Understanding Predicate Adjectives

Study Notes

A predicate adjective is a descriptive adjective that comes after a helping or linking verb and provides crucial details about the subject in a sentence.
Example: "That great white shark looks hungry." The adjective "hungry" is the predicate adjective that describes the subject.
Helping verbs and linking verbs are used to express the tense, mood, or voice of the main verb in a sentence.
Primary helping verbs in English include: to be, to have, and to do.
Linking verbs include: become, feel, get, grow, keep, look, prove, remain, seem, smell, sound, stay, taste.
Predicate adjectives are different from predicate nominatives (predicate nouns), which rename the subject of the sentence.
Predicate adjectives are also different from attributive adjectives, which come before the noun they modify.
Some adjectives can only be used as attributive adjectives, such as elder, little, live, main, mere, and sole.
Predicate adjectives can be used to modify or describe the subject of a sentence with linking verbs like feel, get, grow, look, seem, smell, taste, sound, prove, stay, keep, remain.
Some common examples of predicate adjectives: especially beautiful in the winter snow, tall (NBA basketball players), and happy, confident, proud, and excited in various contexts.
Some adjectives can only be used as predicate adjectives, such as ablaze, afire, afloat, afraid, aghast, aglow, alert, alive, alone, aloof, ashamed, asleep, awake, aware, fond, and unaware.
Predicate adjectives are used to modify or describe the subject of a sentence, while attributive adjectives come before the noun they modify.
Helping verbs help express the tense, mood, or voice of the main verb, while linking verbs connect the subject and predicate (noun or adjective).
Some common linking verbs include feel, get, grow, look, prove, remain, seem, smell, sound, stay, taste.
Helping verbs include to be (am, is, are, was, were, being, been, will be), to have (has, have, had, having, will have), and to do (do, does, did, will do).