In linguistics, a copula /‘kɒpjələ/ (: copulas or copulae; abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word is in the sentence "The sky is blue" or the phrase was not being in the sentence "It was not being cooperative." The word copula derives from the Latin noun for a "link" or "tie" that connects two different things.See copula in the Online Etymology Dictionary for attestation of the use of the term, "copula", since the 1640s.See the appendix to Moro 1997 and the references cited there for a short history of the copula.
In linguistics, a copula /‘kɒpjələ/ (: copulas or copulae; abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word is in the sentence "The sky is blue" or the phrase was not being in the sentence "It was not being cooperative." The word copula derives from the Latin noun for a "link" or "tie" that connects two different things.See copula in the Online Etymology Dictionary for attestation of the use of the term, "copula", since the 1640s.See the appendix to Moro 1997 and the references cited there for a short history of the copula.