In a sentence or clause, the predicate refers to the part which expresses what is said of the subject. It usually consists of a verb with or without objects, complements, or adverbial modifiers.
There are the following types of the predicate: (1) The Simple Predicate, consisted in a verb in some tense, voice, person, number and mood, (2) The Compound Verbal Modal Predicate, which consists of a modal verb plus the Infinitive, (3) The Compound Verbal Aspect Predicate, which consists of a verb denoting the beginning, the continuation or the end of the action plus the Infinitive or the Gerund and (4) The Compound Nominal Predicate, that consists of a link-verb and a predicative (the nominal part) which can be expressed with different parts of speech.
In The particular sentence<em> “After Mary graduated, she was offered a promotion at her job”</em> the predicate would be the underlined: After Mary graduated, she <u>was offered a promotion at her job</u>”.  
This particular sentence could be considered as an example of the last type of predicate described above, The Compound Verbal Aspect Predicate, since it consists of a link-verb and a nominal part expressed with different parts of speech.
 
        
             
        
        
        
Answer:
The answer would be "A short story". 
A short story would have the following characteristics: 
Exposition:	Introduction over a few paragraphs or sentences at the beginning.
Rising Action:	One or two main events involving few characters over several paragraphs.
Climax:	Protagonist makes a decision to solve the conflict.
Falling Action:	Protagonist experiences the effects of the decision.
Dénouement:	Protagonist learns a lesson. This may be expressed over a few paragraphs or sentences at the end. The end is often surprising to the reader.
Length of Story:	Several pages.
 
        
             
        
        
        
In order to answer this question you must read the book, but my answer (meaning don't copy paste change a few things) is: 
  In Act I of The Phantom Tolbooth the time plays an important role, the Clock says, "Time is important, but it's what you do with it that makes it so." The author thinks you need to take advantage of time and use it wisely. The characters the Whether man and the Watchdog are both examples of characters that take advantage of time.
 The Whether man is an example of a character that illustrates the author's point of view which is that you should take advantage of time and use it wisely. The Whether man has a job to do, and he does it well. His career is to hurry people beyond expectations whether they like it or not.
 The Watchdog is another character that values time. In the story, he says, "KILLING TIME? It's bad enough wasting time without killing it." This quote shows how much the author and the watchdog don't like wasting time. His job is to sniff around to make sure nobody is spending time.
 The lethargarians although they appear to do nothing, they are always following their schedule thus not wasting time. 
  In conclusion, the characters the Whether man, watchdog, and even the lethargrians illustrate how to take advantage of time.