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IN English language There is such a thing as a linking verb. Why did we decide to touch on this topic? Because most students think that a linking verb and an auxiliary verb are the same thing, however, this is not the case. To begin with, we note that the linking verb in different sources may sound differently in English: linking verbs, copulative verbs, state of being verbs or being verbs, but all these terms mean the same phenomenon.
Auxiliary verbs
As for the auxiliary verb, in English it sounds like an auxiliary verb and is necessary for the formation of interrogative and negative sentences. Each grammatical tense has its own auxiliary verbs, for example, in continuous tenses these are forms of the verb to be, in simple or indefinite tenses - do, and in perfect tenses - forms of the verb have. Auxiliary verbs are rarely found in affirmative sentences and are not translated into Russian - they seem to be there and they are not.
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As for the linking verb, it does not express the action of the subject, i.e. does not answer the question “what to do?” and is not a semantic verb. This type of verb connects the subject and the noun, adjective or pronoun that defines or characterizes it.
Linking verbs
English is the most common linking verb, and probably most students confuse the concepts of linking verb and auxiliary verb precisely because it is also an auxiliary. Here are examples of the linking verb to be in different tenses.
- I am hungry.
- She is a good doctor.
- The flowers were beautiful.
- That was a nice film.
- That man might have been a robber.
Linking verbs are in second place in popularity. seem And become. Concerning seem, then this verb is always a copula, and become- usually, but not always.
- Your sister seems clever. (linking verb: connects the words sister and clever)
- When she returns home she becomes a good mother and wife. (linking verb: connects she and mother and wife)
As a semantic verb become means “ fit, look good”:
- That dress certainly becomes her. – this dress definitely suits her.
is another popular verb that can serve as a semantic verb and a linking verb:
- I get to my office by bus. (semantic)
- She got pale when she heard the news. (ligament)
Ten English verbs that can be either semantic or linking verbs are: appear, turn, feel, prove, grow, sound, look, taste, smell, remain:
- The apples appear ripe. (ligament)
- He suddenly appeared from behind the tree. (semantic)
- I feel sick because of the nausea. (ligament)
- Feel the difference by tasting this sauce! (semantic)
- Poor Emma grew old. (ligament)
- We grow white roses in our garden. (semantic)
- Mother looked tired after working in the garden. (ligament)
- Jane looked under the bed but didn’t find her slips. (semantic)
- Her opinion proved right. (ligament)
- I proved my theory in a modern way. (semantic)
- Our relations remain neutral. (ligament)
- Little of my patience remained. (semantic)
- The cake smells delicious. (ligament)
- I smelled something rotten. (semantic)
- That music sounded strange to my ears. (ligament)
- The crew member sounded the alarm when it wasn’t necessary. (semantic)
- The meat tastes good. (ligament)
- I couldn't taste pepper in the meat balls. (semantic)
- She suddenly turned pale. (ligament)
- I turned right when reached the corner. (semantic)
How to determine what a particular verb is in a sentence?
If you're not sure which is a linking verb and which is a semantic verb, try this:
1. Replace the verb with a form of the verb “to be”, as in the sentence “The cake smells delicious = the cake is delicious.” Despite the fact that we replaced smells with is, the meaning remained the same, which suggests that smells in this case is a linking verb. If, as a result of such manipulation, the sentence acquires a new meaning or the sentence becomes meaningless, then it is a semantic verb.
2. Change the word order in the sentence according to the following pattern: The cake smells delicious = delicious smells the cake. It sounds a little strange, given that delicious is an adjective, but the original idea remains, which means smells is a linking verb.
As you delve deeper into the English language, you will learn to distinguish a linking verb from a semantic one, noting the connection between the subject and the verb. A linking verb forms a bridge between the subject and the word that defines or describes it. Semantic verbs involve the subject in action, forcing him in this case to do something.
Linking verbs (links) are semi-meaningful verbs that connect a subject with a nominal predicate (as a noun, adjective or pronoun). Instead of expressing an action, they help the complements of the subject (nominal predicate and adverbials) to rename (describe) the subject.
