THE PREDICATOR (P)
The Predicator is the clause element present in all major types of clause, including the imperative (in which the subject is not usually present in English).
The predicator is the clause function that largely determines the remaining structure of the clause, by virtue of being intransitive, transitive or copular.
The predicator may constitute the whole of the predicate, as in The plane landed, or part of it, as in The plane landed on the runway. It:
• is identified by position in relation to the subject.
• is realized by finite lexical (e.g. waits), primary (was) and non-finite (waiting)verbs.
• Finiteness is often carried by an auxiliary verb – such as is, was – to specify tense (past/present) and voice (be + -en), and is then followed by the predicator (is making, was made). For the Finite–Subject relation in interrogative structures.
Semantically, the predicator encodes the following main types of ‘process’:
• material processes of ‘doing’ with verbs such as make, catch, go;
• mental processes of ‘experiencing’, with cognitive verbs of perception (e.g. see), cognition (know), affectivity (like) and desideration (hope);
• relational processes of ‘being’ with verbs such as be and belong.
These, and certain subsidiary types. The following text illustrates realizations of the Predicator:
It [the Valley of the Kings] lies about six hundred kilometers south of Cairo, the present-day capital of Egypt, near the Nile.1 Across the river is the city of Luxor,2 once called Thebes and one of the greatest capitals of the ancient world.3 This dusty, dried up river valley is the most magnificent burial ground in the world.4 During the second millennium B.C., Egyptian workers quarried a series of tombs beneath this valley,5 decorating them with mysterious predictions of the underworld6 and filling them with treasures.7 There, with infinite care and artistry, they laid out the mummified and bejewelled bodies of their rulers8 and surrounded them with their belongings,9 making the valley one of the greatest sacred sites in history.10
(Gerald O’Farrell, The Tutankhamun Deception)
