copula

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In one episode the shirtless tribal leader Khal Drogo delivered a monologue for two and a half minutes in Dothraki, with its subject-verb-object structure and no copula, or linking verb.

From New York Times • Dec. 11, 2011

Again, adjectives are used as intransitive verbs, as in most Indian languages there is no verb to be used as a predicant or copula.

From On the Evolution of Language First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1879-80, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1881, pages 1-16 by Powell, John Wesley

When this takes place, and any question arises as to the construction, they must be exhibited in their fully expanded form, i.e., the second subject, the second predicate, and the second copula must be supplied.

From A Handbook of the English Language by Latham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)

In such a case as this, the verb expresses predication and nothing else, and is called a copula.

From Hume (English Men of Letters Series) by Huxley, Thomas Henry

A verb may be said to be Hypercategorematic, implying, as it does, not only a term, but also a copula.

From Logic, Inductive and Deductive by Minto, William