Syntactic Category of 'Is'

Question

In the sentence 'The larger car is the one behind the tree', does 'is' function as an auxiliary/T or a verb/V? How did you determine the answer?

Answer 1

'is' functions as a verb in this sentence. There are three types of verbs in English language:

1. Auxiliary verbs
2. Main verbs
3. Linking verbs

'is' is a linking verb here as these are verbs that don’t show an action but rather describe the subject. While verbs like walk or jump represent an action, linking verbs like be add more details to the subject, such as “she is an architect.”

In tree diagrams, linking verbs take the place of a verb instead of auxiliary.

Check out this resource:

https://literalminded.wordpress.com/2011/05/14/diagramming-intransitive-transitive-and-linking-verbs/