In this post, we learn what linking verbs are, and what they do in a sentence. Linking verbs don’t show an action but rather describe the subject. While verbs like walk or… Linking Verbs: In this article, you will learn about linking verbs, their definition, usage, and examples. Try out the practice questions to check your understanding of the same.
Rules for Linking Verbs:-
Similar to how adjectives describe nouns, adverbs describe verbs. Adverbs are used in place of subject complements, which explain the subject, a noun.
Eg: The boy is smartly
The boy is smart.
Adverbs are acceptable, provided that they describe the connecting verb rather than the subject.
Eg: She scarcely appears timid.
The linking verb still agrees with the subject in terms of subject-verb agreement. This holds true whether the predicate nominative is single and the subject is plural or vice versa.
How do you identify linking verbs?
Aside from the three main linking verbs that are always linking verbs (be, become, and seem), some verbs can be either linking verbs or action verbs. The difference depends on how they’re used. This is especially true when it comes to sensory verbs, which can be both.
A verb is a linking verb if it’s used to describe the subject. Linking verbs always have a subject complement afterward (except in rare cases like “I think therefore I am”), so look for a subject complement to determine if the sentence uses a linking verb.
Here, the verb look is a linking verb because it describes Liz’s appearance. You can also identify it as a linking verb by the subject complement great today, which explains how Liz looks.
Here, the verb look is an action verb, which is to say, not a linking verb. It describes the action that Liz is doing, not Liz herself. The phrase through the microscope also relates to the action, describing where she looked.
Some common action verbs have one or two particular meanings where they act as linking verbs. A lot of times these verbs appear with certain other words to signal they’re used as linking verbs. You’ll become familiar with these words as your grammatical skills improve, but here’s a short list of the most confusing linking verbs to help you get started.
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