Meanings
Predicates formed using a copula may express identity – that the two noun phrases (subject and complement) have the same referent or express an identical concept:
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- I only want to be myself.
- The Morning Star is the Evening Star.
They may also express membership of a class, or a subset relationship:
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- She was a nurse.
- Dogs are carnivorous mammals.
Similarly they may express some property, relation or position, whether permanent or temporary:
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- The trees are green.
- I am your boss.
- The hen is next to the cockerel.
- The children are confused.
Other special uses of copular verbs are described in some of the following sections.
Read more about this topic: Copula (linguistics)
Famous quotes containing the word meanings:
“Words differently arranged have a different meaning, and meanings differently arranged have different effects.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“Well, “slithy” means “lithe and slimy.” “Lithe” is the same as “active.” You see, it’s like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.”
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)
“The first green night of their dreaming, asleep beneath the Tree,/God said, “Let meanings move,” and there was poetry.”
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)