The verb BE and other copular (linking) verbsSandra Powell

The purpose of this Powerpoint is...

1. to look deeper into the function of the verb BE in English. What does it mean, and what roles does

it play in sentences? 2. to explain the category of copular or linking verbs. BE is the most common of these verbs in English.

To be

Forms of BE

• am I am. I am not.• is He is, she is, it is Is not OR isn’t• are We/you/they are. Are not OR aren’t

Present

• was I /you/he/she/it was. Was not OR wasn’t

• were We/you/they were. Were not OR weren’t

Past

• be will be; can be• being is being; was being; being• been has been; could have been

Principal parts in other tenses

BE has 2 more forms than other verbs in modern English. Looking at the chart below, can you identify: which are the 2 extra forms, that other verbs don’t have ?

What makes BE different: what are the 2 extra forms?

• am Other verbs have only 2 forms in

• is present tense. Usually “I” uses the

• are same form as we/you/they.

Present

• was Other verbs have only 1 past tense

• were form, so there is no S/V agreement

Past

• be will be; can be• being is being; was being; being• been has been; could have been

Principal parts in other tenses

Extremely irregular BE The other odd thing about the forms of

BE is that they aren’t based on the root form BE at all. Most verbs inflect the base form:

WALK; walks, walked, walking, walked

Even irregular verbs have some relation to the base:

FORGET: forgets, forgot, forgetting, forgotten

BE being, been,

am, is, are,(what happened to the B in BE?)

was, were(where did the W come from?)

This is a good reason to teach BE separately from other verbs, with more attention to memorizing the different forms and associating them as related forms.

A learner couldn’t use rules to guess that these forms are all related:

I’m thinking / You are late /Attendance is being taken / It’s been a long time / the animals were sleeping / it was awesome!

But if you know the form WALK you’re likely to understand the meaning of the word when you hear or read it in its other forms. There’s no need to memorize them separately.

A man was walking / they walked into the room / I’ve always walked to school / a crab walks sideways No need to memorize forms. Rules apply.

What does “be” mean? Teachers are

confused when learners ask this. And learners do ask this, strange as it seems.

“Be” doesn’t seem to have any type of meaning that we can explain. A dictionary is no help....

Definition of BEintransitive verb1 a : to equal in meaning : have the same

connotation as : symbolize <God is love> <January is the first month> <let x be 10>

b : to have identity with <the first person I met was my brother>

c : to constitute the same class as d : to have a specified qualification or

characterization <the leaves are green>

e : to belong to the class of <the fish is a trout> —used regularly in senses 1a through 1e as the copula of simple predication

(Merriam Webster Dictionary)

What does “be” mean?BE has almost no stand-alone meaning.It carries grammatical information.It’s a placeholder, filling certain slots that are required in an English sentence.....

What happens when you take out a form of BE? You don’t lose any of the meaning and it’s still perfectly understandable.I am very happy.The toilet is overflowing!It was cold yesterday.

What does “be” mean?Learners tend not to use BE in sentences like these, especially in early stages of language acquisition.

This makes perfect sense... If you want to communicate, but you don’t have much language to work with, stick with the words that carry a lot of meaning! (Ellis and Thornbury both mention that beginners process and communicate lexically. Grammar comes later)

What happens when you take out a form of BE? You don’t lose any of the meaning and it’s still perfectly understandable.I am very happy.The toilet is overflowing!It was cold yesterday.

What does “be” mean?We have to define BE in terms of its function: the grammatical meaning it carries.One hypothesis about why English requires BE in sentences where it is the main verb: BE carries the tense.In English, adjectives, nouns, and prepositional phrases don’t express tense. So BE gives us a place to hang the tense in S V SC sentences.

Linking verb BE

I’m happy.It has been cold recently.The Olympics will be in Russia next year.The bus was late.

What functions does BE have?What learners really need to know about BE....

BE has almost no stand-alone meaning.It carries grammatical information.It’s a placeholder, filling certain slots that are required in an English sentence.....

Two functions for BE:1. As a helping verb (also

called auxiliary) in some verb tenses

2. As the main verb in S V SC type sentences. Verbs in S V SC are called linking or copular verbs.

BE as a helping verb /auxiliaryHow to recognize it When there is a form of

BE used with another verb in V-ing, BE is auxiliary. It’s part of PROGRESSIVE tenses.

When you identify the verb in the sentence, include the main verb and the auxiliary or auxiliaries

Examples:Birds are singing in the trees.

A small boy was kicking the back of my chair.

Oh, no! This can’t be happening!

BE as a helping verb /auxiliaryHow to recognize it When there is a

form of BE used with a past participle of another verb, BE is auxiliary. It’s part of passive voice.

Examples:Attendance was taken at the meeting.Some of the best coffee is produced in Colombia.The elevator is being repaired.

A beaver is being blamed for a small brush fire that broke out at Lougheed Highway and 105th Avenue in Maple Ridge Monday afternoon.Maple Ridge Fire Chief Peter Grootendorst said the fire started when a tree fell on some live power lines, sparking a fire.Grootendorst said it was immediately apparent why the tree went down.

"The crews on scene reported that there were definite markings on the tree that the beaver had been working on the tree," he said."Now, whether it was just recent or if a gust of wind came up and the tree was already weakened, we're not sure."No beaver sightings were reported."But his work was definitely there," Grootendorst said.

