The predicative is the significant part of the compound nominal predicate. It can be expressed in different ways:

#1. By a noun in the common case, occasionally by a noun in the possessive case

She is a pretty child. (Galsworthy)
The book is my sister’s.

#2. By an adjective.

He’s awfully dear and unselfish. (Galsworthy)

Very often the predicative expressed by an adjective in English does not correspond to an adjective in Russian. It often corresponds to an adverb, serving as an adverbial modifier. In this connection particular attention should be paid to the following verbs as they are very often used in everyday English: to look, to feel, to sound, to smell, to taste.

The dinner smells delicious.
When she got angry, her voice sounded shrill.
She looks bad.
He feels bad.
This orange tastes bitter.

#3. By a pronoun — personal, possessive, negative, interrogative, reflexive, indefinite, defining.

It was he.
The guns were his. (London)
You are nobody. (London)
Why? What is he? (Galsworthy)
But she was herself again, brushing her tears away. (Lindsay)

As a rule the pronoun in the function of a predicative is in the nominative case, but in Modern English there is a marked tendency to use personal pronouns in the objective case, especially the personal pronoun I.

It’s me, Matt. (Lindsay)
Someone said, “That’s him!”

#4. By a word of the Category of State

He was aware all the time of the stringy tie beneath the mackintosh, and the frayed sleeves… (Greene)
But I’m afraid I can’t keep the man. (Galsworthy)

#5. By a numeral, cardinal or ordinal.

I’m only 46. (Shaw)
Mr. Snodgrass was the first to break the astonished silence. (Dickens)

#6. By a prepositional phrase.

The things were outside her experience. (Wells)
After all, the little chap was on the side of the Capital. (Galsworthy)

#7. By an infinitive, infinitive phrase, or an infinitive construction.

June’s first thought was to go away. (Galsworthy)
His first act was to bolt the door on the inside. (Dickens)
The best thing is for you to move in with me. (Abrahams)

#8. By a gerund, gerundial phrase, or gerundial construction.

My favourite sport is swimming.
The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manners for all human souls. (Shaw)
The topic of their conversation was their going on an expedition.

#9. By Participle II or very seldom Participle I; the latter is generally adjectivized.

He was surprised at the sound of his own voice. (London)
Here was change, indeed! I fell back astounded in my chair. (Buck) It is very distressing to me, sir, to give this information. (Dickens) The moment was soothing to his sore spirit. (Sanborn)

#10. By an Adverb.

That was all. It was enough the way she said it. (Sanborn)

Besides the predicative referring to the subject, another type of predicative referring to the object can be found in English. It is generally called the Objective Predicative. It expresses the state or quality of the person or thing denoted by the object and is generally expressed by a noun, an adjective, a word denoting state, or a prepositional phrase.

He appointed Bush secretary in his stead. (Swift)
Lord and Lady Masham… left him alone with them. (Swift)
In a few minutes I came to myself and he carried me safe to my little nurse. (Swift)
They painted the door green.

The Objective Predicative does not form part of the predicate, in this case, the predicate is simple.