Bound nouns, adjectives or pronouns are sometimes called predicatives. Predicative nouns rename the subject. Predicative adjectives or pronouns describe the subject.
He is a good driver - He- gooddriver
The subject-predicative relationship is similar to the equal sign.
She is very tall / She = very tall – She= veryhigh
Basic connectives are verbs be in all forms ( am/is/are/was/were/being/been), seem, look, feel, smell, sound, become, remain, turn.
State verbs
act (act)
Let'snotactfoolish - Let's not be stupid
appear
The truth appeared so different – Truthturned out to beat allNotsuch
To be honest, the car is his – Bytruth, car-That- his
become (become)
When will you become mature? - WhensameYouyou'll grow up?
continue (continue)
Thisinjusticecontinuestoolong – This injustice has been going on for too long
grow (grow)
I’m sure, the tree will grow big – I’m sure, treewill increasebig
prove (to prove)
She was proven innocent – Herrecognizedinnocent
remain (stay)
Nothing remains the same in this world – NothingNotforeverVthisworld
sit (sit)
Sit quiet, please! - Sitquiet, Please!
stand (stand)
The criminal stood still when he saw a policeman – Criminalfrozeatformpoliceman
stay (stay)
Iwon'tstayyourcoachanymore – I will no longer remain your coach
turn (turn)
HeturnedbetterthanheSeemed – He turned out to be better than he seemed
Verbs of sensation
feel
It feels so good to be with you – Cyouis feltSoFine
look (look)
At first, the task looked difficult – Firsttasklookedcomplex
seem (seem)
The job seems as easy as ABCSeemseasiernowhere
smell (smell)
The soup smells delicious – Soupsmellstasty
sound
Itsoundshim - Sounds like it's him
taste (to taste)
Your bread tastes stale – OntasteYourbreadstale
say (speak)
The book says good about your guess – Bookconfirmsyoursguesses
Confusionwithligaments
Ligaments except be, become, seem can also serve as semantic verbs. Although the circumstances behind the connections may answer the question “what?” (as a direct object to transitive verbs), they do not receive action.
Thekidslookedbored – The children looked bored(ligament)
I looked for my wallet throughout the room – Iwas looking forwalletByallroom (semantic)
The car horn sounds loud – Car hornsoundsloud (ligament)
A horn is loud, it's a loud horn, a horn = loud.
The car horn sounded loudly – Auto hornsoundedloud (semantic)
The buzzer itself cannot be loud. “Loudly” describes verbs as adverbs answering the question “how?”
To determine the type of verb, replace it with the form be. If after this the sentence is logical, then the original verb is a copula. However, this dummy check does not work for the verb appear– we need an analysis of the verb function.
Connectives are also confused with function/auxiliary verbs in complex tenses.
Mikeislooking – Mike looks
Is functions here as a auxiliary verb in the present continuous tense. Islooking communicates what Mike is doing (the action), not what he is like.
Poem about connectives
Try repeating rhymes to remember the basic connections.
Am, are, is, was, were and be
Forms of be
Forms of be
Taste, smell, sound, seem, look, feel, say
Become, grow, appear, remain
English Joke
One day a Jewish Mother and her 8-year-old daughter were walking along the beach, just at the water’s edge. Suddenly, a GIGANTIC wave flashed up on the beach, sweeping the little girl out to sea.
“Oh, God,” lamented the mother, turning her face toward heaven and shaking her fist. “This was my ONLY baby. I can't have more children. She is the love and joy of my life. I have cherished every day that she’s been with me. Give her back to me, and I’ll go to the synagogue every day for the rest of my life!!!”
Suddenly, another GIGANTIC wave flashed up and deposited the girl back on the sand.
The mother looked up to heaven and said, “She had on a HAT!!!”
I (am a) human.
Arabic: "أنا إنسان" ("ána "insān), cf. English I (am a) human.
This use is called the zero copula. In other persons and tenses the copula tends to appear.
In Hungarian, the zero copula is used only in the third person singular and plural:Ő ember - "He is a human".Ők emberek- “They are people.”
