Linking verbs and complements

The discussion of linking verbs is a sine qua non to the nature of subject-complement agreement in the English language...

Linking verbs connect the subject of a sentence with its complement. They are also referred to as copula verbs.

Complement is a word that describes an entity or tells us who or what a subject or an object is in a sentence. It can also be a word that completes the meaning of a sentence. It can exist as a nominal complement (when the word is a noun), or adjectival complement (when the word is an adjective). We can also have complement of a preposition in some cases.

Look at the following examples: 

1. Mr Olu is a farmer.

2. The poor child feels hungry.

3. The businessman seems honest.

In the examples above, ‘a farmer’ tells us who Mr Olu is, right? Great! ‘Hungry’, in the second example, is a word that describes how the poor child feels, and so does ‘honest’ for the businessman. Clear? Yesss, that is fine. Therefore, ‘a farmer’, ‘hungry’, and ‘honest’ are complements of each person we have in the examples above. Since ‘a farmer’ is a nominal entity—noun phrase, the complement will be called a nominal complement. And in the last two examples, the complements will be called adjectival complements because the words are adjective.

Following my previous explanation, we can identify the linking verbs as “is”, “feels” and “seems” because they connect the subjects with their complements.

Other examples of linking verbs are:

appear, become, look, sound, taste, smell, stay, turn, prove, am, was, were, are, be, being, been etc. For example: that car looks fast; the stew smells good, etc.

This is the simplest way to see a complement. However, a complement may be a phrase, as we have seen in the noun phrase above, or even a clause.

In addition to this, the number of the complement MUST be the same as the number of the subject. That is, when the subject is singular, the complement must also be singular and vice versa. This ONLY applies to nominal compliment. This is where the subject-complement agreement comes to play.

For example:

1. The man is a doctor;

2. The men are doctors.

3. This is my pen.

4. These are my pens.

5. There is a car waiting for you outside.

6. There are (some) cars waiting for you outside.

Please note that there is a difference between complement and compliment.

Compliment is a polite expression of admiration or praise for something or someone. For example, speaker A: You look very dapper in your new dress;
Speaker B: Thanks for the compliment.

Lastly, it is compliments of the season, not complements of the season. “Compliments of the season” is used as a seasonal greeting at Christmas or the New Year.

Yours in English,

Francis