Linking verb

A linking verb connects the subject of a sentence to a word that renames or describes it rather than expressing an action: 'the room was cold', 'the offer seemed generous'.

The room was cold. Nothing happens in that sentence. Was does not act; it equates, joining the room to cold. The word on the far side of a linking verb is called the subject complement: an adjective that describes the subject (cold) or a noun that renames it (she became a doctor).

List of linking verbs

• Be in all its forms: am, is, are, was, were, been, being.
• States and changes: seem, appear, become, remain, stay, grow, turn, prove, get.
• The senses: look, sound, smell, taste, feel.

The quick test: swap the verb for is or seems. If the sentence still makes sense, it is linking. The offer seemed generous becomes the offer was generous. She grew tired becomes she was tired. She grew tomatoes becomes nonsense, so there grew is an action verb.

Linking verb or action verb?

Several of these verbs do both jobs, and the difference is whether the word after them describes the subject.

• She felt uneasy. Linking: uneasy describes her.
• She felt the door frame. Action: her fingers are doing something.
• The soup tasted salty. Linking.
• He tasted the soup. Action, and the soup is a direct object.

Keep linking verbs apart from auxiliary verbs too: was links in she was tired and merely helps in she was leaving.

Why editors flag linking verbs

They are not errors, and the advice to delete every was is bad advice, because sometimes a room is simply cold and the reader needs to know. But a paragraph in which most of the verbs are linking verbs is a paragraph of assertions, and assertion is the mode that show, don't tell warns about. The reader is handed conclusions instead of evidence.

The repair is rarely a stronger adjective. It is a different verb.

• The room was cold.
• The cold came up through the floorboards.
• He was angry.
• He shoved his chair back hard enough to hit the wall.

Each rewrite gives the reader something happening, and lets them draw the conclusion the linking verb used to state.

Frequently asked questions

What is a linking verb?

A linking verb joins the subject to a description or a new name for it, instead of showing an action. In 'the soup was cold', was links the soup to cold. The word after it is called the subject complement.

Is 'be' always a linking verb?

No. In 'she was tired', was links. In 'she was leaving', it is an auxiliary verb helping the main verb leaving. Only the first describes the subject directly.

Should it be 'I feel bad' or 'I feel badly'?

'I feel bad' is the standard form for your mood or health, because feel is working as a linking verb and linking verbs take adjectives. 'I feel badly' is common in American speech for regret, but careful usage keeps the adverb for how you feel things, as with numb fingers.