No, ‘would’ is not a linking verb. It is classified as a modal auxiliary verb.
Linking verbs are used to connect the subject of a sentence with a subject complement, which can be a noun, pronoun, or an adjective that describes or identifies the subject. The most common linking verb is ‘to be’ (am, is, are, was, were, etc.).
‘Would,’ on the other hand, is used to express conditionality, politeness, or a future action in the past. For instance, in the sentence ‘I would go to the party if I were invited,’ ‘would’ indicates a conditional situation rather than linking the subject to a description. Therefore, while both linking verbs and modal verbs are important in sentence structure, they serve different functions.