Ask yourself: What is the subject doing? Or What is the subject being? The answer is your simple predicate.
Sentence: “The washing machine is growling.” Answer: is growling. That’s the simple predicate. And honestly, it matches my mood.
Predicate Noun Examples And Definitions
Sentence: “She became a bird watcher.” Simple predicate? Became. One word, but it changes her whole life.
When the Predicate Hides
Sometimes it hides in a compound verb: “We laughed and cried.” Both laughed and cried are simple predicates. They’re like twins sharing a spotlight.
Or in a phrasal verb: “I gave up.” The simple predicate is the whole thing—gave up—because “up” changes the meaning.
Don’t let that scare you. Just grab the action word (or word group) that feels like the center of the storm.
