Quick Poll: Without looking it up, can you define and identify a predicate adjective?

[praisefor3]

I know I will get complaints because I'm not going to put an "other" category in the poll. If you think you can "get close" to what a predicate adjective is then your answer is no.

 

I use Rod & Staff grammar. Love it. I do slow it down once it gets to Book 5 and use it for later grades. But I have to admit, if I was using R&S especially in 5th grade, the study of predicate adjectives and the diagramming of predicate adjectives is truly quite complicated. I see it in my son's face as he is glazing over. And I am thinking...I made as high on the ACT in grammar that you can make...and I truly don't think anyone ever taught me what a predicate adjective is. So today when we studied predicate adjectives I decided to make "exposure" the most I was going to expect from him. And, frankly, I'm just not sure how much I will be pushing these kinds of details even in high school or expecting true retention. (For the record, my oldest did R&S through book 8 and she also scored at the top in Grammar on the ACT but I'm not sure it was because she learned about predicate adjectives!)

 

I'm just curious...am I the only one who has to reread what a predicate adjective is every time I see it?

[coffeegal]

Yes, but that's what a couple of my kids are studying right now. I've been drilling it lately. :lol:

[Parrothead]

Yes. Thanks to First Language Lessons I can identify and define a predicate adjective.

[Slartibartfast]

Yes. Thanks to First Language Lessons I can identify and define a predicate adjective.

 

Yup! We use it too. :)

[regentrude]

No. Not something I have ever needed. I am pretty sure I can use it correctly, which is all I care about.

[Perry]

Yes. But I didn't know it until I started homeschooling my kids. :)

[Tap]

Yes. Thanks to First Language Lessons I can identify and define a predicate adjective.

 

:iagree:

 

Almost all the grammar I learned....I learned as a homeschool mom.

[Mrs Mungo]

Yes. Thanks to First Language Lessons I can identify and define a predicate adjective.

 

:iagree:

[tmulcahy]

Because we are in Classical Converstations, I can define a predicate adjective : )

 

Before homeschooling my kiddos I can honestly tell you that the answer would have been NO.

[Julie Smith]

I couldn't. But I knew the term was grammar related.

 

The only thing I remember from school in the study of Grammar is grade 7. Our teacher got really mad at the class for not knowing grammar. Then wrote a sentence on the board to diagram. (I didn't even know what that was at the time). She called a student up to the board to diagram it. The student couldn't do it. No one in the class had a clue how to.

 

The teacher then threw the chalk board eraser across the room yelled and left the room. A student then open the little class room window. (Big window, only a little section could open) and then proceeded to squirm out of the class room window.

 

I haven't started Grammar with my kids. I wouldn't be using the same method as my grade 7 teacher.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I'm hazy on it's strict definition and usage now. But when I was doing language study in my postgraduate study, I needed to know all of these terms and how to use them.

[Caitilin]

Yes, but I call it a subject complement, and find it easy to grasp because the the adjective *completes* the idea of the subject.

 

Thanks, MCT!:D

 

(before MCT, I called it a predicate nominative, which I still think is clearer than pred. adj.)

Edited September 15, 2011 by Caitilin

[Aquinas Academy]

 

Almost all the grammar I learned....I learned as a homeschool mom.

Same with me. I can define and identify a predicate adjective.

[LidiyaDawn]

I knew what a "predicate" was, and I knew what an "adjective" was…so I guess that a "predicate adjective" was an adjective that played some sort of importance in the predicate… turns out it's an adjective that IS the predicate. I was close. :D

 

A predicate adjective is an adjective that functions as a predicate, such as "Ivano is attractive", attractive being the predicate adjective.

[WeeBeaks]

I wouldn't have known it if we hadn't been doing it in FLL3 lately. But right this minute I know it quite well. ;)

 

My DS got it pretty easily in FLL. If your son is struggling with it, is there another way you can explain it maybe?

[Hsmomto4]

I can, but only because we are in R&S 5 :D However, my daughter seems to pick them out pretty well as long as she asked her helping questions. Like For the sentence "The doughnuts smelled delicious." She starts by asked what smelled delicious? The doughnuts. Then she says what did the doughnuts do? The smelled. And then she says the doughnuts smelled what? delicious.

[Janie Grace]

Nope. And I aced the SAT verbal section, got almost a perfect score on the English Language achievement test, top English student in my high school, and was a professional editor later in life. Don't know what it is, off-hand, and don't really care. But then again, I'm a rebel like that. ;)

[Corraleno]

Yes, but I call it a subject complement, and find it easy to grasp because the the adjective *completes* the idea of the subject.

 

Thanks, MCT!:D

 

(before MCT, I called it a predicate nominative, which I still think is clearer than pred. adj.)

 

Predicate nominative and predicate adjective are not the same thing. They are both subject complements.

 

He is a farmer. "farmer" = predicate nominative (it's a noun)

He is tall. "tall" = predicate adjective (it's an adjective)

 

Jackie

[craftyerin]

Yes.

 

The clown is funny.

 

I didn't know that until I taught grammar, though (Shurley, at a private classical school, 3rd grade). If I learned it in school myself, it didn't stick.

[Caitilin]

Predicate nominative and predicate adjective are not the same thing. They are both subject complements.

