predicate

"to proclaim" or "make known"
In both grammar and logic, the predicate serves to make an assertion or denial about the subject of the sentence.

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.
(Eleanor Roosevelt)

direct object

"Direct objects are always noun phrases (or their equivalents, e.g., nominal clauses). The direct object of an active clause can typically become the subject of a passive clause:

Everybody hated the teacher.
(active: the teacher is direct object)

The teacher was hated by everybody.
(passive: the teacher is subject)"

"But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought."
(George Orwell)

"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
(Monty Python)

"We tell ourselves stories in order to live."
(Joan Didion)

"You can't test courage cautiously."
(Annie Dillard)

copula

"link"

"If it looks good, you'll see it. If it sounds good, you'll hear it. If it's marketed right, you'll buy it. But if it's real, you'll feel it."
(Kid Rock)

linking verb

A verb, such as a form of be or seem, that joins the subject of a sentence to a complement.

"It is always the best policy to speak the truth--unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar."
(Jerome K. Jerome)

"How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?"
(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four, 1890)

"If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself. Tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches."
(Rainer Maria Rilke)

"While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior."
(Henry C. Link)

"I became a feminist as an alternative to becoming a masochist."
(Sally Kempton)

complement

"to fill out"

The two kinds of complements are subject complements (which follow the verb be and other linking verbs) and object complements (which follow a direct object).

If it identifies the subject, the complement is a noun or pronoun; if it describes the subject, the complement is an adjective.


"Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality."
(Jules de Gaultier)

"Love is an exploding cigar we willingly smoke."
(Lynda Barry)

"Well, spring sprang. Thanks, Gaia. Much obliged. I guess it's time to get back to that daily routine of living we like to call normal."
(Northern Exposure, 1991)

"Libel actions, when we look at them in perspective, are an ornament of a civilized society."
(Henry Anatole Grunwald)

Adjective or Adverb

Adjective Placement
A wonderful old Italian clock. (opinion - age - origin)
A big square blue box. (dimension - shape - color)
A disgusting pink plastic ornament. (opinion - color - material)
Some slim new French trousers. (dimension - age - origin)

Using Adverbs
Do not use 'very' with adjectives that express an increased quality of a basic adjective Example: good - fantastic
NOT!!: She is a very beautiful woman.

Adjective or Adverb - Which to Use?

Joachim de Posada says, Don't eat the marshmallow yet

Richard St. John: "Success is a continuous journey"

1.passion 2.work 3.focus 4.push
5.ideas 6.improve 7.serve 8.persist

Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge

1. aware, feel, see the change
2. enable, imagine, be changed
3. empower, do, lead the change