In other persons:(en) ember vagyok - “I (am) a person.”(te) ember vagina - “you (are) a person.” mi emberek vagyunk - “we (are) people.”(ti) emberek vagytok- “you (all) (are) people.”
az emberek a házban vannak- “people (are) in the house.” hat ora van- “now (it is) six o’clock.”However, the copula is usually omitted in informal speech.
In Hungarian, connectives are used in sentences like Itt van Robert(“Robert is here”), and it does not depend on person and number. However, the copula is never used in constructions of the form Robert oreg(“Robert is old.”) This means that the copula is primarily used to denote (short-)temporary states.
Existence and state
In some cases, the form of the copula changes the meaning of the complement or circumstance. Examples from Portuguese:
In some languages, to indicate the topic of a message (existence or state), not only the connective, but the entire syntax of the sentence changes. For example, in the Irish language, when describing a state or situation, they use the word order verb-subject-object along with the verb bí. When describing existence and identification, the verb is used is, and the word order is changed so that the subject and connective are separated in the sentence.
Usage:
- Identification.
- Belonging to a class or category.
- Predicability (attitude to properties and attributes).
confused. - "I'm confused" to be However, the verb
- fulfills other meanings:
- as an auxiliary verb: to form the passive voice: I was told
- that you wanted to see me. - “They told me that you wanted to see me” to indicate duration of action: It is raining
- . - “It’s raining” (lit. “will rain”).
I think therefore I
. - “I think, therefore I am”
It should be noted that the function of the auxiliary verb in English is different from that of the connective, although the subsequent form of the verb may appear to be an adjective or adverb.
In informal speech the connective is often omitted. For example:
Where are you at? - "Where are you?" We are at the store. - "In the shop" German Such a verb is most often the verb
- sein (to be), which can also vary by tense: Peter ist
- Lehrer (to be), which can also vary by tense:- “Peter is a teacher.”- “Our burgermeister is young.”
- Der Gewinner (to be), which can also vary by tense: Peter- “The winner is Peter”
- Das (to be), which can also vary by tense: zu teuer- "It's too expensive".
- Socrates war ein Mensch- “Socrates was a man.”
- Ich bin Lehrer gewesen - “I was a teacher.”
Verb German can be used in German and as an auxiliary verb to form, for example, the past tense or as an independent verb.
Verbs are also used as connectives werden(become, become) and bleiben(stay) :
- Frau Meier bleibt Unsere Chefin- “Frau Meyer remains our boss.”
- Laura wild schön- “Laura will be a beauty (beautiful).”
Georgian language
However, the null connective is not used in French. It is assumed that it appeared during the early times when the Haitian language developed as a pidgin based on the Romance languages. Interestingly, the null connective is sometimes used in Latin.
Using a specific connective ( se, ye or Ø ) in this sentence depends on a number of syntactic factors, which can be briefly summarized as follows:
1. Ø (absence of word) is used in declarative sentences where the complement is expressed by an adjective, adverb or noun with a preposition:
2. Se used in sentences where the object is expressed by a noun:
3. Se also used in places where formal constructions like It is:
4. Yes used when syntax rules require placing the connective at the end of the sentence:
Naturally, all the above rules are nothing more than a brief overview.
Japanese
In Japanese there are two more verbs that have something in common with the connective - aru And iru. These are not connectives, but full-valued verbs. Used for inanimate objects and plants aru, and for people and animals - iru, but from this it is very general rule there are exceptions.
| 本はテーブルにある。 | Hon wa te: buru ni aru | "Book on the table" |
| キムさんはここにいる。 | Kimu-san wa koko ni iru | “Kim here” bèn), etc. These verbs can be preceded by an adverb, for example “very” (很 hěn), "not" (不 bù) etc. This can simplify the sentence structure, for example 我饿。 wǒ и.("I am hungry") Verb of being 是 shì(“to be”) is often used only in sentences where the object is expressed by a noun (for example, such as “this is my sister”). In other cases, an adjective with the nominalizer 的 is used de, that is, 那只大的狗不喜欢猫。 nà zhī dà de gǒu bù xǐ huan māo.- “This big dog doesn’t like cats.” In this case de modifies an adjective dà(“big”), showing that the dog is big. Origin of the Chinese copula 是 shì debatable. Earlier in the Han Dynasty, the demonstrative pronoun was used in this function - “Is your car red?” There is a clearer way to show that a phrase is an answer to a question. For this purpose, you can use words like “exactly”, “correctly” - 对 duì, which replaces 的 de. |
From the first lessons in English they explain to us that in English the verb to be most often acts as a linking verb. Except to be In English, you will encounter other linking verbs whose role in a sentence is similar to that of to be. In this post I propose to get acquainted with a dozen such verbs.
