Answer:
A) It does not appear to be damaged.
Step-by-step explanation:
A "linking verb" primarily functions to connect the subject of the sentence to an information about it.
In the sentence, "It does not appear to be damaged," the subject here is the pronoun "It" while the information about it is "not damaged." The linking verb "appear" then connects the subject to the needed information. It is not a verb because it doesn't show any actions.
Without the linking verb, the whole sentence will not make a clear sense. It is needed to connect words in order for the sentence to be concise.