What is the predicate? The notion of predicate was introduced in the new programs of 2015. It is not a really new notion: Aristotle already spoke of a predicative relation. To put it simply, in a sentence there is the subject (what we are talking about) and the predicate (what we say about the subject) Example: in the sentence "the boat is leaving Concarneau", the boat is the subject, and the predicate is "leave Concarneau". The predicate is in a way the name given to the function of the verbal group. It makes it possible to make the distinction between the nature of the verbal group and its function. ..). The predicate contributes, for the analysis of the simple sentence, to relativize the importance of a large number of too technical terms, while allowing the student to have a clear principle of analysis: the French sentence is made up of two essential elements (the subject and the predicate), to which one can possibly add elements which are, for their part, movable or deletable”. To sum up, the approach aims to go from simple to more complex.
Alain FinkielkrautThe end of COD? Is the introduction of the predicate from cycle 3 (CM1, CM2, 6e) a simplification of grammar? Would it sign the end of the COD (direct object complement)? The CSP denies this: “The Council has not carried out any simplification of the grammar, the rules and principles of which remain unchanged (...). The concept is new in programs but not at all in grammar. The predicate does not replace the complements of the verb which continue to be studied systematically”. The identification of the COD is only pushed back in 5th. Why this controversy? A number of intellectuals have stepped up to denounce the predicate which, according to them, contributes to the race to the bottom. This is the case of Alain Finkielkraut, for whom the predicate "is not a concept but an abyss into which we drop all the distinctions that grammar has the function of naming and teaching students (... ). Unfortunately, the drop in the level of students corresponds to a drop in the level of education”. Politicians also got involved. “A new symbol of the drift of education which is moving away from common sense”, tweeted François Fillon. To which the CSP replied, in a press release, that it is, on the contrary, a question of allowing students to have "a better grammatical command at the end of compulsory education, in writing as well as in oral”. What do the teachers think? They are quite divided. A teacher from schools in Central Brittany, who wishes to remain anonymous, says he does not think well of it, while acknowledging that he has colleagues of a different opinion. “The predicate makes it possible to globalize all the complements without making any difference. This is a damaging simplification. I follow the instructions, but I do not adhere. “Blogger (“Charivari at school”) and teacher in CM2 in Sologne, Delphine Guichard understands the annoyance of teachers. “The problem is that they have not been accompanied at all”. But for her, the predicate is a good thing: “It's a simpler division of the sentence in the service of understanding and writing”. She recalls that in Quebec, where students have excellent results in the PISA surveys, this concept has been used for a long time.
Support professional writing at the service of Brittany and Bretons: subscribe from €1 per month. I subscribe in addition “A real concern for teachers” What do you think of this controversy over the predicate? It's a kind of seasonal crisis. Last year, at exactly the same time, some discovered that in the new programs, we were going to apply corrections in spelling. This year is the predicate. For me, this is obviously a political matter, an attack on the minister. That said, this specified background, there is real concern among teachers. How do you explain this concern? Initially, there is a problem of terminology. The majority of teachers do not know what the predicate is. They are confused because they are faced with a term that they are not used to using. From which class is the predicate studied? Officially, it must be studied in cycle 3 (CM1, CM2, 6e). But already in cycle 2, we have to work on it without telling the students what the predicate is. The predicate is important because it is the common thread of the new programs. The predicate is only a question of meaning. In the sentence “Brittany is a magnificent region”, there is the subject – “Brittany” – and the predicate – “is a magnificent region” – that is to say what I say about the subject. The problem is that to a syntactic analysis of the sentence, we add a semantic analysis. Difficult to explain to a child the difference between a subject of the verb and the subject of the sentence. But to start this controversy from there seems excessive to me. But is the predicate good for learning grammar? It starts with a good intention. We want to make the child aware that a sentence is not just anything, that it serves to convey meaning. But, once again, the problem is the terminological superposition of notions. This is why, in the manual in which I participated, we did the minimum. We introduced it in CM2 and skipped CM1 by making the work as simple as possible. Is this the end of COD (direct object complement), as some claim? The programs talk about a limitation of grammatical terminology, which for me is a good thing. But limitation is not prohibition. Those who say “it's over, we no longer have the right to study COD”, well no. It's wrong. In the new textbooks, we still speak of COD and COI (indirect object complement).
