The predicate is the part of the sentence that contains the verb. The subject is NOT
part of the predicate. This part of the sentence tells you something about the subject, but
it is NOT the subject. “The sleek, brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.” The simple
SUBJECT is: “The fox.” The whole subject includes which fox we are talking about. Not
just any fox! “The sleek brown fox” is the WHOLE SUBJECT. The PREDICATE is the part
of the sentence that contains the verb: “Jumped over the lazy dog”
Subjects can be long and complicated, and so can predicates. If you want to find the
subject, look for the VERB and find WHO or WHAT is performing the action. Then you have
the SUBJECT. If you want to find the PREDICATE, look at the part of the sentence that is NOT
the subject, and CONTAINS THE VERB!
Try another sentence: “The world champion swimmer, Michael Phelps, inspired a whole
generation of young athletes.” Simple subject: can you find it? SWIMMER. Predicate: can you
find it? Where’s the verb? The predicate is: inspired a whole generation of swimmers.