link verbs
Some verbs are followed by an adjective phrase. The adjective phrase is called the complement:
Noun phrase (Subject) Verb phrase Adjective phrase (complement)I
Everyone
This soup
The milk am feeling
looked
tastes
has gone hungry
very happy
awful
sour
This pattern is N + V + Adj (noun + verb + adjective phrase).
These verbs are called link verbs.
Some link verbs (for example be; become; seem) can have a noun phrase as a complement:
Noun phrase (Subject) Verb phrase Noun phrase (complement)Our neighbour
He
She was
became
seems a strange man
a geologist
a nice girl
This pattern is N + V + N (noun + verb + noun).
Comments
i passed the test.
It always confuses me to decide whether the verb ing form is an adjective or not in the N + V + Adj or N + V structure? You know some adjectives from the counterpart verbs, such as, worrying, confusing and moving etc. This makes it difficult to decide which the structure of a clause is. For example, I may consider in the sentence, the sun was shining. , the shining as an adjective, then the clause structure is N + V + Adj, rather than N + V. As we use the verb be and the present participle (-ing form) of a verb for simple continuous, this kind of clauses is very common in English. How to deal with this problem? Please help me.
Hi Zhao Wei,
That's an interesting question!
One way to work out whether an -ing word is an adjective or a present participle is to try putting 'very' in front of it. In your example, we can see that 'the sun was very shining' isn't good English, so 'shining' in this sentence is a present participle rather than an adjective.
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
I don't understand that well.So, I'd like to ask a question.
'The book is interesting.'
In the sentence above, explain to me whether interesting is an adjective or a present participle.Moreover, what is the difference between the two sentences below,
The book is interesting, and
The book is interested.
I beg your pardon.
Chan Lin
Hi Chan Lin,
Think about whether it is possible to say 'The book is very interesting.' Is that good English?
As for your second question, you can find a section of the grammar on that subject here.
I hope that helps.
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
These tests are really usefull