7. English Grammar Lesson. Copulative Verbs and Subjective Complements

[wnivlek]

Hi, in the sentence "Susan appears on television as a singer." is the verb appears a linking verb or not? What exactly are the roles of the prepositional phrases "on television" and "as a singer" in the sentence?

Thanks in advance.

[mrthoth]

@wnivlek Sometimes "appear" can be a copulative verb, namely when it means "look", as in "She appears sad," which means "She looks sad." But that is not the definition of "appear" as used in your sentence. "Appears" as you have used it is an intransitive verb, and the prepositional phrases are adverbial. So it's like "ran" in "He ran in the race as our representative."

[mrsaddam484]

i go shopping.

or i go swimming .

could we use preposition (for) between go and shopping

like i go for shopping .explain please

[mrthoth]

@mrsaddam484 "I go for shopping" is not a natural English sentence. I believe what you intend to say would be more naturally expressed this way: "I am going in order to shop." Other examples would be "I work in order to make money" or just "I work to make money" (NOT "I work for making money") and "I travel in order to relax" (NOT "I travel for relaxing").

[mrsaddam484]

the horse is to let

in this sentence is the phrase (to let) a subjective complement

i will be thankful to you if you explain it.

it has been confusing me for many weeks.

[mrthoth]

@mrsaddam484 "To let" is an adjectival subjective complement, meaning "rentable". The sentence means, "This horse is for rent" (American) or "This horse is for hire" (British). In these last two sentences, the prepositional phrase beginning with "for" functions just as "to let" does, as an adjectival subjective complement.

[moksshhh]

In your video on adverbs you said that they answer questions like "How?"

in example "The soup tastes bad."

bad tells how soup tastes so shouldn't it be adverb and not subjective complement.

I am having many problems in differentiating adjectives and adverbs. Please give me some tips.

[mrthoth]

@moksshhh The "how" test unfortunately can lead to confusion when the adjective in question is a subjective complement (also called a predicate adjective). The test questions are often useful, but they cannot substitute for firm understanding of the underlying principles. A copulative verb will always be followed by a noun or an adjective. Adverbs may be present, too (as in "The soup tastes VERY bad" or "The soup tastes bad OFTEN"), but they will not always be present.

[moksshhh]

Hi

can you give me an example in which the verb is intransitive but not copulative and there is no direct object for the verb.

I mean like in "Sam bought a book for his sister" there is a direct object (book) and indirect object (sister) ... i need there a sentence where there is no direct object ... is "Sam shopped for his sister" such a sentence ?? ... Is it a proper sentence anyway?? :p

[mrthoth]

@moksshhh In "Sam shopped for his sister," "shopped" is intransitive but not copulative. So are the verbs in these sentences. "I went home." "I dance on Tuesdays." "I live under the bridge." "I sneeze frequently." "It always rains on weekends." "I hid during the storm." Such verbs are very common.

[8Ornella]

Hello Mrthoth! As regards the Subject complement we know that it can be followed by a linking verb or also a factitive verb. The Subj Complement can be a PREDICATE NOMINATIVES if it renames the subj and a PREDICATE ADJECTIVES if it describes the subj.What I can't understand is: Is the PREDICATE NOMINATIVE the same of NOUN COMPLEMENT? If not...can you help me understanding what a Noun Compl is? Thank you!

[mrthoth]

@8Ornella Subjective complements are either nouns or adjectives. When they are nouns, they are called predicate nouns or predicate nominatives. When they are adjectives, they are called predicate adjectives.

[Saschki1981]

Great video!

[yuriamancio]

so, what is intrasitive verb and intrasitive object???

The soup tastes lousy. Is tastes the intrasitive verb and lousy the indirect object??

Or it is linking verb and complement?? if so, can you write me an example of intrasitive verb and indirect object? Thanks

[mrthoth]

@yuriamancio In "The soup tastes lousy," "tastes" is a linking verb. (Linking verbs are also called copulative verbs, and they are a subset of intransitive verbs. To repeat: a linking verb is a kind of intransitive verb.) "Lousy" is a subjective complement. It is an adjective, and therefore cannot be an object of any kind. (Objects are always nouns or word groups that function as nouns.)

[mrthoth]

@yuriamancio Indirect objects appear with direct objects; indirect objects do not

appear on their own. (In "He gave me a cake," "me" is the indirect

object and "cake" is the direct object.) Intransitive verbs do not

have direct objects. (That's what makes them intransitive; transitive

verbs have direct objects and intransitive verbs do not.) Therefore,

intransitive verbs are not followed by indirect objects.

[NEWReviewMan]

i hate english grammar i swear >.>

[juensong]

I think something else is going on with "badly". Sure it's not formally correct, but sometimes it feels right, and it has particular impact on the listener. "My sister is feeling poorly. I feel badly about giving her food poisoning before her big date night." Maybe it is a softener. Or a regional variation... (I love when you correct Joyce too. Very funny).

I just discovered your videos, I'm really enjoying them!

[MusicalEutopia]

@juensong Poorly is an adverb, but it is also an adjective, especially in the South and in the UK.

-ly doesn't not always signify an adverb. A good example of this is the word friendly, which is an adjective.

[TheLarssan]

Thanks. :)

[ddsharper]

In the sentence, The smartest people will be laughing, is laughing a subjective complement? Are subjective complements always used with to be forms of verbs?

