-EMPTY SUBJECT

-PREDICATE
EMPTY (DUMMY) SUBJECT
 Refers to grammatical subject which has no semantic
role at all.
 Appears for purely structural reasons, because the
English sentence has to have explicit subject
 There are two types of empty subject:

1. EXPLETIVE “IT”:
It is thundering.
It’s so hot today I drank 3 litres of water.

2. EXPLETIVE “THERE” (EXISTENTIAL “THERE”):

There is something in your hair.
 IMPORTANT:

Expletive “it” must not be mixed with the third person

singular pronoun IT, which has the semantic role of
subject: It is mine!
That book is mine.
PREDICATE

 The structure of predication is the relationship that

exists between the subject and the predicate.
 THE PREDICATE OF A SENTENCE IS A VERB
PHRASE THAT PREDICATES ABOUT THE SUBJECT.
 It is important to make difference between complete
subject (whole NP that functions as a subject) and
the subject of the verb (head of a NP that functions
as a subject)
 It is also important to distinguish two kinds of predicate:
1. THE COMPLETE PREDICATE
Or simply PREDICATE- includes lexical/main verb, but also
the auxiliaries, modifiers and complements in the verb
phrase:
Vmain + Vaux/Mod./Compl.

2. THE PREDICATOR (also called THE VERB)

 -Finite verb that agrees with subject of the verb.

 -When it comes to complex verb forms, it is important to

remember that the predicator is considered to include
both the finite auxiliary and the main verb
 The structure of predication is syntactically and
semantically determined by the verb type.
 example: write

John is writing a love letter. a

Wardrobe is writing. r
Wardrobe is writing John. r