often were

[Odessa Dawn]

MPAC's Washington director Haris Tarin made 24 trips to the White House between December 2009 and March 2012. Those meetings often were intimate in nature, involving a handful of people at most.
More: A Red Carpet for Radicals at the White House | Islam in America Right Side News



Rabbi Aviner adds that children born through sperm donation "often wake up at night and cry, 'Father, Father.'"

More:Rabbi: Donating sperm to single woman immoral - Israel Jewish Scene, Ynetnews

Shyne was deported from the United States in 2009 after serving nine years in prison for the infamous 1999 NYC club shooting. Since getting out of jail, Shyne has become more religious, and often discusses his extreme devotion to the Jewish faith.
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Sderot is often plagued by Gaza terrorists' rocket fire. "I made sure people were safe. I can tell you that we were the only city among the Gaza vicinity communities that had over 80% attendance in schools today. This goes to speak of the resilience of the town I'm fighting for," he said.
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I made an extensive research in which the adverb of frequency often comes after verb to be and before the main verb as being stated in the aforementioned texts. Also, I found an idioms Were often in. Now, is often in the above text belongs to Were often in since it is preceded by were or an adverb. I am in two minds thanks to the word intimate.

[TheParser]

MPAC's Washington director Haris Tarin made 24 trips to the White House between December 2009 and March 2012. Those meetings often were intimate in nature, involving a handful of people at most.
More: A Red Carpet for Radicals at the White House | Islam in America Right Side News

I made an extensive research in which the adverb of frequency often comes after verb to be and before the main verb as being stated in the aforementioned texts. Also, I found an idioms Were often in. Now, is often in the above text belongs to Were often in since it is preceded by were or an adverb. I am in two minds thanks to the word intimate.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****



Hello,


1. Congratulations on doing research and being such a conscientious student of the language.

2. I have a few comments. These are not answers. Only the teachers can give "answers." If a teacher disagrees with

my comments, you must accept the teacher's.

3. To the best of my knowledge, "be intimate in" is not an idiom.

4. Let's forget "often" for a second.

5. The sentence is: Those meetings + were + intimate (in nature):

Those meetings = subject.
were = linking verb.
intimate in nature = the adjective phrase that describes "those meetings." ("Those intimate meetings.")

6. Now let's add "often." I believe that most high school teachers would simply say that it is an adverb

that modifies "were."

7. According to most books, an adverb of frequency comes after a form of "to be."

a. Thus: "Those meetings were often intimate in nature."

8. Since languages were invented by human beings, there are -- of course -- exceptions to the rule. If you wish

to emphasize the verb for some reason, you can then place the adverb of frequency in front of the verb -- as did the

author.

a. Thus: Those meetings often were [the word "were" is pronounced strongly] intimate in nature.

i. I do not know why the author wanted to emphasize the verb. Maybe some people believed that the meetings were

not intimate in nature, and the author wanted to say that they often were. / Or maybe the author made a "mistake."

That is, maybe he should have placed it after "were."



James

[Odessa Dawn]

were = linking verb.
James

Helping verb, auxiliary verb, and linking verb are different terms for same meaning, aren’t they?

[5jj]

Helping verb, auxiliary verb, and linking verb are different terms for same meaning, aren’t they?

No. Linking verb.

[5jj]

Helping verb, auxiliary verb, and linking verb are different terms for same meaning, aren’t they?

No. Linking verb.

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello,


Those words confuse me, too. I have checked my books, and I should like to share a few ideas. (Remember: these

are only a non-teacher's opinions.)

1. A linking verb does just that: it links (connects):

a. He is nice. ("Is" links "he" and "nice.")

b. She was a teacher. ("Was" links "she" and "a teacher."

c. The cake looks good. ("looks" links "The cake" and "good.") [Sometimes a linking verb is NOT a linking verb. For example.

Tony looks at all the beautiful girls. It is a so-called "action verb." But in sentence 1c, the cake, of course, is not doing

anything!]

2. Please remember that some books use the term "copula."

3. "Helping verb" and "auxiliary verb" mean the same thing. [If you check the dictionary, the word "auxiliary" comes from a

Latin word meaning "help."]

a. Those "little" verbs help explain what the "big" verb is talking about.

b. If I said, "I eating," you would get a general idea of my meaning. But I can really "help" the verb if I add am / was / will be.

c. If I said, "We bought a computer," you would definitely get the idea. But sometimes we do not want to use the past. So

we can change the time by adding a helping verb: We have bought a computer.

d. According to The Oxford Dictionary of the English Language, modal verbs are also helping verbs. (Modal verbs include: can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would.)

i. Look at how a modal can change the meaning:

(a) We have bought a computer. = We did it.

(b) We should have bought a computer. = But we did not.



James

[5jj]

Sometimes a linking verb is NOT a linking verb. For example.

Tony looks at all the beautiful girls. It is a so-called "action verb." But in sentence 1c, the cake, of course, is not doing anything!

It is perhaps better to say that some verbs can function as linking verbs and also, with a slightly different meaning, as action verbs.

The cake looks good - The cake has a pleasing appearance.
I am looking at the cake - I am turning my eyes in the direction of the cake.