Be Verbs List

 

Learn the basics of Be verbs for English grammar. A verb shows action or a state of being. Home is my place to rest. I like the smell of my house. The Forgotten Helping Verbs. March 2, 2012. By Neal Whitman. As it happens, Robbins's list of not 23, not 24, but 25 helping verbs still managed to leave out having. It made up the deficit with ought (to), another helping verb regularly omitted from the rolls. That's not all. 'Be' verbs indicate a state of being. Verbs must match subjects. Watch the death cure 123movies. Negative sentences need ‘not' after the verb. I am not a doctor. He is not sleepy. We are not there. The verb comes first in interrogative sentences.

  1. To Be Verbs Chart
  2. French To Be Verbs List
  3. List Of All Be Verbs

The Forms of “To Be” The Greek sea god, Proteus, was (like the sea) capable of changing form in an instant. In order to get any decent information out of him, you had to grab him and hold on tight while he went through his various forms — lion, wild boar, snake, tree, running stream — it wasn't easy. The verb “To be” is said to be the most protean of the English language, constantly changing form, sometimes without much of a discernible pattern. Considering that we use it so often, it is really too bad that the verb “To be” has to be the most irregular, slippery verb in the language. Present Tense I am We are You are You are He/She/It is They are Past Tense I was We were You were You were He/She/It was They were Perfect Form (past participle) I have been, etc.

Progressive Form (present participle) I am being, etc. We must choose carefully among these various forms when selecting the proper verb to go with our subject. Singular subjects require singular verbs; plural subjects require plural verbs. That's usually an easy matter. We wouldn't write “The troops was moving to the border.” But some sentences require closer attention.

English

Do we write “The majority of students is (or are) voting against the referendum'? Review carefully the material in our section on, and notice how often the choices we make require a familiarity with these forms of the “To be” verb. Simple Questions We create simple yes/no questions by inverting the order of subject and the “To be” verb.

To Be Verbs Chart

• Is your brother taller than you? • Am I bothering you? • Were they embarrassed by the comedian? The same inversion takes place when “To be” is combined with verbs in the progressive: • Am I working with you today? • Is it snowing in the mountains? • Were your children driving home this weekend?

The Linking and Existential 'To Be' The verb “To be” most frequently works in conjunction with another verb: “He is playing the piano,” “She will be arriving this afternoon.” Occasionally, though, the verb will stand by itself, alone, in a sentence. This is especially true in simple, brief answers to questions. “Who's going to the movies with me?” “I am” “Who's responsible for this mess in the bathroom?” “She is.” In sentences such as these, the subject usually receives the intonation stress and the voice falls off on the verb. An auxiliary can be combined with the base form of “To be” to provide simple answers to questions that use forms of “to be.” “Is Heitor in class this morning?” “Well, he might be.” “Is anyone helping Heitor with his homework?” “I'm not sure. Suzanne could be.” The verb “To be” also acts as a linking verb, joining the sentence subject with a. A linking verb provides no action to a sentence: the subject complement re-identifies the subject; the adjective complement modifies it. (For further information and additional vocabulary in dealing with linking verbs, visit the hyperlinks in this paragraph.) • Professor Moriber is the Director of Online Learning.

French To Be Verbs List

• Our trip to Yellowstone was fantastic! In Passive Constructions A form of the verb “To be” is combined with a past participle to form the passive. Are useful when the subject of an action is not as important as what the subject did (the action of the sentence) or when the subject is unknown. For instance, the police might report that “The professor was assaulted in the hallways” because they do not know the perpetrator of this heinous crime.

List Of All Be Verbs

In technical writing, where the process is more important than who is doing the activity, we might report that “Three liters of fluid is filtered through porous glass beads.” Regardless of the verb's purpose, only the auxiliary form of “To be” changes; the participle stays the same. The “To be” will change form to indicate whether the subject is singular or plural: • The foundation is supported by enormous floating caissons that keep it from sinking into the swamp.