Answer:
Accept
Explanation:
Jean-Paul Sartre won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964, but he declined to <u>except</u> the award for personal reasons.
It should be accept not except
<em>Accept</em> ⇒ to agree with or to take if someone is offering.
<em>Except</em> ⇒ to not be included in a category or group
the linking verb: is
predicate noun: need
predicate adjective: basic