WHAT ARE LINK VERBS or VERBS OF INCOMPLETE PREDICATION or COPULAS?
/linking verbs normally do not express actions. Instead they connect the subject of the verb to some additional information about that subject mentioned in the sentence. The most common linking verbs are ‘be’ forms – is, am, are, was, were (when used as main verbs) – become, seem, stay, appear, feel, grow, look, prove, remain, turn, and some of the verbs of perception, such as smell, taste, feel, etc. Some of these verbs can be either linking verbs or action verbs, depending on the context. e.g. He is an accountant. In this sentence, the verb ‘is’ does not show any action; it shows only the existence of a person. Though the phrase ‘an accountant’ is a noun and is the answer to the question ‘what?’, it is not an object because it does not answer an ‘action’ verb! The action does not pass from the verb to ‘an accountant’; and such a verb is called Link/linking Verb or Verb of Incomplete Predication or Copula, and the word that follows it is called a complement. Compare: [A] She teaches E
