Level: beginner
The verb be has the following forms:
| The verb be | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive form | be | ||
| Present simple: | + | I am, I'm You are, You're He/She/It is, He/She/It's |
We are, we're You are, you're They are, they're |
| ? | Am I? Are you? Is he/she it? |
Are we? Are you? Are they? |
|
| - | I am not, I’m not You are not, You aren’t, You're not He/She/It is not, He/She/It isn’t, He's not |
We are not, We aren’t, We're not You are not, You aren’t, You're not They are not, They aren't, They're not |
|
| Past simple | + | I was You were He/She/It was |
We were You were They were |
| ? | Was I? Were you? Was he/she/it? |
Were we? Were you? Were they? |
|
| - | I was not, I wasn't You were not, You weren't He/She/It was not, He/She/It wasn't |
We were not, We weren't You were not, You weren't They were not, They weren't |
|
| Past participle | been | ||
| Present perfect | has/have been | ||
| Past perfect | had been | ||
| Present participle | being | ||
| Present continuous | am/is/are being | ||
| Past continuous | was/were being | ||
We use the infinitive form be with modal verbs:
It will be dark soon.
They might be tired.
The verb be is a link verb. It is used:
- with a noun phrase:
My mother is a teacher.
Bill Clinton was the president of the US.
- with an adjective:
This soup is very tasty.
The children were good.
- with a prepositional phrase:
John and his wife are from Manchester.
The flowers are on the table.
- am, is, are 1
- ex. am, is, are 1
- am, is, are 2
- ex. am, is, are 2
- am, is, are, was, were 1
- ex. am, is, are, was, were 1
- am, is, are, was, were 2
- ex. am, is, are, was, were 2
Level: intermediate
- with the -ing form to make the continuous aspect:
We were walking down the street. Everything was wet.
It had been raining for hours.
- with the past participle to make the passive voice:
The house was built in 1890.
The street is called Montague Street.
This car was made in Japan.
- be in continuous and passive forms 1
- ex. be in continuous and passive forms 1
- be in continuous and passive forms 2
- ex. be in continuous and passive forms 2
Level: advanced
We use some nouns with the verb be followed by a that clause:
The problem was that I had no money.
The obvious explanation is that he simply forgot.
The danger is that the whole thing might catch fire.
It's a pity that the children aren't here.
The lucky thing is that nobody was hurt.
Nouns commonly used in this way are:
|
answer |
hope |
We use some nouns with the verb be followed by a to-infinitive:
The only way is to start all over again.
His answer is to work a bit harder.
Her only hope was to find a new job as soon as possible.
The easiest thing would be to ask your father.
Nouns commonly used in this way are:
| answer decision hope idea intention |
promise thing way wish |
To comment on statements, we use some adjectives with it and the verb be and a that clause or wh-clause:
It's lucky that we met.
It's not clear what happened.
It was amazing how he managed to escape.
Adjectives commonly used in this way are:
| awful bad clear extraordinary funny good interesting |
lucky obvious possible probable sad true unlikely |
- be with nouns and adjectives 1
- ex. be with nouns and adjectives 1
- be with nouns and adjectives 2
- ex. be with nouns and adjectives 2
Comments
Hello, I found this sentences below on my english exercise.
A : Do you like your new job?
B : Yes, but my employer insist that I be on time.
I really don't understand why that sentence uses 'be' instead of 'am' after subject 'I'
Best regard
Achmad
Hello Achmad Shocheb
In this case, 'be' is a subjunctive form. If you'd like to know more about the subjunctive, I'd suggest this Wikipedia article, but in general I would recommend that you just learn that the verb 'insist' is followed by a 'that' clause with the verb in the base/bare infinitive form.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Oleg
I can't think of an instance in which 'being' in 'that being said' could be considered a gerund. 'Being a teacher was never something he'd considered' is an example in which 'being' is a gerund.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Oleg
You could say 'I am afraid of being told this' and 'being asked about this', but 'said this' is not correct.
2 is correct, though there should be a comma after 'this' and in my opinion it would sound a bit better to use 'After' at the beginning: 'After being told this, I lost control'. It'd be a little strange to use 'lose', though not impossible, since the present can be used to tell a story.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello.
She believes that they easily won the game because they are familiar with teamwork, ....................?
Tag question for the main clause or subordinate clause?
Hello amirfd
The main clause: 'doesn't she?' See our Question tags page for more on this topic in general.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi,
Could you please explain the use of "to be" in the following sentences. I am not clear about the meaning and in what conditions I can use "to be"? Thanks
1. The apparatus allows the grout to be injected at different injection rates.
2. Soil water content (or soil moisture content, SMC) is considered to be a critical parameter in geotechnical engineering.
Hello Zahid Bhuiyan
In 1, 'to be injected' is a passive infinitive. The active infinitive is 'to inject' and 'be' is one of elements that makes it become passive. In 2, 'to be' is often used between the verb 'consider' when it is used in the passive ('is considered') and the topic that is being focused on.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Oleg
In 1, it is a present participle and part of the present continuous verb 'am being'. In 2, it is a gerund, which here functions as the subject of the verb 'is'. 3 sounds a little unnatural to me, but here it seems to be a present participle functioning either as an adverb or an adjective -- I'm not sure which because I'm not completely sure what the sentence precisely means.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Oleg
I think you'd have to explain it a bit more for that meaning to be clear, something like 'He keeps calm, even when being laughed at'.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
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