Verb to be

The Verb “To Be”

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Principio del formulario

Final del formulario
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, runningstream — it wasn't easy. The verb “To be” is said to be the most proteanof 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. |
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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 requireplural 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.Simple Questions
We create simple yes/no questions by inverting the order of subject and the “To be” verb.
* 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 yourchildren 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'sresponsible 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 hishomework?”
“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 thehyperlinks in this paragraph.)
* Professor Moriber is the Director of Online Learning.
* 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. 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 thesubject 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...