General Forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
predicate nominative

what is the definition of predicate nominative and what are some examples because the website does not show these

Re: predicate nominative

A predicate nominative (also predicative complement NP) is a noun or noun phrase that identifies or describes the subject in clauses containing a linking verb like "be", "seem", and "become". There are two types of nominative: specifying and ascriptive. In the specifying construction, the verb is restricted to "be", and the complement identifies (or renames) the subject. In the ascriptive construction, the complement denotes something about the subject, and the verb is usually "be", "seem" or "become", although others verbs like "prove" and "remain" can also be linking verbs. Here are some examples with the nominatives underlined:

SPECIFYING:

The last person to leave was Jane.
What they gave him was a gold pen.
The guy they arrested was Max.
The one who got the job was Alex.
The chief culprit was Liz.

ASCRIPTIVE:

Mike was a loyal supporter.
He seemed a nice guy.
Kim became treasurer.
The experiment proved a failure.
Mike remained a director.


Does that help?

PaulM