 

He is a farmer. "farmer" = predicate nominative (it's a noun)

He is tall. "tall" = predicate adjective (it's an adjective)

 

Jackie

 

Well, yes, they are both SCs, but I would say too that they are both PNs--in the sense of nominative case. I am thinking of my Latin here, I admit, but for me, it was easier to think of both the "farmer" and the "tall" as part of the nominative case. :001_smile: I think we are fundamentally in agreement.

[crazyforlatin]

Yes, but it's a term that I often use now due to teaching Latin.

[NanceXToo]

I knew what a "predicate" was, and I knew what an "adjective" was…so I guess that a "predicate adjective" was an adjective that played some sort of importance in the predicate… turns out it's an adjective that IS the predicate. I was close. :D

 

This.

[PinkInTheBlue]

Thanks to Analytical Grammar, I can. :) It was easier and stuck better than R&S for us.

[GailV]

Yes. But I didn't know it until I started homeschooling my kids. :)

:iagree: It was in this week's lesson in JAG, so it's fresh in my mind.

[Tree House Academy]

We also use R&S grammar 5 and I remember that glazed over look last Spring when we came to that part.

 

For us, predicate nominative, demonstrative, etc. were the tough ones. My son wasn't getting the connection of demonstrative = demonstrate. It just wasn't clicking. He took the test, scored a "c" and we moved on. He will hit it again over the years and I am not going to worry about that right now.

 

I have a bachelors in English and was an Editor/Tech writer and let me say that R&S in the elementary grades has occasionally taught ME a few things! It is tough stuff!

Edited September 16, 2011 by Tree House Academy

[Retired]

Thanks to Analytical Grammar, I can. :) It was easier and stuck better than R&S for us.

 

another thanks to analytical grammar and CLE

[6packofun]

Yep. I literally learned this last year at the age of 38. LOL!

[sassenach]

 

Almost all the grammar I learned....I learned as a homeschool mom.

 

:iagree:

 

Thanks, Phonics Road!

[Melissa in Australia]

even with looking it up I still cannot identify it

[Just Robyn]

Yes! I specifically remember learning that in one of the TESOL focused linguistics classes I took in college.

[Denisemomof4]

:iagree:

 

Almost all the grammar I learned....I learned as a homeschool mom.

 

:iagree:

[gardenmom5]

I said 'no' because I had few decent teachers (i can remember one good english teacher - I'm positive she had a classics background) and haven't gotten there yet with my little one.

 

dd can easily, and all its relatives - but she learned them in a dead langauge class in college. she's rather irked she didn't learn it in high school english class.

[Little Nyssa]

I only know because I had Latin in 7th grade.

[Rhonda in TX]

Thanks to Rod and Staff I can. Before I started homeschooling? No.

[OrganicAnn]

It is not something that I was ever taught, but I could pick it out in a multiple choice question.

[Mommyfaithe]

Yep, CLE LA teaches predicate adjectives in 4th grade and every year thereafter.

 

DD and I race eachother to see who can diagram the sentences quickest and most accurately. We are about tied. :D

[angela in ohio]

Yep.

 

I didn't miss a single question on my ACT English section (scored a 36) twice. I credit some really tough junior high grammar teachers and high school Latin. I am using R&S with my kiddos (and doing Latin,) because I want them to have the same complete grasp of the English language.

 

In the co-op writing and Latin courses I teach, PN/PA and IO/DO are some of the biggest trouble spots I see.

[Barb_]

Can I just say, I loved being able to answer yes? The fun thing about grammar is knowing something most people do not.

[angela in ohio]

Predicate nominative and predicate adjective are not the same thing. They are both subject complements.

 

He is a farmer. "farmer" = predicate nominative (it's a noun)

He is tall. "tall" = predicate adjective (it's an adjective)

 

Jackie

 

:iagree:

[JudyJudyJudy]

Yes. I had strict, thorough language arts teachers when I was in school.

[HRAAB]

Yes, thanks to Sr. Jean, my 9th gr. English teacher (never thought I would thank her for anything - she was tough). I'm amazed at how much I remembered from her English class.

[elegantlion]

We learned predicate adjective and predicate nominative in Latin for Children. When I say we, I mean ds and I both learned at the same time. :D

[Teachin'Mine]

I never even heard the term until homeschooling. I had to look it up as I had forgotten what it is. :tongue_smilie: Hopefully dd still remembers.

[Guest submarines]

Some things that require lots of work in grade 5, become quite easy to understand later in life.

 

I had to look up the predicate adjective definition several months ago. I didn't have to work at it to understand the term and its meaning and commit it to memory. My grammar foundations are quite strong, in several languages, though. (English being my weakest, I'd say :lol:). Effortless and instantenous. I wouldn't worry if he doesn't get it now. When he needs it, he will google it. DH hopes, we will all be microchipped with an iPad like interface with internet access in the near future. :confused: :D

[myfunnybunch]

Yes. Thanks to First Language Lessons I can identify and define a predicate adjective.

 

Ditto.

 

Cat

[Scarlett]

Yes, but that's what a couple of my kids are studying right now. I've been drilling it lately. :lol:

 

Me too. It is the only reason I could say yes. I don't remember learning it in school.