英文文法: “Go to School”语法分析，“谓语”定义
Source: Zhihu
(prepared by: alexcwlin; edited by: Adam Lam)

Question:
I go to school.到底是怎么结构，什么成分？

说法一：
主语I
谓语go
状语to school

说法二：
主语I
谓语go to
宾语school

到底哪个说法才是正确的？

alexcwlin comments:

A.     Which is correct? #1, #2, or Both
#1 is correct.

#2 is correct only if “go to” can be a Transitive Phrasal Verb.

But it can’t.

This is what the grammarians say (this is only 1 example and there are others who share the same view):

“Some verbs, such as arrive, go, lie, sneeze, sit, and die, are always intransitive”
https://www.chompchomp.com/terms/intransitiveverb.htm

Therefore “go to” cannot be a Transitive Verb and “school” cannot be an Object.

Analysis of #1 is as follows:

Subject: “I” (Pronoun)
Predicate: “go to school”, further analysed as follows:

a.      Predicate Verb: “go” (Intransitive Verb);

b.      Prepositional Adverbial Phrase: “to school” (with “to” as the Preposition and “school” as Object of the Preposition, modifying the Verb “go” by giving information where “go” is heading.

B.     “谓语” 的定义
You define “go” as “谓语”, and “to school” as “状语”.

Grammatically, “谓语” should be “go” + “to school”, not just “go”.

This is the definition of “Predicate” from one source (there are others which are consistent with this one):

“The predicate is the part of a sentence (or clause) that tells us what the subject does or is. To put it another way, the predicate is everything that is not the subject.” (https://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/predicate.htm)

Another way of looking at the definition is “Predicate” is the “Verb” and all the modifiers, Objects, etc. that  comes with it.

Therefore “谓语” here is “go” (Predicate Verb) + “to school” (Prepositional Adverbial Phrase), and not just “go” alone.

The reason why I want to raise this is because I have seen many other students who see “谓语” as the Verb only and not the whole ball of wax other than the Subject.

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