Precede, proceed.Commonly confused, these similar words di er in meaning. “Precede” means come before proceed means to continue or move in procession. Predicate. Everything in a sentence that is not the subjectis the predicate verb, object, predicate adjective or noun (subject complement), and related words. The door is open to the balcony, which overlooks the shining bay of Naples and the scattered islands that ring the harbor.” In the example all the words from is to the end are parts of the predicate. With inversion or other orders of words possible and common in English, predicates don’t always follow subjects Is it true that time is up The predicate in the main sentence in this example equals everything but “it” in the subordinate clause beginning with that the predicate equals is up.” Besides the simple agreement requirements between subject and predicate—that verbs, predicate adjectives and pronouns, and subject complements match the subject in number and person—it is important that subject and predicate match in a more general way. They need to refer to the same thing or same order of thing. WRONG: “The reason I woke up is John made noise A reason and a person are not really equivalent or of the same order. BETTER The reason I woke up is that John made noise A reason can be a clauseexplaining something, as in the example. Mismatches between sentence elements happen most often with forms of “be” the linking verb and a common weak spot in sentences. Combining be with “when” “where,” or “because” is another weak writing move and often the sign of a predicate mismatch. WRONG Sleep is when it is quiet Not really sleep doesn’t equal a time or condition of silence, though it might happen then. BETTER I sleep when it is quiet Sleep comes tome when it is quiet Sleep is best at times of quiet There are many more variants that are clearer than the wrong example. Look for linking verbs and other signals in all your sentences, and revise with care to ensure that subject and predicate agree and match grammatically and in terms of general sense. See also phrases for more explanation of the