[mrthoth]

"Laughing" is a verb in that sentence. (The verb is three words long, consisting of the modal "will," the auxiliary "be," and the main verb "laughing".) Subjective complements appear after many verbs other than "to be" (as we see in the video). For example, "good" and "his friend" are subjective complements in these sentences: The soup tastes good. I became his friend. Thanks for your question.

[juensong]

How about "The smartest people will be laughing jackals"?

[TomSFox]

@mrthoth But you can't say "I laughing," so why is "laughing" a verb? Wouldn't it be an adjective?

[mrthoth]

@TomSFox In "I am laughing," "laughing" is a verb. In "The laughing clown is here," "laughing" is an adjective. In "The man laughing in the hall is annoying," "laughing" is an adjective. If you get nonsense from filling in the blank in "I ________", that does not tell you that the word you put in the blank can never be a verb. It just tells you that it can't be a verb on its own. "Laughing", like all other participles, cannot be a verb on its own.

[TomSFox]

@mrthoth But how is the "laughing" in "I am laughing" different from an adjective?

[mrthoth]

@TomSFox Perhaps it would be easier to start with a transitive verb: "The man is eating lunch." "Eating" is a verb, not an adjective. In "The man is laughing," "laughing" is a verb, too. In "The man is happy," "happy" is an adjective. Because "happy" is an adjective, you can rewrite the sentence, "The man is being happy." But because "laughing" isn't, you can't say, "The man is being laughing." That should show, at least, that "laughing" and "happy" don't function in the same way.

[tdog661]

cool

[dormiturefl]

"i become lonely".. " i feel sad"

subliminal messages in your teachings.. are you depressed guy?

[dormiturefl]

"i became lonely" ... hey thoth, you slipping in a few personal feelings in your teachings are you????? that sentence is funny and sad at the same time.

[JayaniSharma]

descriptive grammar was my nightmare at university... these videos r cool :D

[ericalexander19]

Is it ALWAYS OK to have a copulative verb and no subjective complement?

I is.

They are.

ect.

Also, is it ALWAYS OK to not have a direct object with a transitive verb?

I hit.

They grab.

etc.

[mrthoth]

Good questions. First, the sentence "I feel badly" expresses an odd meaning, namely, "I am a clumsy feeler." But that aside, "badly" in the sentence is a regular old adverb modifying "feel". It answers the question "how". (How do your run? Quickly, that's how! How do you feel? Badly, that's how!) Another thing to remember is that direct objects are always nominal (that is, nouns or structures that act as nouns). An adverb cannot be a direct object. All the best, Yossarian

[illinifreak1124]

these help a lot keep making more

[makinawdandy6699]

I also like your videos. They are helping me become a better teacher of ESL.

Please keep up the good work. You are helping people.

[monkies978]

I have had my share of ESL classes-forced on me by a system which decreed all children who didn't speak english as a primary language at home needed to be in ESL [ridiculous!] I would suggest asking your students what's the best way for them to learn English. From helping my friends who recently arrived in the U.S.[in high school] I learned that teaching something is an adjective and a verb doesn't help. What helped them was a dictionary and translating sentences into English.

[monkies978]

And of course what helped them most was having someone who spoke the same language as them and who was also fluent in English teach them.

[mousegeek]

Love these videos. Thank you.

[shackman400]

thank you. your are a great help on my home work. (:

[utubxplorer]

Thanks a lot.

[guerrabike]

Excellent, I found this video by chance and finally could figure out what a copulative verb is. Recently on a test I failed 'cos I thought only TO BE was copulative and not other verbs.

Thank you.

[JulieJohnson]

I love your videos. I consider myself a grammar afficionada. I've always thought of putting a video on youtube explaining verbals. Verbals are my favorite parts of speech, because they break all the rules, yet make sense. When I saw "I feel badly" on your board, I thought, "I hope he wrote that to be said by someone whose fingertips were just burned in acid or something." You didn't disappoint. I knew you wouldn't. I knew that phrase surely bothers you as much as "just between you and I . . ."

[chrislyndd]

Dear Yossarian, Thank you so much for your wonderful explanations of English grammar. Speaking of copulative verbs and subjective complements, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could comment on the following question: You are showing a picture of your friend to someone. Would you say, "This is she and her father on vacation last year" OR would you say "This is (implicitly meaning this ia a picture of) her and her father on vacation last year" ? Thanks in advance for your help.

[mrthoth]

Thanks for your comment. I would say, "This is she and her father."  "Is" is a copulative verb, and "she" is a subjective complement. For more explanation, you could check out my video number 17, "I? Me? He? Him? Pronoun Case."

[thequitegirl]

I like mushroom soup. It is really good!

I love your vocabulary.

[soulsearch1234]

superb!

[trutta567]

Greetings and many thanks.

In reply to a question as to how one feels would a correct reply be "i feel well" or "I feel good"

if Well is correct then being an adverb it appears to contradict your final assertion.

Keep up the good work

Regards

John

[Tedsuzan]

I would like to compliment his clear teaching style, but it might a subjective compliment.

(This video is great.)

[AIMANALI]

CUTE

[iamjhou]

great job!!

[orsiorsi186]

Thank you for your videos. You made me laugh sometimes."I feel badly" was funny.

[lykeomgz1987]

I must say to you that you're a GREAT English teacher! I love listening to your Grammar videos. I like how you're so clear and so precise about how you explain all of this.

Don't listen to CHEWI4690. Your videos are definitely not boring...I hope you continue to make more Grammar videos.

[kaliko70]

Thanks Yossarian the Grammarian! These are really great videos; I find them very helpful!

[gavinlucas22]

don't watch it then asshole

[CHEWI4690]

this boring me