The predicate is the part<span> of the clause or </span>sentence<span> that says something about the subject. In other words, the </span>part<span> of the </span>sentences<span> that is not the subject and its modifiers is the predicate. A predicate can be one word or several words, not all of which are verbs. The principal </span>part<span> of the predicate is the verb.</span>
Uncomfortable, although the original definition of frightful, in this context I do believe that it is meaning uncomfortable because of the word "squash".
"But the rose-colour swiftly faded." I emphasize with this phrase/quote as it symbolises that the warmth of the colour rose was fading away, which shows that something dreadful had occured for this to happen. The verb "swiftly" means quickly showing a quite similarity of someones life ending. Comparing to the rest of the extract this phrase shows how the sky was drained out of its colour. This phrase implies the sky is slowly loosing its happy touch which gives off some sort of hope to the reader.
"The couple had no one to help them"