What is a complete predicate in sentence?

Answer 1

The complete predicate is the verb phrase, meaning the main verb, any auxiliary verb(s), and the verb's complement.

Auxiliary verbs are modal auxiliaries (such as "may, must, could") and the verbs "have, be, do" used with lexical verbs - NOT "be" on its own.

A complement is anything required by the verb: direct objects, indirect objects, and prepositional arguments such as "(hit) by John" or "(ran) down the hill" or "(opened) with a key", but NOT "scene-setting" adverbials such as "in the morning" or purpose or manner ones such as "to pass the course" or "very quickly".

So, in the sentence

John gave the book to his brother for his birthday, "gave the book to his brother" is the complete predicate. "John" is the subject, and "for his birthday" is an adverbial. To test whether prepositional phrases are in the complement, try moving them to the front of the sentence. If you can, they are NOT in the complement:

For his birthday, John gave a book to his brother.

To his brother, John gave a book for his birthday.

The second sentence is only barely possible. The first one, however, is fine.