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Hello.

I have been studying Arguments and Predicate when I noticed that there are two different views over Predicators: Some say that it is the main verb of the Predicate, others say that it is the finite verb while others say that it is both the finite and auxiliary verbs.

  1. I have been doing it - Predicator: "doing";

  2. I have been doing it - Predicator: "have";

  3. I have been doing it - Predicator: "have been doing";

According to the representation above and bearing in mind that all representations might be correct to different perspectives, which one seems more accurate regarding most modern theories of grammar?

Davyd
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1 Answers1

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The predicate is everything other than the subject, and the predicator is everything in the predicate other than (direct or indirect) objects or (adverbial) adjuncts. The predicator is a string of verbals, which may include a modal and may include (aspectual or voicing) auxiliaries and verb participles, or a simple verb.

The word 'predicator' began to be used in the 1960's, to distinguish the verbal group from other parts of the predicate, and to refer to the semantic qualities of those verbals, rather than Part-Of-Speech.

No less than Terry Winograd, in his volume on Syntax, uses two different versions of predicator (in chapter 6): like your 3rd example, the predicator may mean the entire Verbal Group (that which predicates); or like your 1st example, it may mean just the action (the non-auxiliary verbal -- in your case, a participle). It does not mean the first verbal, like your 2nd example, as that is better described as the head verbal, or the finite verb.

AmI
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  • Hey, Aml. I think you didn't understand my question completely; Predicate is what you talked about, but Predicator is different from it. – Davyd Aug 25 '17 at 20:55
  • Please read the whole answer. – AmI Aug 25 '17 at 20:58
  • Your view over Predicator looks pretty much like the view over Predicate. Anyway, I got it. You then would go for the third alternative: I have been doing it - Predicator: "have been doing". Correct? – Davyd Aug 25 '17 at 21:03
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    That's right. It's as though the brain uses a small unit to store the mode, tense and aspect, with a link to an infinite verb (null for a copula) - this is the predicator. Nested beside it are the optional [links to] objects and adjuncts. Together these form a predicate, and a list of predicates attaches to a subject. – AmI Aug 25 '17 at 21:15
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    With the Wikipedia article on predicate stating 'Some theories of grammar seek to avoid the confusion generated by the competition between the two predicate notions by acknowledging predicators', an answer needs to be more than an unsupported 'This is how it is'. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 25 '17 at 22:04
  • Thanks Aml and Edwin. According to both of your comments, it might be seen from different views according to the used theory. – Davyd Aug 28 '17 at 14:19
  • The Wikipedia on 'predicate' is misleading: It starts by giving the same definition for the classical and analytical versions, and later it makes some mistakes in the examples of matrix predicates (confusing arguments and adverbials). The 'subject' is quite different from the other arguments, in that it equates to a topic which heads a memory list of many predicates, whereas other arguments are nested within those predicates. See Wikipedia 'predicator' for the definition that I used: the verbals inside the predicate (either version), excluding any arguments or adverbials. – AmI Aug 28 '17 at 19:55