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Learning English - The Flatmates

Archive Language Point 72
Verbs which take adjectives - look, feel, seem, sound

A verb is a word which describes an action - for example, walk, work, drive. Adverbs are words which describe how the actions described by verbs are performed.

He walked slowly - (How did he walk? Slowly.)
She worked hard - (How did she work? Hard.)
He drives dangerously - (How does he drive? Dangerously.)

Some verbs can be used with adjectives, to give more information about the subject of the verb. These verbs function as a link between the adjective and a particular aspect of the subject.

Helen says:
'It's a gorgeous dress, Alice, but the other one seemed nicer.' ('nice' refers to 'the dress')

Alice replies:
'It is lovely, isn't it? But you're right, the blue dress looks better.' ('better' refers to 'the dress'; 'look' refers to an aspect of the dress - here, the way it looks)

Helen says:
'And after that I expect we'll all be feeling peckish...' ('peckish' refers to 'we'; 'feel' refers to an aspect of 'we'. In other words, we don't look peckish, we don't sound peckish, we feel peckish.)

Verbs which can be used with adjectives in this way are called link verbs. They are also known as copula verbs. They can be divided into groups:

Verbs of perception: seem, appear
Your plan seems realistic.
He appears older than he really is.

Verbs of sense: look, feel, taste, smell, sound
The blue dress looks better.
This fabric feels lovely.
I didn't enjoy the food. It tasted horrible.
These flowers smell beautiful.
That sound system sounds expensive.

Change-of-state verbs: become, grow, get, go, turn
She became very angry when she saw what they had done.
As night fell the air grew cold.
The sun got hotter and hotter.
His face went white with shock when he heard the news.
As I get older, my hair is starting to turn grey.

Link/copula verbs take adjectives. They can also function as normal verbs which take adverbs.

She looked angry (adjective) = she had an angry expression
She looked angrily (adverb) at her husband. Here, 'looked' is a deliberate action.

The cake tasted beautiful (adjective) = the cake had a beautiful taste.
She quickly (adverb) tasted the cake. Here, 'tasted' is a deliberate action.

gorgeous (adj):
lovely, beautiful

peckish (adj):
a little bit hungry

a bite to eat:
a snack or light meal

here we go:
this phrase is used to show mild annoyance at something happening repeatedly. In this case, Tim is expressing mild frustration at Helen and Alice's constant clothes shopping.