What is the nature of the predicate

There are two competing notions of the predicate in theories of grammar. The first concerns traditional grammar, which tends to view a predicate as one of two main parts of a sentence, the other part being the subject; the purpose of the predicate is to complete an idea about the subject, such as what it does or what it is like. 

I'm guessing a 'fragment'. read over the sentence and question again before you move on.