Sometimes, a sentence has a compound predicate—two or more verbs sharing one subject. Like: “She jumped and screamed when she saw a spider.” The simple predicates are jumped and screamed. They’re a tag team.
Don’t let them fool you into thinking the object is part of the predicate. For instance, in “He ate the entire pizza,” the simple predicate is just ate. “The entire pizza” is the direct object—it’s what got eaten, not what did the eating. Poor pizza.
What about “is,” “are,” and “feels”? (The chill verbs)
Great question! Linking verbs like is, are, was, feels, or seems are also simple predicates. In “The cookies are magical,” the simple predicate is are. It’s not an action, but it links the subject to a description.
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Confession: I once argued with a grammar book about this. The book won. Sigh. So yes, “is” counts! It’s the quiet hero that holds everything together.
