Copula (linguistics)

In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae) is a word used to link the subject of a sentence with a predicate (a subject complement), such as the word is in the sentence "The sky is blue." The word copula derives from the Latin noun for a "link" or "tie" that connects two different things.

A copula is often a verb or a verb-like word, though this is not universally the case. A verb that is a copula is sometimes called a copulative or copular verb. In English primary education grammar courses, a copula is often called a linking verb. In other languages, copulas show more resemblances to pronouns, as in Classical Chinese and Guarani, or may take the form of suffixes attached to a noun, as in Beja, Ket, and Inuit languages.

Most languages have one main copula, although some (such as Spanish, Portuguese and Thai) have more than one, and some have none. In the case of English, this is the verb to be. While the term copula is generally used to refer to such principal forms, it may also be used to refer to some other verbs with similar functions, like become, get, feel and seem in English (these may also be called "semi-copulas" or "pseudo-copulas").

To Be

To Be may refer to:

See also

To Be (song)

"To Be" is the English title of a Japanese-language song by Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released as the singer's eighth single on May 12, 1999. The song begins "Dare mo ga toorisugite...", and does not contain the phrase "to be" or any other English lyrics.

Information

"To Be" was released less than a month after her first number one single, "Love (Destiny)." Hamasaki's first song to be composed by Do as Infinity composer DAI, "To Be" was unable to reach the top position on the Oricon, unlike its predecessor. Hamasaki re-recorded "To Be" in celebrating her 10th anniversary in the music business in 2008 and it appeared as a B-Side on her Days/Green single.

PV

The music video for "TO BE" was directed by longtime collaborator Takeishi Wataru. It shows Hamasaki singing as seen by a little boy through a kaleidoscope. It makes use of various backgrounds, outfits, makeup, and wigs to bring as much color as possible into the world the little boy sees. At the end, the kaleidoscope lens breaks, and Hamasaki is seen in black and white.

ABBA

ABBA (stylised ᗅᗺᗷᗅ) were a Swedish pop group who formed in Stockholm in 1972. With members Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, ABBA became one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1975 to 1982. They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 at the Dome in Brighton, UK, giving Sweden its first triumph in the contest, and were the most successful group ever to take part in the competition.

ABBA's record sales figure is uncertain and various estimates range from over 140 to over 500 million sold records. This makes them one of the best-selling music artists, and the second best-selling music group of all time, after the Beatles. ABBA was the first group to come from a non-English-speaking country to enjoy consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the UK, Ireland, the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The group also enjoyed significant success in Latin American markets, and recorded a collection of their hit songs in Spanish.

Raba Bar Jeremiah

Abba or Raba (Rabbah) Bar Jeremiah (cited in the Jerusalem Talmud as R. Abba bar Jeremiah;Hebrew: רבה בר ירמיה or רבי אבא בר ירמיה) was Babylonian amora of the third century, the son of Jeremiah b. Abba and a pupil of Rab. He lived at Sura and transmitted to his generation the sayings of Rab and Samuel. One of his sayings, several of which are preserved in Palestinian sources, may be here quoted. Prov. ix. 1-3: "Wisdom hath builded her house," etc., refers to the Messianic age. The "house" is the newly erected Temple at Jerusalem; the "seven pillars" are the seven years following the defeat of Gog and Magog, which are indicated in Ezek. xxxix. 9; the "feast" is that described in Ezek. xxxix. 17; and the verse, "She hath sent forth her maidens," etc., means: "The Lord sent forth the prophet Ezekiel with the message to the birds and beasts" (Lev. R. xi.).

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilhelm Bacher (1901–1906). "Abba". Jewish Encyclopedia.  Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography: Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor. iii. 529, 530; Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot, ed. 1882, ii. 336.W.

Ab (Semitic)

Ab or Av (ʾĀḇ; related to Akkadian abu), sometimes Aba or Abba, means "father" in most Semitic languages.

Arabic

Ab (أَب), from a theoretical, abstract form ʼabawun (triliteral ʼ-b-w) is Arabic for "father". The dual is ʼabawāni or ʼabāni "two fathers" or "mother and father" (ʼābāʼi-ka meaning "thy parents").

Li-llāhi ʼabū-ka is an expression of praise, meaning "to God is attributable [the excellence of] your father".

As a verb, ʼ-b-w means "to become [as] a father to [somebody]" (ʼabawtu) or "to adopt [him] as a father" (ta'abbā-hu or ista'bā-hu).

In the construct state, Abū (أبو) is followed by another word to form a complete name, e.g.: Abu Mazen, another name for Mahmoud Abbas.

Abu may be used as a kunya, an honorific. To refer to a man by his fatherhood (of male offspring) is polite, so that ʼabū takes the function of an honorific. Even a man that is as yet childless may still be known as abū of his father's name, implying that he will yet have a son called after his father.