Linking & State of Being Verbs

We know that every sentence has a subject and a verb/predicate.  Sometimes the verb expresses an action, and sometimes it expresses a state of being.

DEFINITION

Linking verbs and State of Being verbs express no action; the subject doesn’t do anything, and nothing is done to the subject.  They express a condition. These words join a subject to a predicate noun, a predicate pronoun, or a predicate adjective. These words are in the predicate part of the sentence, but they modify the subject of the sentence.  Label these words PA for Predicate Adjective, PN for Predicate Noun, and PP for Predicate Pronoun.

Some Linking Verbs are:

PN

Examples:  Alfredo is my cousin.                    The verb is links the subject, Alfredo, to the noun cousin.

PA

Bobo was feeling better.  The verb was feeling links the adjective better to the subject Bobo. Bobo isn’t feeling anything; it states how he feels.

PA

The banana bread smells delicious.  The verb smells expresses the state of being, or                                                                               the condition, of the subject, bread. The bread is                                                                             not smelling anything.

PA

Bobo became famous.                        Bobo is not doing anything; the verb became expresses his condition.

Don’t let these confuse you!!  Check out these examples:

Bobo’s head is hot.  (is links the adjective hot to the subject head—what kind of head? Hot head)

Bobo’s head feels hot.  (feels is the state of being of the subject head)

I felt Bobo’s head. (felt is an action verb)

We need to be able to determine the function of the verb to tell if a verb is an action verb or a linking/state of being verb. Remember that helping verbs can “help” an action verb or a linking or state of being verb.  Identify the subject and the verb first, then ask yourself if there is action being done, or if the verb expresses a condition.