Linking verbs serve as the quiet connective tissue of our sentences, quietly binding the subject to additional information that completes our thought. Unlike action verbs, these words do not depict physical or mental activity but instead function as a grammatical bridge, equating or describing the subject. Understanding this category is essential for crafting clear and sophisticated prose, as it dictates how we identify the state of being rather than the execution of an act.
The Core Function of Linking Verbs
The primary role of these verbs is to connect the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, which provides more detail about the subject without expressing action. This complement can be a noun, a pronoun, or an adjective that renames or describes the core element. Because they lack the dynamic quality of action verbs, they establish a state of existence, condition, or identity at a specific moment. Recognizing this distinction allows writers to determine whether the verb is introducing a description or driving the narrative forward with motion.
Examples of Common Linking Verbs
While there are numerous verbs that can function in this capacity, certain words appear with high frequency in everyday writing. The most classic example is the verb "to be," which exists in various forms such as "am," "is," "are," "was," and "were." Beyond this foundational verb, other common examples include sensory and mental state verbs like "seem," "become," "remain," and "stay." These words signal that the sentence is focused on identification or condition rather than physical movement.
Forms of "Be": am, is, are, was, were, been, being.
Sense Verbs: appear, feel, look, smell, sound, taste.
State Verbs: become, grow, prove, remain, stay.
Distinguishing Action from Linking
A critical skill in English grammar is the ability to differentiate between a linking verb and an action verb, as this changes the entire structure of the sentence. Action verbs transfer energy to a direct object, answering the question "what?" or "whom?" In contrast, linking verbs do not transfer action; they transfer information. A simple test involves replacing the verb with a form of "to be"; if the sentence remains logical, the original verb is likely a linker.
Consider the word "run." In the sentence "She runs quickly," the verb denotes action. However, in the sentence "She runs tired," the context is unusual, but if we apply the test—"She is tired"—we see that "runs" is functioning as a linker describing her state. Similarly, the verb "fall" can denote the physical action of dropping, but in the phrase "fall ill," it acts as a linker connecting the subject to the condition of illness.
The Role of Predicate Adjectives and Nouns
The information that follows a linking verb is called the subject complement, and it comes in two primary forms: predicate adjectives and predicate nouns. A predicate adjective modifies the subject and must be connected by a linker to describe a quality or attribute. Without the verb, the adjective would lack the grammatical context to refer back to the subject directly.
For instance, in the sentence "The soup smells delicious," the verb "smells" is a linker connecting the subject "soup" to the adjective "delicious." The soup is not performing the act of smelling like a nose; rather, the verb is indicating the state of the soup. Similarly, a predicate noun follows a linker to rename the subject, as in "That research assistant is he," where "is" links "assistant" to the pronoun "he."
