Hello, and welcome to the first in a series of posts on verbs. Today we are going to talk about linking verbs!
The easiest way to understand linking verbs is to think about them as equal signs. For example, take the following statement from math:
x = 2
Here, we are stating that x and 2 are equals, they are the same. x takes on the value of 2 from here to forever. To apply this same concept to linking verbs, consider the following sentence:
John is happy.
Can you spot the linking verb? It's is in the preceding example, because that verb tells us that John = happy. Let's try another:
Marry will be angry when she finds out about the report.
In this example, will be is the linking verb because it tells us that Marry = angry. It links the two ideas of Marry and angry and equates them.
Pro tip: If you can replace a verb with an equals sign, it's a linking verb.
In the above example, we could easily say something like:
Marry = angry when she finds out about the report.
Now, you may have heard of something called a sensory verb. Sensory verbs are verbs relating to human senses, such as taste, touch, smell, etc. These verbs can also be linking verbs if they are used in such a manner. For example:
My nose feels itchy before I sneeze.
Here, the verb feels is telling us that our nose is (=) itchy before we sneeze. It is equating the concept nose with the concept itchy, and is thus acting as a linking verb in this sentence. However, sensory verbs are not always linking verbs, as is shown in this example:
I feel my nose before I sneeze.
Here, feel is functioning as an action verb, not as a liking verb because we are saying that we physically reach out and touch (feel) our nose before we sneeze, not that we are our nose.
Again, the take away here is that whenever a verb can be replaced with an equals sign, it's working as a linking verb. Any verb that is not a linking verb is an action verb. Some more examples of linking verbs are : is, will be, was, has been, wasn't, etc.
Check back tomorrow when we will discuss the next class of verbs, action verbs.
