Linking Verbs

What Are Linking Verbs? (with Examples)

A linking verb is a verb that tells us what the subject is as opposed to what the subject is doing. In other words, a linking verb is used to re-identify or describe its subject by linking the subject to the subject complement (the bit after the linking verb).

linking verbs examples The word, phrase, or clause that follows a linking verb to re-identify or describe the subject is called the subject complement.

A List of Linking Verbs

The most common linking verb is the verb to be. Other common ones relate to the five senses (to look, to feel, to smell, to sound, and to taste). Here is a list of common linking verbs:

Examples of Linking Verbs Used to Re-identify the Subject

Here are some examples of linking verbs (shaded) re-identifying the subject: Note that when a linking verb is used to re-identify its subject, the subject predicate is a noun or a noun phrase.

Examples of Linking Verbs Modifying (Describing) the Subject

Here are some examples of linking verbs (shaded) modifying the subject:

  • Alan seems drunk.
  • The soup smells delicious.
  • His voice sounds flat.
  • Note that when a linking verb is used to describe its subject, the subject predicate is an adjective (or an adjective phrase).

    Linking Verbs Are Not Action Verbs

    The verbs to be, to become, and to seem are always linking verbs. They always link the subject to the predicate to re-identify or describe it. However, the other verbs in the list above are not always linking verbs. Remember that linking verbs do not express an action. However, some of the verbs in our list can express actions. For example: Here is another example:

    A Quick Test

    "It is I" or "It is Me"?

    A subject complement ought to be in the subjective case. This is important when the subject complement is a personal pronoun (e.g, I, he, they). Look at these examples (subject complement in bold): Compare the examples above to these with the complement object in the objective case: Technically speaking, we should mark these as incorrect, but we haven't. The overwhelming majority of people will use these in place of the "correct" versions.

    We have to accept that, since time immemorial, common usage has been re-writing our grammar rules, and it will continue to do so. We're already a long way down the road to re-writing the "subjective case for subject complements" ruling. For most people, the "correct" versions sound pretentious or wrong. Look at this again: Final advice: If you're speaking, do whatever comes naturally to you. If you're writing, restructure your sentence to avoid both versions. For example:


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    See Also

    What is a subject complement? What is a predicate? What are verbs? What is a subject? What is a direct object? Glossary of grammatical terms