Be (used with modals, after “to”)
Is, Are, Am (present tense)
‘s ‘re ‘m (in contractions)
Was (past tense)
Were (past tense)
Been (past participle)
Being (-ing form, gerund)
Examples of usage:
Be
I will be there tomorrow.
(use “be” after modals)
I might be late.
He wants to be an astronaut.
(use “be” with “to” in the infinitive)
“To be or not to be;” that is the question.
Be nice now.
(use “be” in the imperative)
Please be quiet.
Is / Am / Are
Bill is sick today.
(use “is” with he/she/it in the present tense)
She is a doctor.
It is not time yet.
She is not here right now.
(use ‘s as the contracted form of “is”)
She isn’t here right now.
She’s not here right now.
Mr. Lee is eating dinner right now.
(use “is” with he/she/it in the present continuous)
She’s talking on the phone.
Maggie’s leaving tomorrow.
The dog is running down the street.
(use “is” with he/she/it in the present continuous)
I am a lawyer.
(use “am” with I in the present tense)
I am not a liar.
I’m happy to be here.
(use ‘m as the contracted form of “am”)
I’m not going anywhere.
We are at the office.
(Use “are” with they/we/you in the present tense.)
Jack and Jill are over the hill.
You are welcome anytime.
They’re in the building.
(Use ‘re as the contracted form of “are”)
We’re on the way.
You’re kidding!
We are working hard.
(Use “are” with you/we/they in the pres. continuous.)
They are hardly working.
The boys are waiting to see her.
We are not paying for the extra drink.
(The negative “are not” can be contracted two ways)
We’re not paying for the extra drink.
We aren’t paying for the extra drink.
Was / Were
I was here yesterday, so was Tina.
(Use “was” with I/ he/she and it in the past tense.)
It was a really nice trip.
Henry was at the dentist’s for two hours.
We were in Spain last week.
(Use “were” with you/we/they in the past tense.)
The Smiths were on vacation.
You were the only one here.
They weren’t at work yesterday.
(The only contracted forms are wasn’t/weren’t.)
Jared wasn’t here either.
I wasn’t aware of that.
Been
Rachel has been there before.
(Use “been” after have/has/had.)
I’ve never been to Maine.
We have been living here since June.
You should have been paying attention.
Being
Being a good sport is important.
(Use “being” when a gerund form of be is required.)
Being on time is essential.
I was being a jerk.
(Use “being” when “be” is used in the continuous.)
The verb 'to be' is one of the shortest and most important—yet oddest—verbs in the English language. It is an irregular verb; indeed, it is the only verb in English that completely changes form in every tense. The verb 'to be' is probably the most important verb in English. It can be used in simple statements such as:
The 'to be' verb can also be used to express complex thoughts: It is the verb at the very core of one of William Shakespeare's most famous plays, Hamlet, where the title character speaks the famous line: 'To be, or not to be.' ('Hamlet,' Act 3, Scene 1) Hamlet was asking whether it is better to be dead or alive, or in other words, whether to exist or not exist.
At heart, that's what the 'to be' verb connotes: a state of being or existence. It's a very common verb, but it's important to learn how to use it properly.
Before conjugating the verb 'to be' in the present and past forms, it's important to understand what this verb does. The verb 'to be' is is a stative verb: It refers to the way things are—their appearance, state of being, and even their smell. 'To be' or 'be' can be a linking verb: It joins the subject of a sentence to a word or phrase that tells something about the subject, such as in these examples:
'To be' can also be an auxiliary—or helping—verb: It works with the main verb, as in these examples:
'To be' can also be a transitive verb, which is a verb that takes an object, either a direct or an indirect object. An example would be: 'Sue is talking.' In the sentence, the 'to be' verb, 'is,' takes a direct object, 'talking.'
The present tense of the verb to be, as with any verb, can take several forms: the indicative or simple present, present perfect, and present continuous.
