Linking Verb

Have you felt sad, been elated, or been a good friend lately? If so, a sentence describing you would refer to your state of being, or directly connect you to the thing you were. Such a sentence includes what is called a copular verb or linking verb. When the subject of a sentence is directly linked to its object, the verb used to form that connection is a linking verb.

The most common linking verb comes in the forms of the verb to be. The sentence Fred is a good father links Fred, the subject, with the direct object of the sentence, good father. The verb is provides the essential link. Verbs like to seem and to appear are other common linking verbs.

Though a linking verb may most often come in the form of the aforementioned verb forms, there are a variety of verbs that may be either action verbs or linking verbs, depending upon the context in which they are used. The key difference in determining whether you are dealing with a linking verb or an action verb is whether or not you can substitute a form of to be or sometimes to seem for the verb you are using.

Consider these examples of linking verbs:

He felt overjoyed at the prospect of a new job.
Lemon meringue pie tastes delicious.
The perfume smelled heavenly.

All of these verbs above (to look, to feel, to taste, to smell) can be used in action contexts, which means each can serve double duty as both action and linking verbs. Here are these same verbs used as action verbs:

He looked through the book and decided not to buy it.
She felt the touch of the cat’s tongue on the back of her hand.
The chef tastes all the food before it leaves the kitchen.
He smelled a terrible odor coming from the back of the room.

These examples can show how difficult it can be to sometimes determine whether a verb in question is an action or linking verb. There is a simple test that can be done to check, as mentioned above. Check whether a form of the verbs to seem or to be will substitute. In the first four examples, you can easily substitute such verbs in each sentence: She seemed terrible; he was overjoyed; lemon pie is delicious; perfume is heavenly. In the second group, other linking verb forms won’t work.

Instead substituting in other linking words renders the sentences ridiculous:

He is a book.
She is the cat’s tongue.
The chef is all the food.
He is a terrible odor.

Remember that direct connection between subject and object, and specific relationship is almost always implied when a linking verb in any form is used.

phrasal verb

Phrasal Verbs and other multi-word verbs

Phrasal verbs are part of a large group of verbs called "multi-word verbs". Phrasal verbs and other multi-word verbs are an important part of the English language. Multi-word verbs, including phrasal verbs, are very common, especially in spoken English. A multi-word verb is a verb like "pick up", "turn on" or "get on with". For convenience, many people refer to all multi-word verbs as phrasal verbs. These verbs consist of a basic verb + another word or words. The other word(s) can be prepositions and/or adverbs. The two or three words that make up multi-word verbs form a short "phrase" - which is why these verbs are often all called "phrasal verbs".

The important thing to remember is that a multi-word verb is still a verb. "Get" is a verb. "Get up", is also a verb, a different verb. "Get" and "get up" are two different verbs. They do not have the same meaning. So you should treat each multi-word verb as a separate verb, and learn it like any other verb. Look at these examples. You can see that there are three types of multi-word verb:

single-word verb		look	direct your eyes in a certain direction	You must look before you leap.
multi-word verbs	prepositional verbs	look after	take care of	Who is looking after the baby?
	phrasal verbs	look up	search for and find information in a reference book	You can look up my number in the telephone directory.
	phrasal-prepositional verbs	look forward to	anticipate with pleasure	I look forward to meeting you.