Copula constructions

Note that the division between COPULA and NON-COPULA constructions is the topmost one; constructions are divided into COPULA and NON-COPULA, then each of these divides into DECLARATIVE and INTERROGATIVE, and so on. Whether passives are COPULA or NON-COPULA is a moot point. Example (8c) certainly contains was, but the analysis turns on whether was is treated as a separate copula word or whether was given is treated as simply the passive form of give. We will treat passives as NON-COPULA because a number of constituents can occur in passives that are typically excluded from copula clauses, for example adverbs such as immediately.

‘Copula’ is the Latin word for ‘link, connection’. The motivation for the different label is that the constructions in (11), and their Latin equivalents, do not describe situations in which one participant performs an action, possibly on another person or thing. Rather, the verb is merely links the subject noun phrase with another phrase, in this case an adjective phrase very happy in (11a), a noun phrase the best student in (11b) and a prepositional phrase in Auchtermuchty in (11c)

Ascriptive copula clauses are used to ascribe a property to an entity. In (11a), happiness is ascribed to Fiona. Equative copula clauses are used to state that one entity is identical with another entity. Speakers use (11b) to say, on the assumption that there are two entities Fiona and the best student, that these two entities are one and the same person. Fiona is equated to the best student. The label [COPULA, LOCATIVE] is self-explanatory; this construction is used in order to state where some entity is located.

The copula constructions display a number of peculiarities compared with the (in)transitive constructions. Examples (11a–c) cannot be made passive; and, at least according to the handbooks of standard written English, the pronoun that is the complement of the copula is in the ‘nominative’ form: It was I/he/she. (But It was we and It was they sound peculiar.) Is can be moved to the front of the clause to make an interrogative – Is Fiona the best student? In this respect, is resembles has as used in some varieties: Has Fiona a car? But have combines with do for emphasis – Fiona does have a car – and also in interrogatives – Does Fiona have a car? Be does not combine with do (at least, not in standard English, whether written or spoken): *Fiona does be the best student, *Does Fiona be the best student?

Implicit in the preceding paragraph is the fact that copula clauses can be declarative or interrogative, and they can be YES–NO or WH interrogatives – Is she coming to the party? vs Who is coming to the party? Unlike non-copula clauses, copula clauses cannot be passive and they do not have double objects, though they can have oblique objects as in This parcel is for Sarah. The complements of be are not usually treated as direct objects but are simply called complements. And as (11a) and (11c) show, be is regularly complemented by adjectives or by prepositional phrases.