Linking verbs or verbs of being indicate the existence of an object, its belonging to a class or category, the presence of certain qualities. By the way, the Russian language also has linking verbs, but they are omitted (zero linkage).
For example:
Vasya is a schoolboy. But, Vasya was a schoolboy. Vasya will a schoolboy.
In English, to be is the most common linking verb. I will not argue.
For example:
John is a doctor. - John is a doctor.
My sister is sick. - My sister is sick.
In this post we will not consider cases of using to be as a connecting verb. We'll talk about other verbs that are used to create strong connectives in an English sentence. These are the heroes:
become, come, grow, turn
appear, seem
keep, remain, stay
look, sound
feel, taste, smell
One of the main features of these verbs is that they are followed by adjectives rather than adverbs. Compare:
I am feeling bad.- I feel bad.
He sounded distracted. - His voice sounded embarrassed.
But I will not dive into lengthy theoretical discussions. It’s better to move straight to practice.
BECOME, GET, GO, TURN
Verb become used to describe the process of changing the form or essence of an object or phenomenon. Get, go, turn come to his aid to describe the same thing (change, transition from one state to another, etc.). But each of them has its own nuances.
His company became Recognized as a true leader in the industry.
His company has become a recognized leader in its industry.
By the way, become sounds very bookish. In speech it is better to replace it with a verb construction get + Past Participle verb: get killed, get married, get washed.
Where did you live before you got married?
Where did you live before you got married?
In some cases, it is not possible to replace become with the get + past participle construction. For example, when changing workplaces they use only become.
My neighbor became a freelance consultant after years of working in the office.
My neighbor switched to freelance practice after many years of working in an office.
When it comes to changing colors, use turn or go, not get:
The traffic lights went green and we pulled away.
The traffic light turned green and we set off.
There is also interesting nuance. Verb go usually used when describing something negative or unwanted. For example, we will say in Russian “to go blind”, “to go bald”, “to go crazy” - that is, to go into a state that is strikingly different from normal.
In this case, use the verb go:
go blind- go blind
go dead- go deaf
go bald- go bald
go mad- go crazy
It would be grammatically correct to say or write: get bald or get blind, but in the speech of a native English speaker it is fixed go in similar expressions.
Here are some more examples in which go reflects the negative connotation of changing the status quo:
The kids went crazy at the party.
The children behaved disgracefully at the holiday.
Our plan went wrong.
Our plan failed.
My phone went dead.
My phone went off.
When it comes to a person's age, use turn:
He turned 60.
He turned 60 years old.
Turn also used if desired highlight the transformation of the external shape of an object or creatures. In this case, add the preposition into:
In the story all the dogs turned into monsters.
In the story, all the dogs turned into monsters.
COME, GET, GROW
Verbs come And grow(sometimes get keeps them company) are followed by other verbs with the particle to. Come, get and grow indicate a slow or gradual nature changes or transformations:
I came to appreciate his art. - I began to appreciate his art.
We got to know each other better. - We got to know each other better.
APPEAR, SEEM
Appear And seem mean “to appear, to introduce oneself, to make an impression” in our situation. After these verbs, it is acceptable to use to be before descriptive adjectives. But very often to be can be skipped without the risk of making a mistake.
He appears (to be) very sick. - He seems to be seriously ill.
He seems (to be) nervous. - He seems nervous.
In these examples you must use to be:
appear/seem to be alive
appear/seem to be asleep
appear/seem to be awake
To be is also necessary in constructions with the ing form of the verb:
It seems to be growing - It seems that it is growing...
