Last lesson we learned that a predicate usually starts with a verb and so you might ask, why more jargon? Why not just say it's the same thing as a verb? Well, because it can contain more than just a verb. A predicate can contain nouns too, what we might call the "object."

For example:

Cats sing lullabies.

[Subject] Cats...
[Predicate] ...sing lullabies.

"Lullabies" isn't a verb. It's a noun. It's in the predicate. It's the object.

So, while nouns must show up as the subject, nouns can show up in the predicate as the object.

The sentence is still about [subject] cats but this time, we know a bit more about what they [verb] sing. They sing [object] lullabies.

Cats sing lullabies.
[subject] [verb] [object]
[subject] [predicate]

Subject, verb, object. Or more simply, subject, predicate. From this kernel of a clause, this basic simple sentence, we will start to layer on complexities.

See full diagram.

LET'S REVIEW

Many sentences in English take the form [subject] [verb] [object]. You can collapse the [verb] and the [object] into what we call [predicate] so that the sentence takes the form [subject] [predicate].