⚙️ Grammar · Verb Patterns: -ing & Infinitives
Linking Verbs (Seem, Appear, Become, Get)
Why the plan sounds perfect, not perfectly — adjectives after linking verbs, seem + to-infinitive, and how to choose between become, get, go and turn.
Grammar › Verb Patterns: -ing & Infinitives › Linking Verbs (Seem, Appear, Become, Get)
The rule in one sentenceA linking verb (seem, appear, become, get, look, sound, feel, taste) connects the subject to a description, so it is followed by an adjective, not an adverb: the plan sounds perfect, never perfectly.
What’s going on here?
Most verbs describe an action — somebody does something. Linking (or copular) verbs are different: they describe a state or a change of state, and simply link the subject to a description of it. Because the description belongs to the subject, not to an action, it takes an adjective: The Alpine scenery in The Eight Mountains looks magnificent. The teacher in About Dry Grasses feels trapped in his snowbound Anatolian village. The empress in Corsage grows restless with palace life.
The test is beautifully simple: replace the verb with “be”. If the sentence still works, you have a linking verb, and it needs an adjective. The scenery is magnificent ✓ — so looks magnificent, never looks magnificently.
🎬 Compare: in The Intouchables, the opening car chase feels dangerous (adjective — it describes the chase) vs. the two men drive dangerously through night-time Paris (adverb — it describes how the action is done).
Feel links; drive acts. The verb decides whether you need an adjective or an adverb.
At B2–C1 the family gets bigger. Seem and appear also take a to-infinitive (she appears to feel nothing), and a whole squad of change-of-state verbs — become, get, go, turn, grow — divide the work of saying that things change. Choosing the right one is what makes your English sound genuinely natural.
How to build it
Linking verb + adjective
The mountain friendship in The Eight Mountains feels completely genuine.
The two friends’ bond never turns sour, even after years apart.
negative + linking verb + adjectiveDoes the ending of Monster seem hopeful to you?
Does + subject + linking verb + adjectiveSeem / appear + to-infinitive
In Saint Omer, the accused appears to feel no panic as she answers the court’s questions.
The trial doesn’t seem to follow the rules of an ordinary courtroom drama.
doesn’t + seem + to + base verbDoes the heroine of One Fine Morning seem to be coping with her father’s illness?
Does + subject + seem + to + base verbWhen to use which: become, get, go, turn
Become & get — the general workhorses
- Become + adjective or noun (more formal, gradual): The Intouchables became one of the most successful French films of all time.
- Get + adjective only (informal, everyday): The typing contests in Populaire get faster with every round.
- Get + comparative for gradual change: In About Dry Grasses, the winter gets colder and the village feels smaller.
Go & turn — the specialists
- Go for negative changes: go wrong, go mad, go blind, go grey — at the start of Son of the Bride, everything goes wrong at once for the hero: his health, his restaurant, his family life.
- Turn for colours and transformations: the peaks in The Eight Mountains turn white early in the autumn.
- Turn + age: In Corsage, Empress Elisabeth turns 40 — and the whole film flows from that one birthday.
The linking verb family
All of these verbs can link a subject to an adjective. If you can replace one with be, the adjective rule applies.
Visual guide
Teacher Teddy’s illustrated guide to this rule is being drawn — the full swipe-through infographic will appear here soon.
Common mistakes
❌ The piano score of One Fine Morning sounds beautifully.
✅ The piano score of One Fine Morning sounds beautiful.
Sound is a linking verb here — the music is beautiful, so the adjective wins. The adverb would describe how the music performs an action, which makes no sense.
❌ In Corsage, the empress seems unhappily with her life at court.
✅ In Corsage, the empress seems unhappy with her life at court.
Seem always links to an adjective: she is unhappy → she seems unhappy.
❌ The winters in About Dry Grasses go colder and colder.
✅ The winters in About Dry Grasses get colder and colder.
For comparatives and gradual change, English wants get (or become) — go is reserved for negative states like go wrong and go mad.
❌ The two friends in The Eight Mountains turned apart over the years.
✅ The two friends in The Eight Mountains grew apart over the years.
Grow apart is a fixed collocation for relationships changing slowly — turn doesn’t work here.
British vs American note: the past participle of get is got in British English (the film has got popular again — informal) but usually gotten in American English (it has gotten popular). Exams expect you to be consistent with one variety.
Exceptions & tricky cases
Four details that separate a solid B2 answer from a C1 one.
1. Many linking verbs have an action twin — and the twin takes an adverb. Look, appear, feel, taste, smell all lead double lives.
✅ In Corsage, the empress looks tired of court ritual (linking → adjective) vs. she looks carefully at her reflection (action → adverb).
2. Become takes a noun; get never does. You can become a star but you cannot “get a star” in this sense.
✅ Omar Sy became a household name after The Intouchables. ❌ He got a household name.
3. State-linking verbs resist the continuous; change-linking verbs love it. You wouldn’t say “the food is tasting delicious” — but changes in progress happily take -ing.
✅ The food at the family restaurant in Son of the Bride tastes wonderful. ✅ Halfway through the film, his life is becoming something new.
4. Well vs good. After a linking verb, good is the normal adjective — but well is also an adjective when it means “healthy”.
✅ The heroine of One Fine Morning stays strong, but her father is not well. ✅ The reunion scenes in The Eight Mountains feel good.
Practice: choose the natural form
Eight quick questions. Pick the answer you’d actually say — you get the explanation either way.
1. The Alpine scenery in The Eight Mountains looks absolutely ___.
Look is a linking verb here — the scenery is stunning → adjective.
2. In Saint Omer, the accused appears ___ completely calm in court.
Appear takes a to-infinitive: appears to be calm (or simply “appears calm”).
3. After The Intouchables, Omar Sy ___ one of the most famous actors in France.
Before a noun phrase, only become works — get pairs with adjectives, not nouns.
4. The typing contests in Populaire ___ more and more exciting as the film goes on.
Gradual change with a comparative → get. Go is for negative states (go wrong, go mad).
5. In Corsage, Empress Elisabeth ___ 40 at the start of the film.
For reaching an age, English uses turn: she turns 40.
6. Something has clearly ___ wrong in the hero’s life at the start of Son of the Bride.
Go wrong is the fixed pattern for negative change → has gone wrong.
7. The endless winter in About Dry Grasses feels ___ to the trapped teacher.
Feel is a linking verb — the winter is endless → adjective.
8. In One Fine Morning, her father’s condition seems ___ worse every week.
Seem takes the to-infinitive: seems to get worse (never “seems getting”).
Keep going
Related lessons in Verb Patterns: -ing & Infinitives:
📬 New grammar lessons land every week — subscribe to the newsletter at the bottom of this page so you never miss one ↘