UNIT 5 PREDICATES

In the following sentences, delete the

referring expressions and write down the
remainder to the right of the example.
1. Mr Wrath is writing the Mayor’s speech.
2. Cairo is in Africa
3. Edinburgh is between Aberdeen and York.
4. This place stinks.
5. John’s car is red
6. Einstein was a genius .
The woman is writing the speech.

is write ing

Woman write speech Proposition

 PREDICATOR
The PREDICATOR of a simple declarative sentence is the word
(sometimes a group of words) which does not belong to any of the
referring expressions and which, of the remainder, makes the most
specific contribution to the meaning of the sentence. Intuitively
speaking, the predicator describes the state or process in which the
referring expressions are involved.
(vị tố)
Example:
1/ Mummy is asleep.
 asleep describes the state Mummy is in.
2/ The white man loved the Indian maiden.
 love describes the process in which the two referring expressions
the white man and the Indian maiden are involved.
Practice (p47)
 The PREDICATORS in sentences can be of
various parts of speech: Adjectives (red,
nice,..), verbs (write, read,…), prepositions (in,
on, …), and nouns (crook, genius,…)

Conjunctions (and, but, or) and articles (a, an,

the) can’t serve as predicators in a sentence
 Predicators and arguments
The semantic analysis of simple declarative sentences
reveals two major semantic roles played by different
subparts of the sentence. These are the role of
predicator (vị tố), and the role(s) of argument(s) (tham
tố), played by the referring expression(s).
Juan is Argentinian
 predicator: Argentinian, argument: Juan
Juan arrested Pablo
 predicator: arrest, arguments: Juan, Pablo
Juan took Pablo to Rio
 predicator: take, arguments: Juan, Pablo, Rio
 What is a predicate?
• A predicate is any word (sequence of words)
which (in a given single sense) can function as
the predicator of a sentence.

Example: love, show, asleep, in are all

predicates because these words can function as
the predicators of the following sentences.
 • The tall boy loved the Japanese girl
predicator
• She showed us a nice dress
predicator
• Her mother is asleep
predicator

• I am in Tokyo
predicator
 A simple sentence only has one predicator.
Example:
A tall, handsome stranger entered the saloon
=) Enter: predicator
Tall, handsome, stranger, saloon: predicates because they
can function as predicators in other sentences.
Examples:
John is tall
He is handsome
He is a stranger
They are going to build a saloon in this area
 Predicate and predicator
Identifies elements in the Identifies semantic roles
language system
Independently of Played by a word ( a group
particular examples of words) in a particular
sentence
Can envisage a list of the Can’t list the predicators
predicates in English of English
Practice (p50)
 The degree of a predicate

• The degree of a predicate is a number indicating

the number of arguments it is normally
understood to have in simple sentences.
• (cấp độ của vị từ)
 What are the predicates in these
sentences?
1. John is asleep.
2. Mary loves Peter.
3. She gave him a shirt.
• Asleep  predicate
• Love  predicate
• Give  predicate
 The degree of a predicate
1/ John is asleep.
S argument
Asleep  one-place predicate
2/ Mary loves Peter.
S argument O argument
Love  two-place predicate
3/ She gave him a shirt.
• S argument O arguments
• Give  three-place predicate
 Predicate  adjectives
1/ Phillips is handsome.
(Complete thought)
 handsome: one-place predicate
2/ Henry is afraid…
(Elliptical) example: Henry is afraid of ghosts/
height/…
 afraid: two-place predicate
 PREDICATES (PREPOSITIONS)
Ex:

1. Cairo is in Africa

 in (a preposition) is a two – place predicate

2. The lamp is over the table

 over is a two – place predicate

 PREDICATES (ADJECTIVES)

Ex: Philip is handsome.

referring expression predicate

 handsome (adj): one – place predicate

Ex: Your house is different from mine

referring expression predicate Referring expression

 different (adj): two – place predicate

 Notes:
- In fact, the majority of adjectives are
one – place predicates.
- The prepositions such as: of and from
in afraid of and different from
They are not themselves predicates.
Some adjectives in English just require to
be joined to a following argument by a
preposition.
 PREDICATES (NOUNS)
Ex: John is a corporal.
reffering expression predicate
 corporal (n): one – place predicate
Ex: John is a brother of the Mayor of Miami.

referring expression predicate referring expression

 brother (n): two– place predicate

 Notes:

 Most nouns are one – place predicates.

 But a few nouns could be said to be
‘inherently relational’ father, son, brother,
mother, daughter, neighbour.
 IDENTITY RELATION
- This is the relation found in equative sentences.
Identity relation: mối quan hệ đồng nhất
(Vietnamese)
- In English, the identity of the referents of two
different expressions is expressed by a form of
the verb ‘be’.
Ex: Cairo is the largest city in Africa.
Identity
referring expression predicate referring expression

Ex: Cairo is a large city in Africa.

Grammatical
device