Glossary
predicate nominative
A predicate nominative is a noun or pronoun after a linking verb that renames the subject, as in "Ms. Okafor is the charge nurse".
A predicate nominative — also called a predicate noun — is the noun or pronoun that follows a linking verb and renames the subject. In Ms. Okafor is the charge nurse, Ms. Okafor is the subject, is is the linking verb, and the charge nurse is the predicate nominative: the two name the same person.
The pronoun test is what a test question usually turns on, because both sides of a linking verb take the same case. It was she who called is formal standard English, not it was her, because the pronoun after be is a subject form, like the subject it renames. Informal speech prefers the object form, which is why the question appears at all.
Linking verbs are be and its forms, plus seem, appear, become, remain and the sensory verbs feel, look, smell, taste, sound. Each of those can also act, and the word after it decides which reading is right: the drink tasted bitter describes the subject, so it is a predicate adjective, while the nurse tasted the drink acts on an object.
Taught in
Related terms
- predicate adjective — A predicate adjective is an adjective after a linking verb that describes the subject, as in "the dressing was loose", and it takes no object.
- direct object — A direct object is the noun or pronoun that receives an action verb — the answer to "what?" or "whom?" after the verb.
- indirect object — An indirect object is the noun or pronoun that receives the direct object — the "to whom?" or "for whom?" — and it appears only when a direct object is already there.
Source: The grammar guide in this course, whose conventions follow the US Government Publishing Office's Style Manual for standard written American English, with standard grammar references for agreement, case, tense and sentence structure. The GPO manual is US federal government material, not subject to copyright in the United States. Every definition and example above was written for this course; no reference text is reproduced. (GPO Style Manual accessed 2026-10-27; definitions written 2026-10-27)