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Hi everybody, welcome to www.engvid.com, I'm Adam.
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In today's video, I have a grammar lesson for you, and specifically we're going to look
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at copula or linking verbs.
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Copula - linking verbs, same thing, different names.
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Most people don't really know or have never heard of this word - copula.
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Sometimes it's an adjective, it's called copular verbs, but the more common one is the linking verbs.
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And I'll show you in a moment what is actually being linked.
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So, the most common copula verb is the "be" verb, and in its different forms, different
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tenses, I should say.
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Am, is, are, was, were, etc.
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The most common other copula verbs are seem and appear, and you can combine them with
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"to be".
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And I'll show you examples, but appear to be, seem to be, and you can also use this
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to make a passive structure, which I'll show you as well.
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And look, and then you have your sense verbs.
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Sound, taste, smell, and feel.
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These are also state verbs, and they can also be action verbs, but we're going to look at
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them as copula verbs.
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And you'll notice that all of these copula verbs are not action verbs.
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There is no action happening.
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So, be careful with these four, because you can use them as action verbs as well.
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Like, if you say something, I say "Yeah, that sounds right".
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Or, I can sound the alarm, I can "ding ding ding ding ding ding", etc.
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So, action - active or not.
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And then become and get.
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And I split these up for a reason, and I'll show you that reason in a moment.
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So, first thing to remember - there is no action involved with copula verbs.
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What they are doing is they are linking, they are joining or showing some sort of relationship
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between the subject of a sentence and the subject complement.
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So, as an example, "He is tall".
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So, if you think about this sentence, a lot of people will think "Subject, verb, object".
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But "tall" is not an object to the verb "is".
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Tall is the subject complement to the subject "he".
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Essentially, what this means is he, tall, same person.
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Same thing we're focusing on.
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The "be" verb acts like an equal sign, showing that these two things are the same thing.
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I'm describing or talking about the same thing.
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And it doesn't have to be an adjective, it can also be a noun.
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A noun can also be a subject complement, not an object.
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"He is a teacher."
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"He - a teacher", same person.
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Same thing, if you want to think about it that way.
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And that's where the link is.
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So, you're linking subject complements to subject, right?
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So, very important not to think of it as an object.
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And the same applies to the other verbs.
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"Seem" does not take an object.
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"Appear to be" does not take an object.
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All of these do not take an object.
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Another thing that's very important to remember is that these - all of these verbs, because
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they're not in a subject, verb, object structure, will be followed by an adjective but never
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by an adverb.
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Okay?
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And I'll give you an example of this as well.
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Let's look at "seems".
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Another very important point to remember - we treat, except for "be" verb, of course - we
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treat all of these copular verbs like action verbs, meaning in a third person singular,
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we're still going to add the "s", okay?
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So, it's very important to remember that it looks like an action verb, but there's no
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action happening.
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Now, what's the difference, the main difference, between a "be" verb and seem, appear, and
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look?
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These three also act like an equal sign, except a "be" verb is stating a fact.
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He is tall means that's the fact, tall.
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"She seems nice" means that it's a possibility that she's nice.
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She looks nice, she appears to be nice, she seems nice.
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All of these mean the same thing that I think she's nice, but I might be wrong.
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She is nice - it's a fact.
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I'm not wrong, it's a fact.
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There's not wrong or right, there's is or isn't, as it were.
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So, she seems nice.
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Adjective describing "she".
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"She seems to be married."
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So, I'm still using an adjective, but now I'm using "to be", because "She seems married"
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doesn't make much sense.
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I'm describing her situation.
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Here, I'm describing her.
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Here, I'm describing her situation.
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So, I need to put that into more of a context of existence or being something.
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And again, "She seems to be an executive".
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I can't say, "She seems an executive".
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I'm talking about her situation again.
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Here, it's her marriage situation.
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Here, it's her career.
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Now, again, very important.
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She seems to be an executive.
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Maybe she's dressed in a suit, like a business suit.
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She has a bag.
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She looks very professional.
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Whether it's true or not, I don't know.
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That's why she seems to be, she appears to be.
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She looks like an executive, and you actually add "like" here as well.
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She looks like something, right?
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Maybe she is, maybe she's not.
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Keep in mind, though.
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When you say, "He looks like his father", that's a different use of "look".
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This is more about the actual physical appearance.
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I can - it's a fact.
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It's not a possibility.
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But "look like" as a copula means possibility, maybe.
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Okay?
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Now, sound, taste, smell, and feel.
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You're going to describe how certain things affect the senses.
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So, the song sounds nice.
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The food tastes delicious.
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Notice the "s".
