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cop: copula

A copula is the relation between the complement of a copular verb and the copular verb. Copular heads are avoided when possible.

Bill is an honest man
cop(man, is)
nsubj(man, Bill)
amod(man, honest)
det(man, an)

Prepositional phrases are annotated similarly, the only difference being that the nominal predicate has an additional case marker.

Bill is from California
case(California, from)
cop(California, is)
nsubj(California, Bill)

When an adjective or adverb is being predicated of a nominal phrase, the adjective/adverb is the root, the nominal phrase is the nsubj, and the copula is the cop.

Bill is honest
nsubj(honest, Bill)
cop(honest, is)
It was yesterday
nsubj(yesterday, It)
cop(yesterday, was)

Prepositions may also project a cop dependent.

The light is on
cop(on, is)
nsubj(on, light)
det(light, The)

In predicative wh-constructions, the fronted wh-word is the head, and the copula is another cop.

What is that ?
cop(What, is)
nsubj(What, that)

However, whenever the copula has a clausal argument/adjunct, the copula becomes the root, so the cop relation is not used.

It was because Bill is honest
nsubj(was, It)
mark(honest, because)
ccomp(was, honest)
nsubj(honest, Bill)
cop(honest, is)
My question is : was that really true ?
nsubj(is, question)
ccomp(is, true)
cop(true, was)
nsubj(true, that)
advmod(true, really)
This is to inform you of our decision
nsubj(is, This)
advcl(is, inform)
aux(inform, to)
dobj(inform, you)
nmod(inform, decision)
case(decision, of)
poss(decision, our)

Predicative “be” is the only verb recognized as a copula; other copula-like verbs,such as “become”, “get”, and “seem”, are treated as regular raising verbs, and thus take xcomp arguments. Non-predicative uses of “be”–e.g., “be” when used in periphrastic verbal constructions, presentationals, or existentials–is annotated as an aux instead. of a cop.

Bill got rich
nsubj(got, Bill)
xcomp(got, rich)
Bill is speaking
nsubj(speaking, Bill)
aux(speaking, is)
Here are some bags
advmod(are, Here)
nsubj(are, bags)
det(bags, some)
There 's a cow in the field
expl('s, There)
nsubj('s, cow)
det(cow, a)
nmod('s, field)
det(field, the)
case(field, in)

Treebank Statistics (UD_English)

This relation is universal.

5608 nodes (2%) are attached to their parents as cop.

5365 instances of cop (96%) are right-to-left (child precedes parent). Average distance between parent and child is 2.16422967189729.

The following 13 pairs of parts of speech are connected with cop: en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/VERB (2805; 50% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/VERB (1997; 36% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/VERB (286; 5% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/VERB (187; 3% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/VERB (135; 2% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/VERB (92; 2% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/VERB (34; 1% instances), en-pos/SYM-en-pos/VERB (23; 0% instances), en-pos/DET-en-pos/VERB (20; 0% instances), en-pos/ADP-en-pos/VERB (17; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/AUX (5; 0% instances), en-pos/X-en-pos/VERB (5; 0% instances), en-pos/INTJ-en-pos/VERB (2; 0% instances).

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1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	folks	folks	NOUN	UH	_	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_

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1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	wedding	wedding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	fearing	fear	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	1	acl	_	_
10	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	dobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
12	basically	basically	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_

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1	Here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	excerpt	excerpt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	article	article	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_


Treebank Statistics (UD_English-ESL)

This relation is universal.

2830 nodes (3%) are attached to their parents as cop.

2763 instances of cop (98%) are right-to-left (child precedes parent). Average distance between parent and child is 2.00459363957597.

The following 12 pairs of parts of speech are connected with cop: en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/VERB (1619; 57% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/VERB (921; 33% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/VERB (88; 3% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/VERB (79; 3% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/VERB (51; 2% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/VERB (27; 1% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/VERB (27; 1% instances), en-pos/DET-en-pos/VERB (10; 0% instances), en-pos/SYM-en-pos/VERB (3; 0% instances), en-pos/ADP-en-pos/VERB (2; 0% instances), en-pos/X-en-pos/VERB (2; 0% instances), en-pos/PART-en-pos/VERB (1; 0% instances).

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1	_	_	DET	PRP$	_	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	_	_	NOUN	NNS	_	5	nsubj	_	_
3	_	_	VERB	VBD	_	5	cop	_	_
4	_	_	PART	RB	_	5	neg	_	_
5	_	_	ADJ	JJ	_	0	root	_	_
6	_	_	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	_	_	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	_	_	VERB	VB	_	6	xcomp	_	_
9	_	_	DET	PRP$	_	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	_	_	NOUN	NN	_	8	dobj	_	_
11	_	_	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	_	_	NOUN	NN	_	13	compound	_	_
13	_	_	NOUN	NN	_	10	nmod	_	_
14	_	_	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
15	_	_	CONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
16	_	_	DET	DT	_	18	det	_	_
17	_	_	NOUN	NN	_	18	compound	_	_
18	_	_	NOUN	NN	_	20	nsubj	_	_
19	_	_	VERB	VBD	_	20	cop	_	_
20	_	_	ADJ	JJ	_	5	conj	_	_
21	_	_	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_

