1 / 29

The verb BE and other copular (linking) verbs

The verb BE and other copular (linking) verbs. Sandra Powell. To be. 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?

maxima
Download Presentation

The verb BE and other copular (linking) verbs

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The verb BE and other copular (linking) verbs Sandra Powell

  2. To be 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.

  3. Forms of BE 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 ?

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

  5. Extremely irregular BE BE being, been, am, is, are, (what happened to the B in BE?) was, were (where did the W come from?) • 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

  6. 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 beena 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.

  7. 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 BE intransitive verb 1 • a: to equal in meaning : have the same connotation as : symbolize <God is love> <January is the first month> <let xbe 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)

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. 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: • As a helping verb (also called auxiliary) in some verb tenses • As the main verb in S V SC type sentences. Verbs in S V SC are called linking or copular verbs.

  12. 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!

  13. 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 wastaken at the meeting. Some of the best coffee is produced in Colombia. The elevator is being repaired.

  14. Practice analyzing the functions of BE. 1. Find all the forms of BE in this news story 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. Source: Beaver blamed for brush fire in BC suburb, Cbc News, June 10, 2013

  15. Practice analyzing the functions of BE. 1. Find all the forms of BE in this news story A beaver isbeing 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. Next, decide whether each form of BE is an Auxiliary or a Main Verb

  16. A beaver isbeingblamed 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 thereweredefinite markings on the tree that the beaver hadbeen 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 workwasdefinitely there," Grootendorst said. Green: auxiliary ( inflection on the main verb is also in green) Red: main verb. Linking verb

  17. Copular (linking) verbs What’s a subject complement? Why do we distinguish between subject complements and direct objects?

  18. 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.

  19. 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 isorange. The trees looksomber and mysterious against the sky. It’s gettingdark.

  20. 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 isin the west. The sunset has become my favorite time of day..

  21. The structure and semantics of sentences with linking verbs 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 isorange. The trees looksomber and mysterious against the sky. It’s gettingdark. The sunset has become my favorite time of day.

  22. 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 isorange. The trees looksomber and mysterious against the sky. It’s gettingdark. The sunset has become my favorite time of day.

  23. There are a few other copular verbs in English. We call them copular because: • The subject doesn’t perform any action.. the “action” is a perception that the speaker has. • 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 tasteswonderful. Bungee jumping looksdangerous. My mom soundeddepressed when I talked to her. The air feels very cold because of the wind.

  24. The structure and semantics of sentences with copular verbs 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”?

  25. The structure and semantics of sentences with linking 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.

  26. Sandraisa 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)

  27. The structure and semantics of sentences with linking verbs 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) and her hair (something which belongs to Sandra)

  28. 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 person envisions for the sentence “Sandra is brown hair”! A subject complement re- names the subject

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

More Related