Question

Which word in the sentence is a predicate adjective? Please explain why along with the answer.

A ripe melon should be heavy and should have a sweet and pleasant smell.

A. pleasant
B. heavy
C. smell
D. sweet

Answer 1

B.

Explanation:

This is a compound sentence there are two predicates:

"should be" and "should have"

"Should be" is a state of being verbal predicate.

Heavy describes what it "should be", so heavy is a predicate adjective.

"Should have" is not a state of being, so "have" has an object, not a predicate adjective.

I have a bike.

What do I have? A bike. The bike is the object not a descriptor of have.

So in this sentence the object of the sentence is smell and sweet and pleasant are adjectives that describe the smell.