_Corn growing_ lacks the asserting word, and _Corn_
is lacks the word denoting the idea to be asserted.
In logic, the asserting word is called the _copula_--it shows that the two
ideas are coupled into a thought--and the word expressing the idea asserted
is called the predicate. But, as one word often performs both offices, e.
g., Corn _grows_, and, as it is disputed whether any word can assert
without expressing something of the idea asserted, we pass this distinction
by as not essential in grammar, and call both that which asserts and that
which expresses the idea asserted, by one name--the predicate. [Footnote:
We may call the verb the predicate; but, when it is followed by a
complement, it is an incomplete predicate.]
The _maple leaves become_. The verb become does not make a complete
predicate; it does not fully express the idea to be asserted. The idea may
be completely expressed by adding the adjective _red_, denoting the quality
we wish to assert of leaves, or attribute to them--_The maple leaves become
red_.
_Lizards are reptiles_. The noun _reptiles_, naming the class of the
animals called lizards, performs a like office for the asserting word are.
_Rolfe's wife was Pocahontas_. _Pocahontas_ completes the predicate by
presenting a second idea, which _was_ asserts to be identical with that of
the subject.
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