Subject Predicate of exclamation sentences

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modakindia

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Dear Sir,

What a bright day it is !

I would like to know the Subject and Predicate of the aforesaid sentence.

I also would like to know the rule to determine Subject and Predicate of such sentence.

With Best Regards,


[Swarup Modak]
 
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PaulMatthews

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What a bright day it is!

The subject is the dummy pronoun "it" and the predicate is "is what a bright a day". The distinguishing feature of exclamatives like this is that they have an exclamative phrase containing "what" or "how", which can be subject or non-subject:

(1) What unpleasant people work in this place. [subject]
(2) How strange a creature lives here! [subject]

(3) What awful weather we're having! [non-subject; object of "having"]
(4) How enjoyable the concert was! [non-subject; subjective predicative complement]

An exclamative subject occupies its basic position before the verb, as in (1) and (2), while an exclamative non-subject is obligatorily fronted, as in (3) and (4). Notice how the non-subject exclamative in (3) is object of "having" and predicative complement in (4).
 

TheParser

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NOT A TEACHER


Hello,

What a great question that is!

That = subject.
is = (linking) verb.
a great question = the complement.
"what" modifies the complement ("a great question").

Source: Paul Roberts, Understanding English (1954), page 303.


P.S. May I make a gentle suggestion? You are a new member, so you did not know this: Please do not address the teachers as "Sir." Some of the teachers are women.
 
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