The tables below show how to conjugate to be in these forms:
Indicative Mode | |
Singular | Plural |
I am | We are |
You are | You are |
He/She/It is | They are |
Note that even in the indicative—or simple—present tense, the verb changes in the first, second, and third person uses.
The present perfect, formed by combining has or have with a past participle, usually a verb ending in -d, -ed, or -n, indicates actions or events that have been completed or have happened in the present.
Singular | Plural |
I have been. | We have been. |
You have been. | You have been. |
He/She/It has been. | They have been. |
Examples of the present perfect include:
To correctly use the verb in the present perfect, just remember that only the third-person singular uses 'has.' All of the other forms in this tense use 'have.'
The present continuous, also known as the present progressive, is generally used to express something happening at the moment.
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Singular | Plural |
I am tensing. | We are tensing. |
You are tensing. | You are tensing. |
He/She/It is tensing. | They are tensing. |
An example sentence might be: 'That course is being taken by a number of students.' Notice how the 'to be' verb changes depending on the person—first, second, or third—as well as the number, singular or plural.
There's no easy trick to learning which form of 'to be' to use here. Just remember, the first person, singular requires 'am,' second person requires 'are,' and 'third-person singular requires 'is.' Fortunately, all the plural forms use 'are.'
Past simple indicates that something happened at some specific time in the past, such as: 'Her house was built in 1987.'
Singular | Plural |
I was. | We were. |
You were. | You were. |
He/She/It was. | They were. |
Note that the past singular requires 'was' for the first and third person, while 'were' is used with a second-person pronoun. All forms are the same—'were'—for the plural tenses.
The past perfectindicates actions or events that have been completed or have happened in the past.
Singular | Plural |
I had been. | We had been. |
You had been. | You had been. |
He/She/It had been. | They had been. |
Some examples include:
Peter had been to the post office presumably only once before they arrived, and the person being addressed in the second sentence had 'been in town' for a specific time period before 'he called.'
The past continuous is usually used to refer to events happening at the same time that something important was occurring.
Singular | Plural |
I was being | We were being |
You were being | You were being |
He/She/It was being | They were being |
An example of the past continuous in a sentence would be: 'The ideas were being discussed while the decisions were being made.' In this case, the past continuous is used twice to highlight how one action was taking place at the same time as another: Ideas 'were being' discussed at the same time decisions 'were being' made.
'To be' can also be used in other ways in the present and past tense, such as:
A copular verb where 'to be' joins the subject of a sentence or clause to a complement. These complements are generally descriptions that are often adjective or noun phrases, such as 'I am sometimes late for work.'
A copular 'to be' verb is essentially a transitive verb, except that the object is a phrase or clause rather than a single word. In this case, the 'to be' verb, am, links the subject 'I' with the description of the subject, (a person who is) 'sometimes late for work.'
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 |
|
|
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. Do we write “The majority of students is (or are) voting against the referendum'? Review carefully the material in our section on Subject-Verb Agreement, and notice how often the choices we make require a familiarity with these forms of the “To be” verb.
We create simple yes/no questions by inverting the order of subject and the “To be” verb.
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 subject complement or adjective complement. 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.)
A form of the verb “To be” is combined with a past participle to form the passive. Passive verb constructions 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. 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:
Notice how the information about who did the action is frequently found in a prepositional phrase beginning with “by.” Passive constructions do not always include this information:
The “To be” will also change to indicate the time of the action and the aspect of the verb (simple, progressive, perfect).
The “To be” verb can be combined with other modal forms (along with the past participle of the main verb) to convey other kinds of information. See the section on modals for the various kinds of information conveyed by modals (advisability, predictability, guessing, necessity, possibility, etc.).
Visit our section on the passive for advice on when to use the passive and when to substitute more active verb forms.
