BE enjoys a multiple grammatical regime:

COPULAR VERBS / COPULA-LIKE VERBS

A copular verb is a special kind of verb used to join an

adjective or noun complement to a subject. Common
examples are: be (is, am, are, was, were), appear, seem,
look, sound, smell, taste, feel, become and get.

A copular verb expresses either that the subject and

its complement denote the same thing or that the
subject has the property denoted by its complement.

For example, in the sentence ‘Peter is my boyfriend’ the

copular verb is asserts that Peter and my boyfriend are
the same person whereas in the sentence ‘Peter is
British’ the copular verb is assigns the quality of
Britishness to Peter.

More examples are given below.

• Honey is sweet. (Here the copular verb is assigns

the quality of sweetness to honey.)
• The stew smells good. (perception verbs like smell,
taste, sound etc.)
Also, remember that perception verbs are basically
[+states], for example: The roses smell sweet = smell:
[+state], because the roses ARE sweet, they have this
quality, so smell is a copular verb. BUT I smelled the
roses is a transitive verb, [-state], [+activity]).

• The milk turned sour.

• The night grew dark. verbs of becoming/of (absence of) change

• She became a writer.

After copular verbs we use adjectives, not adverbs.

Compare:
She spoke intelligently. (Here the adverb intelligently
modifies the ordinary verb spoke.)
She appears intelligent. (NOT She appears
intelligently. Appears is a copular verb. It should be
followed by an adjective, not an adverb.)

The copular verbs like become, get, grow, go, turn,

stay, remain, keep etc., are used to talk about change or
the absence of change.

I am becoming older.
I am getting older.
I am growing older.
The leaves are going yellow.
The leaves are turning yellow.
1. Choose whether the verbs in the sentences are
copular OR ordinary verbs.
a) She LOOKS fine.
b) She LOOKED into the street.
c) He IS the best soccer player in the world.
d) She WAS great in her new performance.
e) He SEEMS confused.
f) They quicky TASTED the pizza.
g) The pizza TASTED good.
h) That SOUNDS fantastic!
i) He GREW tired of running.

2. Complete with the correct form of BE and specify

whether it is existential BE, copular BE, auxiliary BE
or modal BE.

Tommy ___ normally very brave, but with dogs he ___

not! He thinks all dogs ____ dangerous. His parents ___
understanding, though. They ____ going to help him get
rid of his fear. But when Tommy sees dogs jumping and
running around, he ____ very scared.
“What’s wrong, dear?” his mother always asks.
“I hate dogs!” says Tommy.
“But you ___ to become a vet. How ___ you going to
take care of dogs if you ___ always scared?”
3. Circle the copular verb in each sentence. Not every
sentence has a copular verb in it.