Guys, could you help me with this task? Thanks in advance!
Determine whether these sentences contain a simple predicate or a compound predicate:
1) Those soldiers carried and used guns.
2)Before mixing the ingredients for his world-famous cookies,
Bobby swatted a fly buzzing around the kitchen and crushed a
cockroach scurrying across the floor.
1) Those soldiers [carried] and [used] guns.
2) Before mixing the ingredients for his world-famous cookies, Bobby [swatted a fly buzzing around the kitchen] and [crushed a cockroach scurrying across the floor].
(1) has a simple predicate. It is just the predicators, the verbs "carried" and "used" that form a coordination. The sentence would be said to have a 'coordination of predicators', which jointly have the noun "guns" as object.
In (2) you could say that there is a compound predicate consisting of the bracketed coordinated verb phrases.
PaulM
Thank you very much! Could you please answer these quick questions that are related to the first sentence ("Those soldiers carried and used guns.") of the 1st question? Thanks in advance!
Does the simple predicate of the sentence "Those soldiers carried and used guns." tell 2 things about the subject? (I mean, are there 2 actions inside a simple predicate?) And does it function the same way as a compound predicate does? And can we say that the sentence "Those soldiers carried and used guns." is quite tricky when it comes to determining whether it has a simple predicate or a compound one?
Compare this pair where the predicate is in brackets and the coordinates are underlined:
(1) Those soldiers [carried knives and used guns].
(2) Those soldiers [carried and used guns.]
In (1) the predicate consists of a coordination of two verb phrases. Each coordinate is capable of standing on its own in the sentence so you could if you wished call this a compound predicate since either coordinate is omissible with no loss of grammaticality.
In (2) the predicate consists of a single verb phrase containing a coordination of predicators (verbs) that have "guns" as object. "Guns" is object of the whole predicate (coordination), not just one of the coordinates.
A compound predicate requires that either coordinate be omissible.
Have I explained that clearly enough?
PaulM
In other words to have a compound predicate we need to have a coordination of verb phrases (we need to have more than one verb phrase inside a predicate), right? But the sentence 'Those soldiers carried and used guns.' have only ONE verb phrase (and it's quite a complicated one :)) inside the predicate, and that is why "carried and used guns" can not be a compound predicate, even though that verb phrase looks like a compound one because of the COORDINATION of PREDICATORS (VERBS) which jointly have the noun "guns" as object, right?
Looks might be deceptive, right?
And also I've got another quick question for you. I'm so so sorry for asking so many question. :)
Does the sentence 'The kids climbed and played on the jungle gym.' have a simple predicate as well?
Thanks in advance!
Essentially, yes. Each VP must be capable of standing alone as the predicate, as in the second example I gave. In your original example, the two verbs share the same direct object, "guns" so the whole thing is just one predicate (or "simple" as you would say).
The same applies to your latest example:
The kids climbed and played on the jungle gym.
Again, we have a coordination of two verb predicators, i.e. "climbed" and "played". They share the adjunct (a preposition phrase) "on the jungle gym" which is part of the single predicate.
Incidentally, grammarians do not usually talk of 'compound predicates'. Instead we talk of various kinds of coordination within the verb phrase.
PaulM
Hello!
Do you agree with what Oxfrord online grammar dictionary says about the subject of a sentence-they that the subject is generally the person or thing that the sentence is about. And could you write why you agree/don't agree with that, please?
Thanks in advance!