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Grammar: Predicates

I've noticed that certain programmers love grammar, so I hope you won't mind the following:

"The predicate is the subject of this sentence."

What's the subject? "The predicate" is the subject of this sentence.

What's the predicate? The predicate is "is the subject of this sentence."
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Comments

Brandon L. Golm said…
the mac says:

predicate: "the part of a sentence or clause containing a verb and stating something about the subject"

and the def for "subject" doesn't mention "predicate," which –– i guess –– breaks you out of the loop. You need an NP complete dictionary. ;-)
10:24 AM
jjinux said…
See how confusing it is? It's more fun when you do the joke in person. Here's the setup:

Please dissect the following sentence:

"The predicate is the subject of this sentence."

What is the predicate of the sentence?

What is the subject of the sentence?
10:54 AM
Lynalan said…
THE PREDICATE is the subject of this particular sentence and IS THE SUBJECT OF THIS SENTENCE is the predicate.

This is just a silly play on words.
11:12 PM
jjinux said…
> This is just a silly play on words.

I know ;)
1:21 PM
Brandon L. Golm said…
> I know ;)

See how he winked at you? That means he's kidding. It means he doesn't know.
6:32 PM
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