When “To be” verbs are combined with modal forms in this manner, the construction is called a phrasal modal. Here are some more examples:
Sometimes it is difficult to say whether a “To be” verb is linking a subject to a participle or if the verb and participle are part of a passive construction. In “Certain behaviors are allowed,” is 'are” linking “behaviors” to 'allowed' (a participle acting as a predicate adjective) or is “are allowed” a passive verb? In the final analysis, it probably doesn't matter, but the distinction leads to some interesting variations. Consider the difference between
In the first sentence, the participle “welcomed” (in this passive construction) emphasizes the action of welcoming: the smiles, the hearty greetings, the slaps on the back. In the second sentence, the predicate adjective “welcome” describes the feeling that the jurists must have had upon being so welcomed.
Click HERE for a thorough discussion of the progressive verb forms. Progressive forms include a form of “To be” plus a present participle (an -ing ending). Frodesen and Eyring** categorize progressive verbs according to the following functions:
Click HERE for a description of tag questions, a device by which a statement is turned into a question. When we use “To be” verbs in a tag question, the basic formula follows: the verb is combined with a pronoun and sometimes with not (usually in a contracted form). Positive statements are followed by negative tags; negative statements by positive tags.
(Don't try to make sense of this last construction. It is acceptable. In very formal text, you might write “am I not” instead. “Ain't” is not regarded as acceptable except in text attempting to duplicate substandard speech.)
Notice that adverbs of frequency normally appear after forms of the verb “To be”:
Notice that the adverb still appears after “To be” verbs but before other main verbs:
An adverb can be interposed between the infinitive “To be” and a participle, as in the following sentences. The fear of splitting an infinitive is without grounds in this construction.
Even a casual review of your writing can reveal uses of the verb “To be” that are unnecessary and that can be removed to good effect. In a way, the “To be” verb doesn't do much for you — it just sits there — and text that is too heavily sprinkled with “To be” verbs can feel sodden, static. This is especially true of “To be” verbs tucked into dependent clauses (particularly dependent clauses using a passive construction) and expletive constructions (“There is,” “There were,” “it is,” etc.). Note that the relative pronoun frequently disappears as well when we revise these sentences.
An expletive construction, along with its attendant “To be” verb, can often be eliminated to good effect. Simply omit the construction, find the real subject of the sentence, and allow it to do some real work with a real verb.
On the other hand, expletive constructions do give us an interesting means of setting out or organizing the work of a subsequent paragraph:
Verb phrases containing 'be' verbs are often merely roundabout ways of saying something better said with a simple verb. Thus 'be supportive of' for 'support' is verbose.
The following circumlocutory uses of 'be' verbs are common in stuffy writing. The simple verb (in parentheses) is usually better:
be abusive of (abuse) be applicable to (apply to) be benefited by (benefit from) be derived from (derive from) be desirous of (desire or want) be determinative of (determine) be in agreement (agree) be in attendance (attend) be indicative of (indicate) be in error (err) | be in existence (exist) be influential on (influence) be in possession of (possess) be in receipt of (have received) be in violation of (violate) be operative (operate) be productive of (produce) be promotive of (promote) be supportive of (support) |
Many such wordy constructions are more naturally phrased in the present-tense singular: 'is able to' ('can'), 'is authorized to' ('may'), 'is binding upon' ('binds'), 'is empowered to' ('may'), 'is unable to' ('cannot').
Martha Kolln* suggests that we think of the difference between stative and dynamic in terms of “willed” and “nonwilled” qualities. Consider the difference between a so-called dynamic adjective (or subject complement) and a stative adjective (or subject complement): “I am silly” OR “I am being silly” versus “I am tall.” I have chosen to be silly; I have no choice about being tall. Thus “Tall” is said to be a stative (or an “inert”) quality, and we cannot say “I am being tall”; “silly,” on the other hand, is dynamic so we can use progressive verb forms in conjunction with that quality.
