Suggested answer for Exercise 5
Predicates are heads that take arguments. Depending on the number of arguments a predicate has, predicates can be classified into different groups like one-place predicates, two-place predicates, etc. A one-place predicate is a predicate with one argument. It can be a verb (1a), an adjective (1b), a noun (1c) or a preposition (1d). A two-place predicate is a predicate that takes two arguments like the noun in (2a), the verb (2b), the adjective (2c) or the preposition in (2d). A three-place predicate has three arguments. In (3a) the three-place predicate is a noun; in (3b) it is a verb.
| (1) | a. | John is sleeping. |
| b. | John is nice. | |
| c. | student of Linguistics | |
| d. | in the room | |
| (2) | a. | the enemy’s destruction of the city |
| b. | John hates pets. | |
| c. | John is afraid of dogs. | |
| d. | I want you out of my room. | |
| (3) | a. | Mary’s gift of a book to John. |
| b | John gave a book to Mary. |