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Grammar I: Copular Verbs

The document discusses copular verbs, which link attributes to subjects. Copular verbs associate a predicative like an adjective or noun phrase with the subject. They can also locate the subject in time or space using an adverbial phrase. Verbs like be, seem, appear identify continuing attributes, while become, get, grow identify attributes that are the result of change. Copular verbs commonly occur with adjective phrases but can also take noun phrases or clauses as predicatives.

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328 views1 page

Grammar I: Copular Verbs

The document discusses copular verbs, which link attributes to subjects. Copular verbs associate a predicative like an adjective or noun phrase with the subject. They can also locate the subject in time or space using an adverbial phrase. Verbs like be, seem, appear identify continuing attributes, while become, get, grow identify attributes that are the result of change. Copular verbs commonly occur with adjective phrases but can also take noun phrases or clauses as predicatives.

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marcela noemi
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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GRAMMAR I

COPULAR VERBS

Copular verbs are used to associate an attribute with the subject of the clause, this is
usually expressed by the subject predicative following the verb i.e. You’re very stupid. The copula
links the attribute to the subject, many copular verbs are also used to locate the subject of the clause
in time or space. Times and places are expressed by an obligatory adverbial of position, duration or
direction that occurs after the copula. Several verbs like go, grow, come can function as copular
verbs. Most copular verbs occur with an adjective phrase as the subject predicative, but some verbs
are strongly associated with other structures such as a noun phrase or complement clause.

We were in the kitchen.


My father grew old and frail in a short time.
The prophecy came true. Liza became very angry.
That wasn’t very funny.

Current copular verbs: identify attributes that are in a continuing state of existence: be,
seem, appear, keep, remain, stay. There are others that report sensory perceptions: look, feel,
sound, smell, taste.

People are unreliable at times.


He appeared a little short when I spoke to him this morning.
She seemed ill when I last saw her.
This soup tastes awful.
You look a mess. Go and put on some other clothes.
She sounded really upset on the phone.

Result copular verbs: identify an attribute that is the result of a process of change:
become, get, grow, prove, come, turn, turn out, end up, wind up.

Sue became very angry when she heard the news.


What he said proved true in the end.
The situation got more and more difficult.
The wind dropped and it grew very cold.
They ended up without a penny.
He wound up totally drunk.

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