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.

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.

• 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

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

Answer Key - pg. 122

1. PN

2. PA

3. PN

4. PA

5. PA