Example Of Linking Verbs | Sentences That Show The Rule

Linking verbs are easy to spot once you know what they do. They don’t show an action jumping off the page. They connect the subject to a description, a name, or a condition. That one shift changes how you read the whole sentence.

If you’re learning grammar, writing essays, or helping a child with schoolwork, this is one of those topics that pays off right away. A sentence like “The soup smells rich” works in a different way from “She smells the soup.” Same verb. Different job. When you catch that, a lot of grammar starts to click.

What linking verbs do in a sentence

A linking verb joins the subject with a subject complement. That complement tells you who the subject is or what the subject is like. In plain terms, the verb connects the subject to a label or a description instead of showing an action.

Read these pairs and notice the shift:

• Mina is calm. “Is” links Mina to the adjective “calm.”
• The winner became Sara. “Became” links the subject to a noun that renames it.
• The room feels warm. “Feels” links the room to a description.

That’s the whole idea. The verb acts like a bridge. It ties the subject to fresh information instead of showing what the subject did.

The complement matters

After a linking verb, the next word or phrase usually does one of two jobs. It renames the subject, as in “Noah is the captain.” Or it describes the subject, as in “Noah is tired.” Once you spot that complement, the sentence usually opens right up.

You’ll also see the term “copula” in grammar books. It’s the grammar label for a linking verb. For everyday writing class, “linking verb” is the clearer name, so most learners stick with that.

Action verb or linking verb

Here’s where people get tripped up. Some verbs can work as linking verbs in one sentence and action verbs in another. “Look,” “feel,” “smell,” “taste,” and “sound” do this all the time.

• Linking: The fabric feels soft.
• Action: Ava feels the fabric.
• Linking: The pie smells sweet.
• Action: Dad smells the pie.

Here’s a handy test. Swap the verb with a form of “be.” If the sentence still makes sense, you’re probably looking at a linking verb. “The fabric feels soft” becomes “The fabric is soft.” That still works. “Ava feels the fabric” becomes “Ava is the fabric.” That falls apart, so “feels” is acting as an action verb there.

Example Of Linking Verbs in real sentences

You don’t need a giant list to get the pattern. You need clean examples that show what comes after the verb and why the sentence works. Merriam-Webster’s linking verb lesson defines this verb type as one that connects a subject with words that identify or describe it. That lines up with what teachers drill in class: the word after the verb tells you something about the subject.

Start with the common family:

• am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being
• become, seem, appear
• feel, look, smell, sound, taste
• grow, remain, stay, turn, get

Not every item on that list is a linking verb every time. Context decides it. Still, these are the verbs you’ll meet again and again in school grammar, editing work, and language lessons. The Excelsior OWL lesson on linking verbs points out that forms of “to be” show up most often, while verbs like “become” and “seem” also turn up often.

Linking verbs in everyday sentence patterns

Most learners get better with linking verbs when they stop memorizing and start sorting. Ask two questions: what comes after the verb, and does it rename or describe the subject? That small check works in plain sentences, formal writing, and test questions.

Verb	Sentence	What follows it
is	The hallway is quiet.	Adjective that describes the subject
was	Jordan was our driver.	Noun phrase that renames the subject
seems	The plan seems fair.	Adjective that describes the subject
became	Lena became class president.	Noun phrase that renames the subject
looks	The sky looks gray.	Adjective that describes the subject
feels	The blanket feels dry.	Adjective that describes the subject
remains	The door remains open.	Adjective that describes the subject
turned	The leaves turned gold.	Adjective that describes the subject

Notice what you don’t see in those lines: a direct object. Linking verbs usually point away from objects and toward complements. That’s why “The leaves turned gold” feels different from “The artist turned the page.” In the second sentence, “the page” receives the action. In the first, “gold” tells you what the leaves became.

Why teachers ask about adjectives after linking verbs

This point trips up a lot of writers. After a linking verb, you usually want an adjective, not an adverb. So you’d write “The cookies smell good,” not “The cookies smell well,” unless you mean the cookies are doing the act of smelling. That sounds odd on purpose, which shows why the grammar choice matters.

Del Mar College’s note on predicate adjectives and predicate nominatives lays out the pattern neatly: a linking verb can be followed by an adjective that describes the subject or a noun that renames it. That’s why “She became a doctor” and “She became tired” are both built the right way, while the words after the verb do different jobs.

Tricky verbs that change jobs by context

Some verbs sit on the fence. They can link. They can act. The sentence tells you which role they play.

Use this quick check when you’re unsure:

• If the verb is followed by a word that describes or renames the subject, it’s linking.
• If the verb shows what the subject does to someone or something, it’s action.
• If replacing the verb with “is” or “are” still works, it’s often linking.

Sentence	Job	Why it works that way
The roses smell fresh.	Linking verb	“Fresh” describes the roses.
Ella smelled the roses.	Action verb	The verb shows what Ella did.
The child grew sleepy.	Linking verb	“Sleepy” describes the child.
The farmer grew corn.	Action verb	“Corn” is the thing affected by the action.
The water turned cold.	Linking verb	“Cold” gives the water a condition.

Once you train your ear for that pattern, these verbs stop feeling random. You start hearing whether the word after the verb describes the subject or receives the action.

Common mistakes students make

One mistake is treating every sense verb as an action verb. That leads to awkward lines like “The soup tastes badly” or “She feels badly” when the sentence is really about condition, not action.

Another mistake is mixing up linking verbs and helping verbs. A helping verb teams up with another verb, as in “She is running.” In that line, “is” is not linking the subject to a description. It is helping form the verb phrase “is running.” That’s a different job.

A simple check that works

When you edit, scan for these clues:

• The verb is a form of “be,” “seem,” “become,” or a sense verb.
• The next word names or describes the subject.
• There is no direct object taking the action.

That small checklist is enough for most school and workplace writing. You don’t need fancy labels every time. You just need to see the sentence pattern clearly.

A cleaner way to learn them

The best way to learn linking verbs is to group them by how they behave, not by how long a list gets. Start with forms of “be.” Then add “seem,” “become,” and a few sense verbs. Read short sentences aloud. Ask what the word after the verb is doing. If it renames or describes the subject, you’ve got a linking verb.

That’s why examples matter so much here. A bare list can feel flat. Real sentences show the grammar in motion. Once you see “The room grew quiet,” “Malik became a doctor,” and “The cake smells rich” side by side, the pattern stops hiding.