VOA慢速英语2021--Verbs and Summer Weather

 

Summer is near in the United States. And with summer comes higher temperatures and strong storms.

Americans often discuss the bad and good weather that is taking place by using special kinds of verbs known as linking verbs.

In today's Everyday Grammar, we will explore the connection between linking verbs, grammar, and the weather.

Definitions

Linking verbs are verbs that often describe a state of existence or a change to a new state. These verbs generally come before an adjective or noun phrase and connect it to the subject of the sentence.

Consider this statement:

She seems happy.

The linking verb seem connects happy, an adjective, to she, the subject of the sentence. The verb is helping¹ to describe the subject's state of existence.

English speakers often use linking verbs to describe the state of the weather, or to talk about a change in state in the weather. They often use three common linking verbs for these purposes: feel, get, and look.

Let's explore each of these in turn.

Feel

The linking verb feel can describe physical or mental sensations³. When English speakers use feel to talk about the weather, they generally use it to describe a physical sensation². You might hear a person say, for example:

It feels humid!

Or

It feels muggy⁴!

Muggy is a term that means unpleasantly warm and humid. Note that in both examples, the word it means the weather.

Get

English speakers often use get, another linking verb, to describe changes in the weather.

For example, you might hear a person talking about the change to hotter weather by saying:

It's getting hot!

Or, they might describe a change to cloudy weather, as in:

It's getting cloudy.

Look

Our final linking verb, look, can describe positive or negative feelings. Imagine you hear a person planning a walk on a summer day. They might say:

We have to go for a walk. It looks lovely outside!

But imagine that same person saw stormy weather coming. The person might say:

We shouldn't go for a walk. Those clouds look scary.

Putting it all together

Listen to the following discussion. Note how many times you hear linking verbs.

We should go for a run - my weather app says it looks nice outside.

Are you crazy? The weather looks terrible. It's getting hot and humid.

The next time you hear Americans talk about the weather – in a film, TV show, or in person, make careful note of what kinds of verbs they use to talk about the weather.

You will probably hear some of the linking verbs that were described today, and perhaps some other verbs too. Then try to use what you have learned in your own discussions.

Words in This Story

humid – adj. having a lot of moisture in the air

negative – adj. thinking about the bad qualities of someone or something : thinking that a bad result will happen : not hopeful or optimistic

scary -- adj. causing fear

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 sensation   

n.感觉，感知力，激动，轰动

参考例句：

• He lost all sensation in his legs through cramp.他的腿部因抽筋而失去知觉。
• Seeing him again after so many years was a strange sensation.那么多年以后又见到他，是一种不可思议的感觉。

3 sensations   

感觉( sensation的名词复数 )； 感受； 知觉； 激动

参考例句：

• Whenever his physical sensations were a little under control the terror returned. 只要身体感官稍一正常，恐怖便又袭上心头。 来自英汉文学
• All sensations seemed to be magnified. 所有的知觉都很敏感。 来自英汉文学

4 muggy   

adj.闷热的；adv.（天气）闷热而潮湿地；n.（天气）闷热而潮湿

参考例句：

• We may expect muggy weather when the rainy season begins.雨季开始时，我们预料有闷热的天气。
• It was muggy and overcast.天气闷热潮湿，而且天色阴沉。