Practice analyzing the functions of BE.1. Find all the forms of BE in this news story

Source: Beaver blamed for brush fire in BC suburb, Cbc News, June 10, 2013

A beaver is being blamed for a small brush fire that broke out at Lougheed Highway and 105th Avenue in Maple Ridge Monday afternoon.Maple Ridge Fire Chief Peter Grootendorst said the fire started when a tree fell on some live power lines, sparking a fire.Grootendorst said it was immediately apparent why the tree went down.

"The crews on scene reported that there were definite markings on the tree that the beaver had been working on the tree," he said."Now, whether it was just recent or if a gust of wind came up and the tree was already weakened, we're not sure."No beaver sightings were reported."But his work was definitely there," Grootendorst said.

Practice analyzing the functions of BE.1. Find all the forms of BE in this news story

Next, decide whether each form of BE is an Auxiliary or a Main Verb

A beaver is being blamed for a small brush fire that broke out at Lougheed Highway and 105th Avenue in Maple Ridge Monday afternoon.Maple Ridge Fire Chief Peter Grootendorst said the fire started when a tree fell on some live power lines, sparking a fire.Grootendorst said it was immediately apparent why the tree went down.

"The crews on scene reported that there were definite markings on the tree that the beaver had been working on the tree," he said."Now, whether it was just recent or if a gust of wind came up and the tree was already weakened, we're not sure."No beaver sightings were reported."But his work was definitely there," Grootendorst said.Green: auxiliary ( inflection on the main verb is also in green)Red: main verb. Linking verb

Copular (linking) verbs

What’s a subject complement? Why do we distinguish between subject complements and direct objects?

BE as a main verb When BE is an

auxiliary, it is combined with another verb.

BE carries the tense but doesn’t have much meaning.

Life is getting me down.Life is found on every continent.

BE can also be the only verb.

It is not transitive or intransitive. It’s called a COPULAR or LINKING

verb.

Life is precious.Life is a journey.

What is a linking verb (copula)? If a verb can occur

in this sentence structure:

S - V - adjective

It is a linking verb. The sunset is orange. The treeslook somber and mysterious against the sky. It’s getting dark.

What is a linking verb (copula)? There is a limited

set of linking verbs. All of them take an

adjective argument. A few of them can

also take a noun or prepositional phrase. The sunset is in the west. The

sunset has become my favoritetime of day..

Argument structure: There’s only one THING or PERSON involved: the subject. What comes after the verb characterizes or re-names or describes the subject.

A linking verb is like the = in math.

The sunset is orange. The trees look somber and mysterious against the sky. It’s getting dark. The sunset has become my favorite time of day.

The structure and semantics of sentences with linking verbs

With transitive and intransitive verbs, usually there is an action. The subject is a do-er or experiencer.

There is no action with linking verbs. The subject just sits there doing nothing.

The sunset is orange. The trees look somber and mysterious against the sky. It’s getting dark. The sunset has become my favorite time of day.

The structure and semantics of sentences with linking verbs

There are a few other copular verbs in English. We call them copular because:

1. The subject doesn’t perform any action.. the “action” is a perception that the speaker has.

2. These verbs can be followed by adjectives. The adjective is a Subject Complement.

Examples:Your new boyfriend seems very nice.Mmm, the food smells good! And it tastes wonderful. Bungee jumping looks dangerous.My mom sounded depressed when I talked to her.The air feels very cold because of the wind.

Why do we distinguish the copula from…? Sandra has brown hair. (transitive verb. S V O)Sandra’s hair is brown. (copula + ADJECTIVE. S V SC)

A related question, that your learners might actually ask you, is :

Why can’t we say “Sandra is brown hair”?

The structure and semantics of sentences with copular verbs

Sandra is a teacher: (linking verb + NOUN) Sandra is tired:(linking verb + ADJECTIVE)Sandra is out of shape: (copula + PREP PHRASE)

Why do we distinguish these structures from…? Sandra needs a teacher (transitive verb)Sandra has brown hair. (transitive non-action verb)Sandra went out the door. (intransitive verb + prep.

phrase)All of these sentences say something about Sandra.

The structure and semantics of sentences with linking verbs

Sandra is a teacher (linking verb + subject complement)

Sandra needs a teacher (transitive verb + object)

There are 2 nouns in both sentences, but in the sentence with the transitive verb, there are 2 different people! (two arguments)

Why do we distinguish linking verbs from…? Sandra has brown hair. (transitive non-action verb)Sandra’s hair is brown. (copula + ADJECTIVE)

In English, we think of PARTS as belonging to the whole. Because Sandra and her hair are not the same thing, we say, “Sandra (the whole) HAS brown hair.”

Structurally, we have 2 nouns: Sandra and her hair.Semantically, we have 2 things: Sandra (a person) andher hair (something which belongs to Sandra)

The structure and semantics of sentences with linking verbs

Why can’t we say “Sandra is brown hair”? In English, we think of parts as BELONGING to the whole, so we use the verb “have.” The whole thing (Sandra) HAS its part (Sandra’s hair)

This is what an English-speaking/thinking personenvisions for the sentence“Sandra is brown hair”!

A subject complement re- names the subject

The structure and semantics of sentences with linking verbs

Questions about the Powerpoint? I’d be happy to talk grammar with you!Sandra Powell