A predicative adjective modifies the subject of a sentence and is usually found after a linking verb. It should not be confused with a predicative nominative, which renames the subject using a noun. The presence of a linking verb helps identify a predicative adjective.
A predicative adjective is used as a subject complement within a sentence, serving to describe or modify the subject. This type of word is usually found after a linking verb, such as “are” or “smell”, and describes the subject that precedes it. Simple examples are the word “beautiful” in the sentence “The tall woman is beautiful” or “rancid” in the sentence “The milk smelled rancid”. A predicative adjective should not be confused with a predicative nominative, which serves much the same function, but is a noun that renames the subject of a sentence.
Just like other adjectives, a predicative adjective is a word that describes or modifies another word, typically a noun or pronoun. In this form, however, it acts as part of the predicate in a sentence rather than as a word within a noun phrase. The predicate is the part of the sentence that provides information about the subject. For example, in the sentence “The tall woman is beautiful”, the subject is “The tall woman”, while the predicate is “she is beautiful”.
Normally, an adjective is found with the word it modifies, often as part of the same sentence. In the above example, the word “tall” is an adjective that is part of the noun phrase “The tall woman”. A predicative adjective, however, is not in a sentence with the word it describes, which can lead to confusion within a sentence.
The presence of a linking verb can indicate that a predicative adjective is in the sentence and helps alleviate any confusion. Linking verbs include words like “is,” “tastes,” and “appears.” They are intransitive verbs, meaning they don’t require a direct object within the sentence, and the predicative adjective acts like the word or phrase they link to the subject. However, many of them can be found in sentences where they are not a linking verb, so they must be with an appropriate predicate to perform this function.
In the above example, the word “beautiful” describes the subject of the sentence. The word “è” acts as a linking verb and indicates that the following predicative adjective modifies the subject. A similar structure is found in the sentence “The milk smelled rancid.” The word “rancid” describes the subject “milk”; it is linked by the linking verb, “smell”.
This is not to be confused with a predicative nominative, however, which is a noun or pronoun that performs a similar function. In the sentence “The tall woman is a teacher,” the subject remains “The tall woman” and “is” continues to function as a linking verb. The nominative of the predicate “a teacher”, however, is a noun phrase. It does not describe the subject through an adjective, but restates what it is through a noun or pronoun.
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