Predicate vs Dictate - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between predicate and dictate

is that predicate is the part of the sentence (or clause) which states something about the subject or the object of the sentence while dictate is an order or command.

As verbs the difference between predicate and dictate

is that predicate is to announce or assert publicly while dictate is to order, command, control.

predicate

English

(wikipedia predicate)

Alternative forms

* (archaic)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) predicat (French , as Etymology 2, below.

Noun

(en noun)

(grammar) The part of the sentence (or clause) which states something about the subject or the object of the sentence.

In "The dog barked very loudly", the subject is "the dog" and the predicate is "barked very loudly".

In the light of this observation, consider Number Agreement in a sentence like:
(120) They'' seem to me [_S — to be ''fools''/^?''a fool'']
Here, the Predicate''' Nominal ''fools'' agrees with the italicised NP ''they'', in spite of the fact that (as we argued earlier) the two are contained in different Clauses at S-structure. How can this be? Under the NP MOVEMENT analysis of ''seem'' structures, sentences like (120) pose no problem; if we suppose that ''they'' originates in the — position as the subordinate Clause Subject, then we can say that the '''Predicate Nominal agrees with the ''underlying'' Subject of its Clause. How does ''they get from its underlying position as subordinate Clause Subject to its superficial position as main Clause Subject? By NP MOVEMENT, of course!

(logic) A term of a statement, where the statement may be true or false depending on whether the thing referred to by the values of the statement's variables has the property signified by that (predicative) term.

A nullary predicate''' is a proposition. Also, an instance of a ' predicate whose terms are all constant — e.g., P(2,3) — acts as a proposition.

A predicate can be thought of as either a relation (between elements of the domain of discourse) or as a truth-valued function (of said elements).

A predicate is either valid, satisfiable, or unsatisfiable.

There are two ways of binding a predicate''''s variables: one is to assign constant values to those variables, the other is to quantify over those variables (using universal or existential quantifiers). If all of a '''predicate' s variables are bound, the resulting formula is a proposition.

Thus, in (121) (a) persuade'' is clearly a ''three-place Predicate''''' — that is, a '''Predicate''' which takes three Arguments: the first of these Arguments is the Subject NP ''John'', the second is the Primary Object NP ''Mary'', and the third is the Secondary Object S-bar [''that she should resign'']. By contrast, ''believe'' in (121) (b) is clearly a ''two-place '''Predicate''''' (i.e. a '''Predicate which has two Arguments): its first Argument is the Subject NP ''John'', and its second Argument is the Object S-bar [''that Mary was innocent ].

(computing) An operator or function that returns either true or false.

Derived terms

* nominal predicative * predicatable * predicate calculus * predicative adjective * predicatively

Etymology 2

From (etyl) .

Verb

(predicat)

To announce or assert publicly.

(logic) To state, assert.

To suppose, assume; to infer.

* 1859 , Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities :

There was a character about Madame Defarge, from which one might have predicated that she did not often make mistakes against herself in any of the reckonings over which she presided.

* 1881 , Thomas Hardy, A Laodicean :

Of anyone else it would have been said that she must be finding the afternoon rather dreary in the quaint halls not of her forefathers: but of Miss Power it was unsafe to predicate so surely.

(originally US) To base (on); to assert on the grounds of.

* 1978 , Michel Foucault, The Will to Knowledge , trans. Robert Hurley (Penguin 1998, page 81):

The law is what constitutes both desire and the lack on which it is predicated .

External links

* * * English heteronyms ----

dictate

English

Noun

(en noun)

An order or command.

I must obey the dictates of my conscience.

Verb

(dictat)

To order, command, control.

* 2001 , Sydney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography , Cambridge University Press (ISBN 0-521-78512-X), page 409,

Trademark Owners will nevertheless try to dictate how their marks are to be represented, but dictionary publishers with spine can resist such pressure.

To speak in order for someone to write down the words.

She is dictating a letter to a stenographer.

The French teacher dictated a passage from Victor Hugo.

Derived terms

* dictation * dictator