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1	_	_	VERB	VBG	_	7	advcl	_	_
2	_	_	PRON	PRP	_	1	dobj	_	_
3	_	_	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	_	_	NOUN	NN	_	1	nmod	_	_
5	_	_	PRON	PRP	_	7	nsubj	_	_
6	_	_	AUX	MD	_	7	aux	_	_
7	_	_	VERB	VB	_	0	root	_	_
8	_	_	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	_	_	VERB	VB	_	7	xcomp	_	_
10	_	_	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
11	_	_	DET	DT	_	12	det	_	_
12	_	_	NOUN	NN	_	16	nsubj	_	_
13	_	_	VERB	VBZ	_	16	cop	_	_
14	_	_	DET	DT	_	16	det	_	_
15	_	_	ADJ	JJ	_	16	amod	_	_
16	_	_	NOUN	NN	_	9	ccomp	_	_
17	_	_	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	_	_	DET	DT	_	19	det	_	_
19	_	_	NOUN	NNS	_	16	nmod	_	_
20	_	_	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
21	_	_	NOUN	NNS	_	19	conj	_	_
22	_	_	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
23	_	_	NOUN	NNS	_	19	conj	_	_
24	_	_	CONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
25	_	_	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	_	_	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
27	_	_	CONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
28	_	_	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
29	_	_	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_

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1	_	_	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
2	_	_	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	_	_	DET	DT	_	1	nmod	_	_
4	_	_	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
5	_	_	DET	DT	_	6	det	_	_
6	_	_	NOUN	NN	_	17	nsubj	_	_
7	_	_	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	_	_	NOUN	NN	_	6	nmod	_	_
9	_	_	DET	WDT	_	13	nmod	_	_
10	_	_	PRON	PRP	_	13	nsubjpass	_	_
11	_	_	AUX	VBP	_	13	aux	_	_
12	_	_	AUX	VBN	_	13	auxpass	_	_
13	_	_	VERB	VBN	_	8	acl:relcl	_	_
14	_	_	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
15	_	_	VERB	VBZ	_	17	cop	_	_
16	_	_	PROPN	NNP	_	17	compound	_	_
17	_	_	PROPN	NNP	_	0	root	_	_
18	_	_	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_


Treebank Statistics (UD_English-LinES)

This relation is universal.

1279 nodes (2%) are attached to their parents as cop.

1220 instances of cop (95%) are right-to-left (child precedes parent). Average distance between parent and child is 2.13995308835027.

The following 19 pairs of parts of speech are connected with cop: en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/VERB (535; 42% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/VERB (440; 34% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/VERB (89; 7% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/VERB (82; 6% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/AUX (38; 3% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/VERB (31; 2% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/AUX (20; 2% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/AUX (10; 1% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/VERB (8; 1% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/VERB (5; 0% instances), en-pos/ADP-en-pos/VERB (4; 0% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/AUX (4; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/AUX (4; 0% instances), en-pos/AUX-en-pos/VERB (3; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/AUX (2; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/PROPN (1; 0% instances), en-pos/AUX-en-pos/AUX (1; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/AUX (1; 0% instances), en-pos/SCONJ-en-pos/VERB (1; 0% instances).

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1	Filters	_	NOUN	PL	_	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	_	VERB	PRES	_	3	cop	_	_
3	additive	_	ADJ	POS	_	0	root	_	_
4	.	_	PUNCT	Period	_	3	punct	_	_

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1	The	_	DET	DEF	_	3	det	_	_
2	other	_	ADJ	POS	_	3	amod	_	_
3	fields	_	NOUN	PL	_	6	nsubj	_	_
4	are	_	VERB	PRES	_	6	cop	_	_
5	outer	_	ADJ	POS	_	6	amod	_	_
6	fields	_	NOUN	PL	_	0	root	_	_
7	.	_	PUNCT	Period	_	6	punct	_	_

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1	You	_	PRON	PERS-P2	_	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sit	_	VERB	PRES	_	0	root	_	_
3	here	_	ADV	_	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	and	_	CONJ	_	_	2	cc	_	_
5	think	_	VERB	PRES	_	2	conj	_	_
6	:	_	PUNCT	Colon	_	2	punct	_	_
7	who	_	PRON	WH-NOM	_	5	dobj	_	_
8	is	_	VERB	PRES	_	7	cop	_	_
9	this	_	DET	DEM-SG	_	10	det	_	_
10	person	_	NOUN	SG	_	7	nsubj	_	_
11	talking	_	VERB	ING	_	10	amod	_	_
12	to	_	ADP	_	_	13	case	_	_
13	me	_	PRON	PERS-P1SG-ACC	_	11	nmod	_	_
14	?	_	PUNCT	QuestionMark	_	2	punct	_	_


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