Semantic and synttax of copula verb content introduction

Copula Verbs
Auxiliary Verbs
Function:	Link subjects and subject complements	Add meaning (tense, voice, or mood) to the main verb
Appear with:	Nouns and pronouns	Other verbs
Examples:	Smell, taste, become, sound, seem, appear, feel, be	Be, have, do, might, can, would, shall, could, will, should

Copula Verb Examples
Now let's have a look at some examples of copula verbs. There is no set list of verbs that are solely classified as copulas in the English language. Many verbs that behave as copula verbs can also be used as main verbs.
For example, in the sentence 'I smell fresh bread', the verb smell behaves as a main verb with the subject (I) preceding it and the object (fresh bread) following it. This creates the structure of:
subject → verb → object
If we look instead at the sentence 'The flowers smell beautiful', the verb smell is used as a copula verb as it links the subject complement (beautiful) to the subject (the flowers). This creates the sentence structure of:
subject → copula verb → subject complement
So, with this in mind, let's look at some sentences with copula verbs.

Sentence	Copula verb and its infinitive form
The flowers smell beautiful.	smell (to smell)
The caterpillar became a butterfly.	became (to become)
The music was loud.	was (to be)
My mother is Jane.	is (to be)
The weather is looking ghastly.	looking (to look)
Victory tastes sweet.	tastes (to taste)
She is the captain's wife.	is (to be)
The paint appeared dry.	appeared (to appear)
Abi's head felt tender.	felt (to feel)

In all of these examples, we can see that the subject complement is adding information to the subject. The copula verbs all appear between the subject and subject complement.
If we look at 'She is the captain's wife' in more detail, we can see that the subject is represented by the pronoun she and that the subject complement is the noun phrase the captain's wife. In this instance, the noun phrase is used to describe who the subject is. We know that the phrase the captain's wife is referring to the subject due to the copula verb is linking the two parts of the sentence together.
Subjects of Copula Verbs
Can you spot the subject for each sentence given in the examples? The subject of a sentence is always a noun or pronoun, so it can most often be pretty easy to identify. In sentences where the subject complement is also a noun, it can become more difficult to differentiate the two. Don't worry; there are ways we can tell which is which.
In a sentence with a copula verb, the subject will precede the verb, and the subject complement will follow the copula verb. Have a look at the following sentences:
Joni is my friend.
My friend is Joni.
In these sentences, you might expect Joni to be the subject both times as it is a proper noun (the name given to a particular being or place which is often capitalised). This is incorrect, though.
In the first sentence, Joni is the subject as it precedes the copula verb. In the second sentence, the noun phrase my friend is the subject as it precedes the copula verb.
Hint: remember that the subject complement always follows the copula verb and that the subject precedes it.
Copula Verbs - Key Takeaways
A copula verb is used to link the subject and the subject complement in a sentence.
The subject of a sentence precedes the copula verb and can be a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun.
The subject complement follows the copula verb and can be a noun, noun phrase, or adjective.
In the English language, the main copula verb is to be.
Copula verbs can be easily mixed up with auxiliary verbs, so remember that:
Copula verbs link subjects and subject complements.
Auxiliary verbs add meaning to or complete main verbs.

