the predicate nominative?

• theme

• person

• is

• president

Multiple Choice

My dad is the track coach at school.

Which word in this sentence is the predicate nominative?

• school

• coach

• dad

• is

• A predicate adjective follows a linking verb and describes the subject

• Must be an adjective

• Examples:

  • The soup tastes spicy. (spicy = predicate adjective, PA)

  • Those flowers smell fragrant. (fragrant = predicate adjective, PA)

  • The children became tired. (tired = predicate adjective, PA)

​​Predicate Adjectives

Multiple Choice

Find the predicate adjective:

The wind feels chilly.

• Wind

• chilly

• feels

• This sentence does not have a P.A.

Open Ended

The mother's smile seems genuine.

In the response box, type the linking verb (LV) and Predicate Adjective (PA)

Practice Time!
In the next 5 sentences, Identify whether the underlined word is a Predicate Nominative (PN) or Predicate Adjective (PA)

Multiple Choice

1. For Todd, the most difficult test questions are word analogies.

• Predicate Noun

• Predicate Adjective

Multiple Choice

2. Those little green peppers on the pizza certainly taste fiery.

• Predicate Noun

• Predicate Adjective

Multiple Choice

3. Rachel became the youngest member of the jazz band.

• Predicate Noun

• Predicate Adjective

Multiple Choice

4. Jed feels extremely uncomfortable in airplanes, so he doesn't fly.

• Predicate Noun

• Predicate Adjective

Multiple Choice

5. Does this quart of milk smell sour to you?

• Predicate Noun

• Predicate Adjective

Answer Key - pg. 122

1. PN

2. PA

3. PN

4. PA

5. PA