In some descriptions of grammar, small clauses are minimal predicate structures: they possess arguments and predicates

Predicate (grammar)

There are two competing notions of the predicate in theories of grammar. Traditional grammar tends to view a predicate as one of two main parts of a sentence, the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies. The other understanding of predicates is inspired from work in predicate calculus...

 but no tense

Grammatical tense

A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...

. Small clauses usually occur within the context of full clause

Clause

In grammar, a clause is the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. In some languages it may be a pair or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in other languages in certain clauses the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun phrase,...

s and may act as the direct object of the verb

Verb

A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...

. In the examples below, the small clause is italicized. Note that a verb is not necessary and that there is no tense.

• Robert painted the house blue.
• We consider Mary intelligent.
• Abby saw Patrick eat the cake.
• Eating too much cake makes me sick.