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The flower smells lovely.
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The cat's tongue feels rough, when it licks me, etc.
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So, I'm describing sense.
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Now, keep in mind that these are also stative verbs, and if you're not sure what a stative
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verb is, Rebecca, who is another teacher here at www.engvid.com , has made a lesson about that.
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You can look for the link somewhere here to learn more about stative verbs.
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These are a part of the stative verbs.
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Now, become and get, they're a little bit trickier.
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So, I'm going to look at them individually and I'll give you some more examples.
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Okay, so now we're going to look at a few more examples and notice a few more specific
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grammatical points.
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"The house appears to have been damaged in the storm."
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So, right away, you notice that I have the option of using copula verbs in passive situations
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as well.
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You just have to adjust according to the time, according to the situation.
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Here, I just want to point out a couple of other things.
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"She seems intelligent", and "The food tastes delicious".
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Notice it's not "intelligently" and not "deliciously".
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So, it's very, very important to remember, just because you have a verb that's not a
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"be" verb, it doesn't mean that you must have an adverb.
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Copula verbs are not followed by adverbs, only adjectives or noun complements.
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That's very important to remember.
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Another thing to remember is that all of the verbs so far, the "be" verb, the "appear,
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seem" and all the sense ones, they don't take an "-ing" form.
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Right?
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Because they're a bit of a state verb.
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There's no action happening.
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On the other hand, "get" and "become" can take all the different forms.
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And while all of these basically - they're like an equal sign, so the food tastes delicious,
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and the food is delicious mean the same thing.
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This is just a more specific verb.
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And it basically means equal.
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Food = delicious.
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Same thing.
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Become and get are verbs that are copular.
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They're still linking verbs, but they suggest a change.
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And this is very important, and this is where a lot of people get confused with these two verbs.
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Become and get, when they're used in this context, like copular verbs, always suggest change.
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And it's very important to remember that.
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"She got married", okay.
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That doesn't mean - there's no action here.
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"Married" here is being used - it's a participle - it's being used as an adjective.
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"She got married" or "She was married", both okay.
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"She is getting married."
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Now here, I can use this as an "-ing", but I'm still explaining the situation.
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This is actually referring to the future.
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So, now she is single.
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She is getting married.
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She will become a married woman.
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There's no action involved.
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She's not getting anything.
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It's not a receiving verb, it just - the changing situation verb.
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If I wanted to use the action verb, I would just simply say "married".
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"She married Bob."
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It means she had a wedding and put on a ring, signed some papers, got married.
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Same thing with "become".
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You can use it in all the different forms, and always notice there's a change.
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"She has become too powerful."
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There should be a period here, actually.
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She has become - it's not a sudden action.
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She has become too powerful over time, which is why I'm using the present perfect tense.
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And I'm suggesting a change.
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I could say, "She is too powerful".
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It means it's a fact now.
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She was, or she will be too powerful, all talking about specific situation - has become
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over the time she has been in this position.
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"He is becoming rich."
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He's getting more and more money.
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It doesn't mean he's rich yet, but he's certainly on his way.
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His situation is changing, changing.
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"He will become mean."
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When he has more money, the more money he has, the more he will become mean.
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Like a mean person, because some people become mean when they have money.
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Why?
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Because "The more money he has, the more arrogant he becomes."
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And again, I'm using it as a single with the "s" for the single third person.
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But again, change, change.
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As money changes, as the money amount changes, his personality changes, right?
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So, it's all about change.
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And this is more like an actual fact, when I use a present simple, I'm stating it more
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like a fact.
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The other ones are more a possibility.
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Okay?
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So, these are the main copula verbs.
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There are some others, but these are the ones you need to understand to be able to read
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and to write especially.
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Because these are the ones that give people the most trouble, I believe, when it comes
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to understanding how to use them.
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Now, of course, it's a little bit tricky.
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"Become", a lot of people confuse the verb "become" with the verb "be".
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These are two different verbs.
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Make sure you remember that, because how you're going to use them will affect the meaning
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of the sentence, right?
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Depending on which one you use.
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But there, that's a very basic understanding of copula verbs.
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If you're not sure and you want a little bit more practice, go to www.engvid.com and take
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the quiz.
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And of course, ask me questions in the comment section.
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I'll be very happy to help you out if you need a little bit more explanation about this.
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And that's it.
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If you like the video, give me a like.
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I hope you liked it.
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Don't forget to subscribe to my channel.
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There's also a little bell at the top there at the subscribe, you can ring that and you'll
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So you can get more grammar vocab and other English helping tools, hopefully.
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Okay?
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Until next time, bye bye.