Grammar: Linking verb

A linking verb, also known as a copula or copular verb, joins the subject and predicate words in a sentence. In logic, it is the word which unites the subject and predicate of a proposition. 

From A New English Grammar for Schools, by Thomas Harvey:

Linking verb

Chalk is white.
Iron is a metal.

What word is used in each of these sentences to unite the predicate to the subject?

“Is” is called the linking verb, or copula.

The linking verb is a word or a group of words used to join a predicate to a subject, and thus to make an assertion.

Source: Amazing Mystery Funnies

Exercise:

Select the linking verb from each of the sentences which you wrote in your “Subject and Predicate” exercise, and explain the job it performs.  

Example—Wheat is a vegetable.

“Is” is the linking verb, for it links the predicate words “a vegetable” to the subject “wheat.”

Composition:

Using your imagination, write a narrative on

“The Battle between the Ants and the Termites,” 

OR

“The Battle between the Waves and the Cliff”

according to the following topics: —

1. Reason for the struggle.
2. Preparation of defenders.
3. Preparation of assailants.
4. Spectators.
5. Attack.
6. Defense.
7. Battle.  
8. Result.

Save this composition for use in analysis and parsing. 


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