Could it be argued that 'the girl' is the subject and 'said "She is beautiful'" is the predicate?
Rover
***** NOT A TEACHER *****
(1) Teacher Rover and Member Afit have both given us much food for thought.
(2) The answer seems to depend on which authority you choose to believe.
YES
(3) Dorothy said, "My mother's on the phone."
(a) "In some respects the direct speech functions as a subordinate clause."
(b) The direct speech seems to be a
direct object [my emphasis].
(c)
On the other hand [my emphasis]
, we can view the reporting clause
["Dorothy said"} as subordinate, functioning as an adverbial.
SOURCE: Randolph Quirk et al.
A Comprehensive Grammar of the English
Language (1985), pp. 1022 - 1023.
NO
(4) "You have until six o'clock tonight to make up your mind," he said brusquely.
(a) "The parenthetical quoting expression
he said brusquely may be disregarded
in analyzing the statement
You have until six o'clock to make up your mind."
SOURCE: R.W. Pence and D.W. Emery.
A Grammar of Present-Day English
(1963), pages 142 - 143.