Life of be

[Alan]

Hi,

Some musings on a Sunday morning:

Have you noticed how versatile be is? It crops up everywhere in all its shapes and sizes. We all know this one from our Bill: ‘To be or not to be’ Not that anyone ever remembers how the rest of the speech goes. Of course that’s its most adaptable form because the infinitive has bags of scope. To be in means to be fashionable and to be out suggests the opposite – not favoured. Now be is very in. We can’t live without it. Where would we be? You just try to say something without popping a be or two in somewhere or in one of its manifestations.. To be honest I’ve just dome that or should I say I just did that – to be discussed elsewhere I feel. Then there’s the imperative: Be quiet – Don’t be stupid – Be sensible and behave. Did you spot that little be at the beginning of the last word – same letters different meaning – believe me! It’s good at all sorts of bits of advice and admonitions: Be careful – Be on your guard – Be honest – Be prudent. Incidentally our former Finance Minister who’s now elevated to Prime Minister was always talking about the need for prudence. So much so that people were wondering who this woman Prudence was until they realised that he was talking about prudence with a small ‘p’ meaning wise and sensible. But we can well be doing without politics. Back to be then. It makes an appearance in comic sketches where the writer wants to show us people who are rustic and hence (no foundation of course in truth I must say) stupid. So we have this sort of conversation:: A: How be you? B: I be fine and how be you? A: I be great, thank you.. Then we all fall about because we know A and B should be saying ‘am’ not be. Moving on we next come to the subjunctive and naturally be is as busy as a bee there, too. If that be true is an example and would you believe it, it sounds just like rustic A and B. Here we go: Be that as it may and then of course our Bill again: If Music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it …. And then it changes shape. It becomes participle. The present one is being. We have: being human. Wait a minute –turn it round and it becomes a noun: Human being. Among its other talents in different garb is the past: been. An absolute boon for compound tenses: Have you been listening? Yes, I have been. And then would you credit it, been becomes a noun, too? A has been is someone who literally has been well known once and isn’t any longer – someone no longer famous. Passives it just loves also. I have been very impressed by be in all its variations. Secretly I feel it would like to add an extra ‘e’ so that it could develop its portfolio. Then indeed it could be described as the bee’s knees.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Phrasal Verbs/look