160 Verb Phrases This identity of subject and predicate nominative is the key to recognizing a linking verb when the complement is a noun phrase. Here are some more examples: Sally became a professional tennis player. Sally ϭ a professional tennis player. Cinderella’s coach turned into a pumpkin. Cinderella’s coach ϭ a pumpkin I felt like a complete idiot. I ϭ complete idiot. In an action verb sentence, of course, the subject and the object do not refer to the same per- son or thing. For example: Sally met a professional tennis player. Sally a professional tennis player Cinderella's coach impressed her sisters. Cinderella’s coach her sisters. I talked to a complete idiot. I a complete idiot. Exercise 10.5 Label the italicized verbs as Act for action verb or Link for linking verbs. Confi rm your answer by using equal (ϭ) and unequal signs () to indicate whether the subject and the complement refer to each other. Link The keys looked like the ones I lost yesterday. The keys ϭ the ones I lost yesterday. 1. The keys unlock the storage cabinet. 2. The plan seemed a good idea at the time. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 160 3/16/09 12:34:13 PM Simple Verb Complements 161 3. The board approved the plan. 4. Richard became a highly successful salesman. 5. Her new car is a Ford. 6. Unfortunately, his new mansion looks like a cheap motel. 7. Louise greatly resembles her sister Thelma. 8. Louise called up her sister Thelma. 9. The new nominee really seems like a good choice for the job. 10. The housing market has turned into a complete disaster. 11. My fi rst choice would be an apartment near where I work. 12. Albuquerque resembles a typical city in the 1960s. 13. The actor seemed a man in his midfi fties. 14. My brother ended up a lawyer in a big law fi rm. 15. What you can see is all that we have left. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 161 3/16/09 12:34:13 PM 162 Verb Phrases The second complement type that linking verbs can take is a predicate adjective. Here are some examples with the linking verb in italics and the predicate adjective in bold. Senator Blather’s speech was pretty dull. The soup is cold. John got very angry. The weather turned dark and stormy. Terry’s chili is too spicy for me. Stay warm! Let’s get ready. Exercise 10.6 Label the italicized verbs as Act for action verb or Link for linking verbs. Underline the comple- ments of the linking verbs and label them Pred Adj (for predicate adjective) or Pred Nom (for predicate nominative) as appropriate. Pred Link Adj Our cat goes crazy during thunderstorms. 1. On hearing the bad news, Agnes turned deathly pale. 2. The note sounded fl at to me. 3. George seemed terribly upset about something. 4. The situation could easily turn ugly. 5. You look ready to go. 6. Everyone noticed his strange behavior at the party last night. 7. After his long illness, Jason looked like a ghost of his former self. 8. Over the years they have grown closer to each other. 9. The day was getting terribly warm. 10. Please remain calm. 11. The wine has gone bad. 12. I felt much better after seeing the doctor. 13. They looked ready to go. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 162 3/16/09 12:34:13 PM Simple Verb Complements 163 14. Our simple plan has turned into a huge project. 15. All the indicators appeared positive. Many hundreds of true adjectives are derived from the present participle form of verbs. For example, here is the true adjective amusing used both as a noun modifi er and as a predicate adjective: Noun modifi er: He told an amusing story. Predicate adjective: His story was amusing. It is sometimes very diffi cult to tell predicate adjectives apart from the same word used as part of the progressive tense. Here is an example: Predicate adjective: The story was amusing. Progressive verb: His story was amusing the guests. As you can see, amusing is a predicate adjective in the fi rst example, but a main verb in the pro- gressive form in the second example. In both cases, amusing follows the verb be. The two sen- tences look alike, but are actually built in different ways: main predicate verb ϩ adjective Predicate adjective: The story was amusing. helping main verb ϩ verb Progressive: His story was amusing the guests. Fortunately, there are several reliable tests to help us decide when a present participle word form is being used as predicate adjective following a linking verb and when it is being used as a main verb in a progressive verb construction. If the present participle is being used as a predicate adjective, it can almost always be modi- fi ed by the word very. For example: His story was very amusing. When we try to use very with a present participle used as a main verb, the result will always be ungrammatical: X His story was very amusing the guests. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 163 3/16/09 12:34:13 PM 164 Verb Phrases If the present participle is being used as the main verb in a progressive construction, we can usually paraphrase the sentence by changing the progressive construction to a simple present tense or past tense, for example: His story was amusing the guests. ⇒ His story amused the guests. When we try to turn a predicate adjective into a main verb, the result will always produce an ungrammatical sentence. For example: His story was amusing. ⇒ X His story amused. (who?) Amused is a transitive verb that must have an object. Here is another pair of examples: (1) The report was discouraging. (2) The report was discouraging everyone. In (1), we can tell that discouraging is a predicate adjective because we can modify it with very: The report was very discouraging. When we try the very test with (2), the result is ungrammatical: X The report was very discouraging everyone. In (2), we can tell that discouraging is part of a progressive verb construction because we can paraphrase the verb construction with a past tense: The report was discouraging everyone. ⇒ The report discouraged everyone. Exercise 10.7 Apply the very and paraphrase tests to each sentence in the following pairs of sentences. The repeated failures were upsetting. The repeated failures were upsetting everyone. Very test: The repeated failures were very upsetting. Paraphrase: X The repeated failures upset. (who?) Very test: X The repeated failures were very upsetting everyone. Paraphrase: The repeated failures upset everyone. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 164 3/16/09 12:34:14 PM Simple Verb Complements 165 1. The movie was frightening. The movie was frightening the children. Very test: Paraphrase: Very test: Paraphrase: 2. My boss is demanding. My boss is demanding an answer. Very test: Paraphrase: Very test: Paraphrase: 3. His suggestions were surprising. His suggestions were surprising everyone. Very test: Paraphrase: Very test: Paraphrase: 4. The mistakes were alarming. The mistakes were alarming everyone. Very test: Paraphrase: Very test: Paraphrase: (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 165 3/16/09 12:34:14 PM 166 Verb Phrases 5. The company is accepting. The company is accepting applications. Very test: Paraphrase: Very test: Paraphrase: The third type of complement that linking verbs can take is an adverb of place or time. Here are some examples of both kinds of adverbs: Adverb of place complement The picnic is at the beach. Our apartment was on 53rd Street. We were there. Adverb of time complement The meeting is at ten. The game is Saturday afternoon. That was then; this is now. One of the differences between adverbs of place and time as complements of linking verbs and ordinary optional adverbs is that we can never delete complements. Complements, by defi - nition, are grammatical structures required by a verb to make a complete sentence. If we delete adverbs that are complements, the resulting sentence will be an ungrammatical fragment. Optional adverb modifi ers, on the other hand, can always be deleted without affecting the gram- maticality of the sentence. Compare the result when we delete the adverbs from the following sentences: Complement: The meeting is on the third fl oor. Optional adverb modifi er: I attended the meeting on the third fl oor. When we try to delete the adverbs from the two different sentences, the deletion of the comple- ment results in an ungrammatical sentence, while the deletion of the optional adverb from the action verb sentence has no effect on the grammaticality of the sentence: Complement: X The meeting is on the third fl oor . Optional: I attended the meeting on the third fl oor . (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 166 3/16/09 12:34:14 PM . story was amusing. It is sometimes very diffi cult to tell predicate adjectives apart from the same word used as part of the progressive tense. Here is an example: Predicate adjective: The story. present participle word form is being used as predicate adjective following a linking verb and when it is being used as a main verb in a progressive verb construction. If the present participle. the indicators appeared positive. Many hundreds of true adjectives are derived from the present participle form of verbs. For example, here is the true adjective amusing used both as a noun modifi