english grammer

[chandi]

What part of speech is the word "is"? I'm studying how to teach english and I'm not understanding what part of speech is, is!!

[labbygail]

I'm assuming that you know that "is" is from the verb "to be" if you are studying to teach English. More specifically, "is" is a linking verb. It doesn't involve an action; instead, it describes a "state of being."
http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/copula-verb.html

[Tdol]

It can also be an auxialiary verb: http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary...iary-verb.html

[ajuj1982]

Take the sentence " Patrick is playing football " . Here 'is' - auxilairy verb / helping verb / linking verb / copulas . Since is cannot transfer the action onto the object , it is called helping verb . Here playing is the main verb .

[Casiopea]

Patrick is playing football

ajuj, in the above context, "is" is neither a linking verb nor a copular verb. It's a plain ol' auxiliary verb. If it were functioning as a linking verb, it'd mean, 'playing football' is another name for Patrick; Cf. linking structure Patrick is a doctor. Moreover, "is playing" is the main verb. On its own 'playing' is a present participle. It's verb-like, but not a verb. It participates, takes part in, hence the word participle.

All the best.

[rewboss]

The verb be has 13 senses

Well, it does if you want to make life very difficult for your students. But if you study your 13 senses, you'll find that a lot of them are actually so close in meaning that they are the same, and some of the others are rare enough that you don't need to confuse your students with them.

[Casiopea]

Agreed. Posts in the form of dictionary entries can be somewhat overwhelming for the reader. (AexChecker has been made aware of this already. )

[Tdol]

I have deleted AexChecker's posts as they are copied without credit or sources and could constitue a breach of copyright.