Editing Copula (linguistics) (section)

== Copula-like words ==
Sometimes, the term ''copula'' is taken to include not only a language's equivalent(s) to the verb ''be'' but also other verbs or forms that serve to link a subject to a predicative expression (while adding [[semantic]] content of their own). For example, English verbs such as ''become'', ''get'', ''feel'', ''look'', ''taste'', ''smell'', and ''seem'' can have this function, as in the following sentences (the predicative expression, the complement of the verb, is in italics):

{{Poem quote|
She became ''a student''.
They look ''tired''.
The milk tastes ''bad''.
That bread smells ''good''.
I feel ''bad'' that she can't come with us.
London stands (is) ''on the river Thames.''
How is Mary? ; She seems (is) ''well (fine)''.
}}

(This usage should be distinguished from the use of some of these verbs as "action" verbs, as in ''They look at the wall'', in which ''look'' denotes an action and cannot be replaced by the basic copula ''are''.)

Some verbs have rarer, secondary uses as copular verbs, such as the verb ''fall'' in sentences such as ''The zebra fell victim to the lion.''

These extra copulas are sometimes called "semi-copulas" or "pseudo-copulas."<ref>{{Cite book |first=C.S. |last=Butler |title=Structure and Function: A Guide to the Three Major Structural-Functional Theories |series=Studies in Language Companion Series |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |year=2003 |volume=63 |pages=425–6 |doi=10.1075/slcs.63 |isbn=9789027296535}}</ref> For a list of common verbs of this type in English, see [[List of English copulae]].