§ 55. Among the class of link verbs we may distinguish:
1. Those which have lost their original lexical meaning (to be, to get).
He is just the kind of man I want.
Elisabeth got very restless.
2. Those which have only partly lost their lexical meaning (to remain, to become, to grow, to turn, to look, to seem).
That request seemed superfluous.
The room looked snug and cheerful.
Ellen’s eyes grew moist.
In both cases (1,2) the link verbs proper are used.
3. Those which have fully preserved their lexical meaning but still serve as link verbs followed by a predicative. They are used in the passive voice: to elect, to call, to leave, to keep, to make.
The boy was called John.
She was left alone.
He was elected president.
According to their semantic characteristics link verbs fall into three groups: link verbs of being, of becoming, of remaining.
l. Link verbs of being:
to be, to feel, to sound, to smell, to taste, to look, to appear, to seem, etc.
Of these only the verb to be is a pure link verb of being, as the others may have some additional meaning (see examples below).
When he was seven, starting school had been a nightmare and a torture to him.
His face looked awful all the time.
I felt better pleased than ever.
His voice sounded cold and hostile.
He seemed bewildered.
Everything appeared very grand and imposing to me.
Note how the link verbs to taste and to feel are translated into Russian:
Lemons taste sour. - Лимоны кислые на вкус.
The fur feels soft. - Мех мягкий на ощупь.
2. Link verbs of becoming:
to become, to grow, to turn, to get, to make.
The noise of the rattling dishes becomes intolerable.
The Elephant’s Child’s nose grew longer and longer.
The girl’s face suddenly turned red.
The girl will make a good teacher.
3. Link verbs of remaining:
to remain, to continue, to keep, to stay.
She remained vexed with him.
The children kept suspiciously silent.
Ways of expressing the predicative
§ 56. The predicative can be expressed by:
1. A noun in the common case or in the genitive case.
Miss Sedly’s father was a merchant.
The face was Victoria's.
2. An adjective or an adjective phrase.
Ellen’s eyes grew angry.
She was full of enthusiasm.
The man was difficult to convince,
Note:
It should be remembered that in some cases a predicative adjective in English corresponds to an adverbial modifier expressed by an adverb in Russian.
The apples smell good.
Яблоки хорошо пахнут.
The music sounded beautiful.
Музыка звучала прекрасно.
S
he
looks bad - Она
плохо
выглядит
feels чувствует себя
In English the verbs to smell, to sound, to look, to feel are link verbs and are the first part of the compound nominal predicate. The predicatives (which form the second part of these predicates) qualify the subject and can therefore be expressed only by adjectives. In Russian the corresponding verbs form simple verbal predicates and are therefore modified by adverbials expressed by an adverb.
3. A pronoun.
It was he.
It’s me. (There is a growing tendency to use personal pronouns as predicatives in the objective case.)
She is somebody.
The hat is mine. (In this function only the absolute form of the possessive pronoun is used.)
Who are you?
She was not herself yet.
4. A numeral.
He was sixty last year.
I’m the first.
5. An infinitive (or an infinitive phrase or construction).
His first thought was to run away.
My idea is to go there myself.
The only thing to do is for you to whip him.
6. A gerund (or a gerundial phrase or construction).
My hobby is dancing and his is collecting stamps.
The main problem was his being away at the moment.
7. A participle or a participial phrase.
The subject seemed strangely chosen.
Participle I seldom occurs in this function unless it has become an adjective.
That sounded quite distressing.
8. A prepositional phrase.
She is on our side,
9. A stative.
I was wide awake by this time. .
10. An indivisible group of words.
It is nine o’clock already.
11. A clause.
That’s what has happened.
Semantic characteristics of the predicative