Clause Pattern: Subject – Verb – Subject Predicative (SVP_s )

Understanding the construction and use of the subject – verb – subject predicative clause pattern

This pattern consists of a subjectA noun phrase (a person or a thing) or a nominal clause normally placed before a verb phrase and which acts as the performer of the verb., a copular verbA verb which links a subject to a complement., and a subject predicativeA subject predicative complements a subject.. (Mouse over the sentences to see information about the syntax.)

Description of Subject

• The mimic octopussubject iscopular verb particularly cleversubject predicative. (Spencer and Papastamatiou 2022)     (info)The subject predicative is an adjective phrase.
• The atmospheresubject wascopular verb mostly nitrogen, carbon dioxide and no oxygensubject predicative . (Jordan 2019)     (info)The subject predicative is a noun phrase.
• Orangutanssubject arecopular verb very slow breederssubject predicative . (Meijaard, Voigt, and Wich 2018)     (info)The subject predicative is a noun phrase.
• The virussubject wascopular verb aggressive and lethalsubject predicative . (Roossinck 2020)     (info)The subject predicative is an adjective phrase.

Description of Change in Subject

• These wingssubject then gradually becamecopular verb more powerful and covered in featherssubject predicative and were eventually used to fly . (Wills 2020)      (info)The subject predicative is an adjective phrase.
• But as people used more and more paper, ragssubject grewcopular verb scarcesubject predicative. (Law 2021)      (info)The subject predicative is an adjective phrase.
• Inventors Francis and Freelan Stanleysubject, twin brothers becamecopular verb automaking pioneerssubject predicative after they improved photographic technology . (Stewart and Yohe 2022)    (info)The subject predicative is a noun phrase.

Definition and Identification

• Gelotophobiasubject iscopular verb an intense fear of being laughed atsubject predicative . (Barker 2017)      (info)Definition: subject predicative is a noun phrase.
• In the late 1700s, Englishman William Addissubject wascopular verb the first to sell toothbrushes on a large scalesubject predicative . (Jordan 2019)      (info)Identification: subject predicative is a noun phrase.
• The world’s largest nuclear power plantsubject iscopular verb the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station in Japansubject predicative . (Wu 2021)      (info)Identification: subject predicative is a noun phrase.
• Energysubject iscopular verb the capacity for something to do worksubject predicative . (Baron 2021)    (info)Definition: subject predicative is a noun phrase.