Copula & Tenses: Do You Know Both the Differences?

 By: TOEFL consultant

COPULA

Copulas or copulas verbs known linking verbs connect the subject and it's complement. But, verbs indicate of an action. Moreover, the most common true copulas are presented here.

	Is	Is being	become	Seem
	Am	Am being
	Are	Are being
	Was	Was being	Became	Seemed
	Were	Were being
	Has	Has been	Has become	Has seemed
	Have	Have been	Have become	Have seemed
	Had	Had been	Had become	Had seemed
	Will	Will have been	Will become	Will seem
	Would	Would have been	Will have become

For example:

1.      I am tired.

Here, the linking verb “am” connects “I” to the condition “tired” showing feeling that I need rest or sleep.

2.      He is happy.

The word “is” identifies that he expresses pleasure. Moreover, resultant verbs containing sense perceptions like taste, smell, hear, feel, and see and existing states such as seem, look, appear, cost, owe, and so on regard as action verbs or linking verbs.

Analyses:

1.      The building looks old.

2.      He looks for the building.

The substitution can replace the verbs.

1.      The building looks old. (It is logic, so the verb “looks” is the resultant verb regarding as copulas)

2.      He looks for the building. (It is illogic)

TENSES

Tenses define verb forms that show the time of the action. Basically, the form contains three tenses, namely the infinitive, past, and participle.

For example:

1.      I am studying English when he comes

2.      I have seen the movie three times.

Analyses:

The words “am” and “have” are the copula and the words “studying” and “seen” are the tense.

References

Azar, Betty Schrampfer. 1989. Understanding and Using English Grammar. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.

Manser, Martin H. 1995. Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary, New Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Voiles, Price R. 1993. Modern Business English. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Book Co.

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