He seems to be crying - I think he is crying (now)...
Here are a number of other sentences using linking verbs from our story:
- She appears upset about the announcement.
- The eggs smell rotte n.
- You look exhausted after studying all night.
- Dreams come true when we believe in them.
- The crowd stayed calm in spite of the imminent threat.
- All the children seem satisfied with the bouncy castle.
- Bob felt sleepy after eating the whole pizza.
- The cinnamon rolls taste heavenly.
- The spectators remained silent after the injury on the field.
- He became suspicious when he saw the safe was open.
- I feel worthy when the boss compliments me.
- The embers turn ashy as they are cool.
- Most children get cranky when they are sleepy.
- A flow in the design appeared to be the cause of the collapse.
- The vegetables in the bin looked disgusting and spoiled.
- The police department is getting tough on crime.
- She remains faithful, even though it has been two years since he left.
The next time you have to write an essay or compose a long story in English, take advantage of the variety of English linking verbs, replacing the boring to be!
Greetings, my dear reader.
Have you ever heard the phrase “linking verb in English”? If not, then today I will tell you about something without which your English will not improve one bit! We are waiting to talk about the connector to be, its forms and, so be it, we’ll also talk about the rest)).
What is it and what is it used for?
It is probably difficult for a Russian-speaking person to understand how a verb can connect other words, but you will have to figure it out. This very connective does not describe actions, but connects the subject and predicate (sometimes also the object). Well, nothing without him, to be honest! It's like glue that holds the cup and the handle together.
Let's look at examples:
She is a teacher. - She is a teacher.
They are a good team.- They are a good team.
I am an astronaut.- I'm an astronaut.
In these examples we see that we always use the verb to be (to be) in forms am, is or are . These forms are ligaments. They can be identified simply - they are not transferred to Russian and you can use an equal sign instead.
She is a teacher.- She = teacher.
To be or not to be: all the smallest details!
As already mentioned, the phrase to be is not translated into Russian in any way in such cases, but is a mandatory part of the English version. Without it, everything will simply lose meaning.
In 2nd grade, children are explained how this verb is used using a fairy tale. Let's take a look at one of its options:
Well, does it become clearer to you? Just remember that in 90% of cases you will have to use just the forms to be.
What to do with the past tense? - you ask. To which I will answer you the following: also use to be, only in completely different forms. See:
Just remember that the translation of the sentence will change over time. If in the present tense we instead to be we can put an equal sign, then in the past tense was And were translated as " was, was, was, were».
To fully understand and sharpen this and other English grammar topics, purchase Online course English grammar for beginners from LinguaLeo without hesitation - the topic of copula verbs, articles, prepositions, basic tenses and phenomena are fully covered there. Everything is also reinforced with cool and interesting exercises. Try the first part of the course for free and you will see what I mean.
A little deeper
It turns out that in English there is not only a connector to be. Sometimes, already in the 3rd grade, schoolchildren are faced with the fact that, it turns out, the function of the phrase to be can also perform other words, for example, seem, become,feel and others.
Let's see examples:
It sounds cool.- Sounds great.
He got angry.- He got angry.
She looks upset.- She looks upset.
Of course, it is impossible to say that these are full-fledged linking words, but one cannot deny this either. These words connect parts of a sentence. Here is a table where you can see the most popular connectives in English:
Let's look at examples:
He became more handsome. - He has become more handsome.
She seems worried. - She seems excited.
She felt sick. - She didn't feel well.
He looks surprised.- He looks surprised.
It sounds good. - Sounds great.
The food tastes fresh. - The food tastes fresh.
It smells sweet. - It smells sweet.
To understand this better, just remember that you always need some kind of "to support" linking word in a sentence. It never stands on its own. Therefore, if you want to be understood, use them for their intended purpose and correctly!
Well, can you now explain to yourself what these incomprehensible connections are?
It seems you underestimate yourself...
In case you have any questions, ask them in the comments and I will answer them right away!
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I have prepared exercises for you on this topic -
And also an online test -
In the meantime, I say goodbye.
See you!
