#be verbs

athe first three formulas  states: when a form of be serves as the main (predicating) verb...

an adverbial time or place, 

an adjectival 

or a 

noun phrase, 

will follow it.  

the one exception to this is a statement affirming existence, such as “I am” 

Patterns one through three, describe all the sentences in which a form of be is the main verb. 

Pattern one:  NP be ADV/TP 

the students are upstairs

No one was here

the last performance was yesterday ‘

the ADV in the formula stands for adverbial, a modifier of the verb. 

the adv that follows be is limited to when and where information (so like time and place such as the upstairs or here, and yesterday.) 

In the next example, the adv’s of time of time and place are prepositional phrases in form: 

the next performance is on Monday.

the students are in the library. 

Notice that the object of the preposition is a noun phrase, so the diagramming is just like the subject noun phrase is....but I’ll get into diagramming later. 

Pattern II: NP be ADJ

the students are diligent

his style of leadership was inspirational 

shipping is free

in this pattern the compliment that follows be is an adjectival. this slot is the subject compliment. which both completes the verb and modifies or describes the subject. 

when diagramed it follows a diagonal line. 

in these next example sentences the SC is going to be adjectives in form, and they usually are, but prep phrases can also be in the slots. 

that show was over the top.

kim is in a bad mood. 

you can figure these sentences belong in Pattern II because you can usually think of an adjective, that could substitue for the phrase. also, “over the top” and “in a bad mood” do not supply information of time and place. 

that show was outrageous

kim is irritable. 

Like I said earlier I’ll go over Diagramming in a different post, so don’t worry about it for now. 

Pattern III: NP1 be NP1 

the students are scholars.

Progessor Mendez is my math teacher.

the ending was a cliffhanger. 

a noun phrse following be fills the subject compliment slot.

the numbers that mark the NPs show that the two noun phrases have the same referent ( that is they refer back to the same topic) 

Verbs show action and being. Verbs can be action verb also known as main verb or it show being or be verb. Here are examples of be verbs am,is, are, be, been, being, were, was I am a teacher- am is a verb that shows being She is pretty- the verb is shows being We were on the island- were shows being Note: The function of the be verb depends on the number of subject such as: We is a plural…

These word types perfume writing rather than accentuate its beauty:

Be Verbs (am, is, are, was, were, be, and been)

Zombie Nouns (nominalizations ending with ion, ism, ty, ment, ness, ance, ence)

Prepositions (in, by, for, of and to when used in an infinitive verb construction)

Adjectives and Adverbs (words ending with able, ac, al, ant, ary, ent, ful, ible, ic, ive, less, ly and ous)

Waste…

My friend texted me that he is "feeling depress."

That's supposed to be "depressed," isn't it?  

And I see it a lot when I'm reading fanfiction and they're great stories and great writers and sometimes, I start to wonder if I'm tripping and the "ed" should be in places that I think they shouldn't...

But I'm not caving on the be verbs.  "Had" is not supposed to be used the way that I keep seeing it used.  I know had isn't supposed to be in front of verbs like that.  I'm not crazy.

My little sister asked me if she should write "I had thought..." on her homework.  Had doesn't belong there, right?