Two plus two equals four. Equals is inert, stative, and cannot take the progressive; there is no choice, no volition in the matter. (We would not say, “Two plus two is equaling four.”) In the same way, nouns and pronouns can be said to exhibit willed and unwilled characteristics. Free pcb design software reviews. Thus, “She is being a good worker” (because she chooses to be so), but we would say “She is (not is being) an Olympic athlete” (because once she becomes an athlete she no longer “wills it”). For further definition of this interesting distinction, click HERE.
*Understanding English Grammar by Martha Kolln. 4rth Edition. MacMillan Publishing Company: New York. 1994.
**The section on uses of “To be” in passive constructions is based on information in Grammar Dimensions: Form, Meaning, and Use, #3 2nd Ed. by Jan Frodesen and Janet Eyring. Heinle & Heinle: Boston. 1997. Examples are our own.
I had taught my students to eliminate weak verb/adverb combinations and to use strong action verbs instead; furthermore, I taught them how to trade weak verbs for strong verbs. I felt good…until I read their next set of essays. Were they not aware that strong action verbs still existed?
After reading 2300 papers that averaged 34 to be verbs each, I wanted to suck out my brain with the plunger I found lying in the custodial closet. Seconds before engulfing my face with rubberized fecal matter, my colleague down the hall recommended I teach students how to eliminate to be verbs. Thinking it a better alternative than plunging my brain and flushing it down the toilet in the custodian’s closet, I tried it.
It worked. I now share it with you.
1) Change the be verb to a strong verb:
Example: Tony is afraid of notebook checks.
Tony fears notebook checks.
Example: Billy is alarmed by the proximity of the shark.
Billy motors away from the shark.
2) Eliminate the be verb by writing one or more showing sentence.
Example: Alligators are mean.
The alligator, angry at being disturbed, lurched forward and swallowed the boy’s cat. Unsatisfied, the grouchy gator swam circles around the screaming toddler, showing all the while the kitten’s severed head.
3) Combine sentences to eliminate the be verb.
Example: The inefficient time manageris unfulfilled. He heads to bed, disappointed, despite having finished his to do list.
The inefficient time manager heads to bed, unfulfilled, having checked everything off on his unprioritized to do list.
4) Eliminate the entire sentence if its omission does not change the meaning of the passage.
5) Leave the be verb if changing it alters the meaning,diminishes the passage, or makes the structure unworkable.
* This lesson was inspired by Mini Lessons for Revision by Susan Geye, 1997, Absey & Co. Spring, TX.
This list of verbs will help you understand verbs a little better. For a more in-depth look at verbs, see the verb page.
Verbs are words that show action or state of being. There are three major categories of verbs.
1. Helping Verbs (Auxiliary Verbs)
2. Action Verbs
3. Linking Verbs
These do just what their name implies. They help the main verb in the sentence by telling us more about its tense and the subtleties of its meaning. The main verb will be either an action verb or a linking verb. You'll find more on those verbs below.
The helping verb(s) and the main verb come together to form a verb phrase. Here is a list of 24 common helping verbs. Use the list of verbs and this lovely song to memorize them. (Listen to me sing the song in the video!)
be | am | is | are |
was | were | been | being |
have | has | had | could |
should | would | may | might |
must | shall | can | will |
do | did | does | having |
clean | cut | drive | eat |
fly | go | live | make |
play | read | run | shower |
sleep | smile | stop | sweep |
swim | think | throw | trip |
walk | wash | work | write |
If you've checked out this site much, you know that I think sentence diagramming rules when it comes to teaching and learning grammar. Sentence diagramming is a way to visually show how all of the words in the sentence are related to each other.
All verbs are diagrammed on a horizontal line after the subject. A vertical line separates the subject from the verb, and the rest of the sentence depends on the type of verb you are diagramming. Let's look at the different kinds of action verbs!
Forms of be | be, am, is, are, was, were, been, being |
Other Linking Verbs | appear, become, feel, grow, look, seem, remain, smell, sound, stay, taste, turn |
You might also enjoy these lessons.
Is is always a linking verb?
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