84. There is no other verb used oftener than the verb be, with its various forms,—is, are, am, was, will be, has been, etc. In the sentence, “The lake is the mother of the great rivers,” there would be no assertion without the verb is, and yet it does not assert action of any sort. The sentence plainly means that the lake and the mother of the great rivers are identical; that is, they are one and the same thing. The verb is enables us to assert identity. A verb of this kind is intransitive. It is often called a verb of being, to distinguish it from verbs that assert action.

85. Some other verbs of this kind are seem, appear, become, grow, feel, look, smell, taste, and sound. They are classed as verbs of being because they mean—to be in appearance, in looks, in smell, in taste, etc., as, “You appear ill,” “She looks young,” “The milk tastes sour.”

Verbs that assert being are intransitive verbs.

86. Intransitive verbs of being usually need a complement. In the sentence, “I am a spinner of long yarns,” if we had merely the subject and the verb, I am, we should ask, am what? The group of words a spinner of long yarns answers this question, and so completes the predicate. It is not an object complement, however, for it cannot name the receiver of an action since the verb does not assert action at all. This complement denotes identity with the subject; hence it is called a subjective complement.

Often the subjective complement denotes the class to which the person or thing named by the subject belongs; as, “Corn is a grain,” “My friend is a farmer.”

87. The subject and the object complement denote two different persons or things, but the subject and the subjective complement always refer to the same person or thing.

88. The subjective complement is sometimes a single noun, as in the sentence, “Stars are suns.” When the subjective complement is a group of words, a noun is usually the base word; as, “Procrastination is the thief of time.”

In sentences containing a subjective complement, the subject comes before the verb, and the subjective complement after the verb, unless the sentence is transposed; as, “Lords of the sea are we.”

89. Sometimes, instead of having a complement, a verb of being is modified by a prepositional phrase, or even by an adverb, denoting place; as, “My bark is on the sea,” “Yonder is my home.”

Summary.—Verbs that assert being or identity are intransitive verbs.

A subjective complement is a word or a group of words that completes a verb and refers to the same person or thing as the subject.

Exercise.—Select all the intransitive verbs of being in the following sentences. Find their subjects and their complements, and the base words of each. Analyze sentences 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 14.

1. This palace was the residence of the queen consort of England.

2.

The king was in his counting house, counting out his money,

The queen was in the parlor, eating bread and honey.

3. My name is Beautiful Joe, and I am a brown dog of medium size.

4. Her worship of God was unselfish service, and her prayers were worthy deeds.

5. The one great poem of New England is her Sunday.

6. This guinea pig’s name was Jeff, and he and I became good friends.

7. Patient waiters are no losers.

8. In this fine open square are magnificent fountains, handsome statuary on tall pedestals, and crowds of vehicles and foot passengers crossing it in every direction.

9. A jackknife in his expert hand was a whole chest of tools.

10. One of the best things in the world to be is a boy.

11. Backbiting is the meanest kind of biting, not excepting the bite of fleas.

12. The rattle of a bucket in a neighbor’s yard, no longer mixed with other weekday noises, seemed a new sound.

13.

Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn.

The sheep’s in the meadow, the cow’s in the corn.

14. I became an enthusiastic little cook.

15. King Arthur’s son was a handsome, polite, and brave knight.

16. The bees are abroad under the calling sky, and the red of apple buds becomes a sign in the orchards.

17. Always darker turns the growing hemp as it rushes upward.

Account for the punctuation of sentences 3, 4, 6, 8, and 15.