2.2. The syntax of the copula verb

Copular verbs, also known as copula verbs, linking verbs, and complement verbs, are used to link the subject of a sentence to the complement in a clause, which is usually an adjective phrase, but they also occur with nouns / noun phrases.
Action verbs make a degree of sense on their own. For instance with killed, we know what action is taking place, even if we don't know who is involved. Similarly we know with others such as eat, swim, run etc. 
But 'felt' has little meaning on its own, and neither do other common copular verbs such as 'is'. 
This is a simplified explanation, but it provides a good starting point to understand the basic differences between action verbs and copular verbs.
Examples of Copular Verbs
Copular verbs have various functions, but they can be broadly categorised into three types:
States of being / existense
The most common copular verbs are those forms derived from and including the verb 'to be': 
be (is, am, was, were, been, etc)
seem
appear
Sensory perception
Some can broadly be seen as related to these conditions or states: e.g.
feel
look
smell
taste 
sound
Change or Continuation
Others are connected to change:
become
get
go
grow
turn
end up
Or lack of it:
remain
keep
stay
It's worth noting at this point that not all the verbs presented are necessarily copular every time you see them. 
For instance, the verb 'to be' is also used as a helping verb to make the continuous tense and passive voice:
The man is walking his dog (present continuous) 
The broken down car was towed away (passive)
So in both these cases it is not a linking or copular verb. Also, as you now know copular verbs do not have a direct object. So if the verbs have an object, they are transitive, and therefore not copular. For example:
I smelled the flowers
She got a sandwich for lunch
But we'll now look at some specific examples of how these verbs can be copular.
States of Being
To be
'To be' is the most common verb in English and is often followed as a copular verb by adjectives or nouns (i.e. predicative adjective or nominative).
Adjectives used after copular verbs are usually used to make some kind of evaluation:
She isn't very nice
The film was funny
In more formal contexts, adjectives such as possible, necessary, difficult, and important are used with clauses or prepositional phrases to make evaluations:
It is important to finish of the work on time
It is difficult to imagine anything will change
When a noun follows a copular verb, it is called a predicative nominative. It's function is either to characterise:
I think Saturday will be a great day
The car was a good buy
Or identify:
That is my house
She is my next door neighbour
Steve Jobs was the CEO of Apple
Even though they are followed by nouns, they are not direct objects, as they are not the recipients of the action of the verb. Rather they are further describing the subject in some way. 
Other Verbs
Other verbs related to states of being are appear and seem. These are commonly followed by predicative adjectives (adjective complements):
It seemed impossible that she would go
It seems likely that the government will pass the legislation 
It seems clear that we should leave now
They seemed surprised by the ending of the film
It didn't appear likely the car would start
But they can also be followed by to-complement clauses:
She seemed to be happy with the result
They appear to have taken the wrong bus
And in the case of seem, followed by a predictive nominative:
He seems the perfect partner for my daughter
Sensory Perception
These are used with predicative adjectives to express positive or negative evaluations. For example:
This mango tastes good
I think it tastes awful
It smells terrible in that room
Something smells funny
What he said sounded strange
Sue sounded angry when I spoke to her
I feel guilty about what I did
The students felt sure they had done well
You look wonderful in that dress
Why do you look sad today?
Change or Continuation
Certain copular verbs can be used to show change or continuation. They can be used with a variety of adjectives, but below are some examples. 
Change
Become refers to a change from one state to another:
It has become clear that he is not ready for the promotion
John became aware that somebody was following him
It is becoming apparent to the government that they must increase spending
Get is commonly used to express the way a person is physically or mentally changing:
Her health is getting worse
I get upset very easily by noise
I always get dressed up to go out
Go is usually used to express a change to a more negative or undesirable state:
I think I'm going crazy
I didn't think things would go so wrong
She has gone quiet
The following copular verbs, grow, come, turn, and end up, to show change are less common than those above. Their meanings are given after the example:
I hope we grow old together (gradual change)
I come alive when I listen to his music (change to a better state)
She is turning bright red (change in appearance)
I always end up angry when I read the news (change to an unintentional state)
Continuation
In contrast to those above the copular verbs remain, keep, and stay, show some kind of lack of change or continuation of a state or situation:
The chances of war remain high
The shop remained closed for the week
I keep busy at the weekend
She kept warm by jumping up and down
My friends stayed very loyal to me
I stay sober most the time now
Copular Verbs and the Passive Voice
Only action verbs can be placed into the passive voice, which means that copular verbs cannot be made passive. 
We make something passive when we turn the object of the sentence into the subject:
My father drove the car - active
The car was driven by my father - passive
When we have a copular verb though, there is no object to make the subject.
Copular verbs are therefore intransitive.
Traditionally, a copula is defined as an item which links the subject of a clause with its predicate, like this (subject underlined, copula in bold black and predicate in blue):
The book is on the shelf
The car is enormous
Peter is a musician
That is what I need
and so on.
In English, the linkage is achieved with verbs of one kind or another but that need not be the case.
Some languages use a pronoun or set of pronouns to achieve the link and in others (such as Korean) there may be a suffix which does the same job. Some languages, such as most forms of Arabic, do without a copula altogether and speakers of those languages may do so in English, producing, for example:
*He teacher
which is, of course, perfectly comprehensible.
Japanese has a particle, da or desu, which follows the predicate performing a copular function.
Romance languages (excluding French and Romanian) generally have two copulas, one for permanent states and another for temporary conditions so the translations of, e.g.:
Mary is happy
and
Mary is a teacher
will be different with different forms of the verb be in each case.
There may, incidentally, be some disagreement among native speakers of such languages concerning what constitutes a permanent rather than temporary state but most get it right most of the time.
Languages which share this characteristic include Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese and more.
Speakers of these languages may, at first, be slightly confused that there is no distinction in the verb use in English between:
The book is old
and
The book is in my car
In many analyses a distinction is made between the copula in English, the verb be and all other verbs which serve to link the subject and the predicate such as appear, seem, look, grow and so on which are referred to as semi- or pseudo-copular verbs.
In this guide we will shortly see why that should be the case.
In other analyses, these sorts of verbs are referred to as intensive verbs because they can only take one clause structures when acting as copulas. That structure is: SVC (Subject – Verb – Complement) although we can, as is the case with all clauses add an adjunct adverbial to get SVCA.
At the outset, we should make it clear that the complement of a copula is not an adjunct. An adjunct is an omissible extra piece of information in a verb structure. For example, in:
John waited at the bus stop
the adverbial at the bus stop is an adjunct and can be omitted to leave a well-formed sentence.
However, in:
John was at the bus stop
we cannot omit the adverbial prepositional phrase because that would leave a non-sentence in English.
For more, see the guide to adverbials, linked below.
The verb be is the least meaningful but most flexible of the copular verbs in English.
It is the least meaningful, i.e., colourless, because unlike verbs such as taste, appear, turn, grow or become, it serves purely to link subject to complement and carries little intrinsic meaning.
It is, however, also the most flexible and can be followed by more types of complement than the semi- and pseudo-copular verbs. For example:
subject noun complement
He is the boss
adjective complement
She was unhappy with that
a subject noun complement linked with the preposition like to show comparison
They are like their parents
prepositional phrase complement
She has been in London
adverb complement
She will be here
non-finite to-infinitive clause complement
His ambition had always been to make lots of money
non-finite clause with an -ing form of the verb
His aim was making lots of money (another )
We shall see later how these seven types of complementation affect which verbs can be used as copulas.
The pseudo-copular verbs fall into two categories.
Verbs which indicate the current state of something
She felt unwell
Verbs which indicate a change in state which are known as inchoate verbs (the term inchoate means not fully formed). You may also see them described as inceptive verbs.
She became unwell
Like this:

Current condition / state	Inchoate verbs
act the fool appear unhappy be on the table feel sick keep busy lie on the lawn look miserable remain unhappy † represent the problem seem excessive smell revolting sound awful stand corrected stay calm taste like tomato turn up dead	become involved come undone come out in spots end up rich get old go stale grow apprehensive fall ill prove impossible run to fat turn aggressive wax lyrical

† the verb represent is polysemous and for example in:
He represents the company in France
it is not a copula but in:
This figure represents the amount we have to pay
it is a pseudo-copula.
These two categories form teachable units but mixing them up can cause problems especially at lower levels.
The inchoate verbs allow a range of modification, especially with manner adverbs, that is disallowed with those in the left-hand column. For example:
He became gradually reconciled to the idea
It quickly went stale
but
*He looked rapidly miserable
*She stood slowly in the corner
and so on are not allowed because of the stative nature of the verbs.
Current state verbs are subject to modification in other ways, however, often with intensifying adverbials or those of time or angle:
She definitely appeared unhappy
She really felt sick
It eventually proved impossible
They stubbornly remained dissatisfied
She unexpectedly fell ill on holiday

CONCLUSION

In English grammar, a copula is a verb that joins the subject of a sentence or clause to a subject complement. For example, the word "is" functions as a copula in the sentences "Jane is my friend" and "Jane is friendly." The primary verb "be" is sometimes referred to as "the copula." However, while forms of "being" (am, are, is, was, were) are the most commonly used copulas in English, certain other verbs (identified below) have copular functions as well. Copular verbs can occur in both main and subordinate clauses." Unlike auxiliary verbs (also called helping verbs), which are used in front of other verbs, copular verbs function by themselves in the manner of main verbs.
Examples of Copulas
The weather is horrible.
That car looks fast.
The stew smells good.
I do feel a fool.
She became a racehorse trainer.
It's getting late.
Copular Verbs in Common Usage
Some of the most frequently used copular verbs are: be, feel, seem, appear, look, sound, smell, taste, become, get. Adjectives follow copular verbs, not adverbs.
He looks intelligent. (Intelligent is an adjective in a predicative position. It tells you about the person himself. You're making the assumption "He is intelligent" based on observation. Here, the "look" is a copular verb.
Copular verbs are complemented by a subject predicative in a sentence or clause structure. A copular prepositional verb is a prepositional verb (the combination of a verb plus preposition) that is complemented by a subject predicative.
List of used literature
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2. Bordovskaya N.V., Rean A.A. Pedagogy/Textbook for High Schools. - Minsk: 2000
3. Voronov V.V. School pedagogy in a nutshell. - M.: 2002
4. Vygotsky L.S. Sobr. op. - M., 1983.
5. Z.Din N.F. Personal approach in education. - Rostov-on-Don, 1994
6. Zyubin L.M. Psychology of education. - M.: 1991
7. Kon I.S. The child and society. - M.: 1988
8. Krylova N.B. Cultural studies of education. - M.: 2000
9. Likhachev B.T. Pedagogy: Course of lectures: Proc. allowance for students ped. educational institutions and students of IFC and FPK - 4th ed., revised. and additional - M.: Yurayt, 2001
10. Melnikov A.E., Rozhkov M.I., Uspensky V.B., State exam in pedagogy. - Yaroslavl, 2001
11. Nemov R.S. Psychology. In three books. Book. 1.: General foundations of psychology. - M.: Vlados, 2000
12. Parkinson K.N. and others. Children: how to bring them up. - St. Petersburg: 1992
13. Pedagogy / Ed. Babansky Yu.K. - M.: Enlightenment, 2001
14. Stolyarenko A.M. Psychology and Pedagogy: Textbook for High Schools. - M.: UNITY-DANA, 2004
15. Ushinsky K.D. Ped. Op.: In 6 volumes, V.5. - M.: 1990
16. Kharlamov I.F. Pedagogy: Textbook.-3rd ed., revised and additional. - M.: Jurist, 2001