To Be

Kelompok 5: 1. Rahayu Rahmawati 2. Iqbal Fikri 3. M. Daroi i !. "ilia #i$ia ita Ika %

The Form& o' (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 $nglish language, constantly changing form, sometimes without much of a discernible pattern. %onsidering 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. *re&e t Te &e I am 'ou are (e)*he)It is *a&t Te &e I was 'ou were (e)*he)It was &e were 'ou were They were &e are 'ou are They are

*er'e+t Form ,pa&t parti+ipleI have been, etc.

*ro.re&&i$e Form ,pre&e t parti+ipleI am being, etc.

&e must choose carefully among these various forms when selecting the proper verb to go with our sub+ect. *ingular sub+ects re,uire singular verbs- plural sub+ects re,uire plural verbs. That!s usually an easy matter. &e wouldn!t write "The troops was moving to the border.# .ut some sentences re,uire closer attention. /o we write "The ma+ority of students is (or are) voting against the referendum01 2eview carefully the material in our section on /ub0e+t1#erb %.reeme t, and notice how often the choices we make re,uire a familiarity with these forms of the "To be# verb.

The Fu +tio 2' (To Be)

/imple 3ue&tio &

&e create simple yes)no ,uestions by inverting the order of sub+ect and the "To be# verb.

Is your brother taller than you1 3m I bothering you1 &ere they embarrassed by the comedian1

The same inversion takes place when "To be# is combined with verbs in the progressive4 3m I working with you today1 Is it snowing in the mountains1 &ere your children driving home this weekend1

The "i ki . a 4 56i&te tial 7To Be7

The verb "To be# most fre,uently works in con+unction with another verb4 "(e is playing the piano,# "*he will be arriving this afternoon.# 5ccasionally, though, the verb will stand by itself, alone, in a sentence. This is especially true in simple, brief answers to ,uestions. "&ho!s going to the movies with me1# "I am# "&ho!s responsible for this mess in the bathroom1# "*he is.# In sentences such as these, the sub+ect usually receives the intonation stress and the voice falls off on the verb. 3n au6iliary can be combined with the base form of "To be# to provide simple answers to ,uestions that use forms of "to be.# "Is (eitor in class this morning1# "&ell, he might be.# "Is anyone helping (eitor with his homework1# "I!m not sure. *u7anne could be.# The verb "To be# also acts as a linking verb, +oining the sentence sub+ect with a &ub0e+t +ompleme t or a40e+ti$e +ompleme t. 3 linking verb provides no action to a sentence4 the sub+ect complement re8identifies the sub+ect- the ad+ective complement modifies it.

(9or further information and additional vocabulary in dealing with linking verbs, visit the hyperlinks in this paragraph.)

Professor :oriber is the /irector of 5nline ;earning. 5ur trip to 'ellowstone was fantastic<

I *a&&i$e 8o &tru+tio &

3 form of the verb "To be# is combined with a past participle to form the passive. Passive verb constructions are useful when the sub+ect of an action is not as important as what the sub+ect did (the action of the sentence) or when the sub+ect is unknown. 9or 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.# 2egardless of the verb!s purpose, only the au6iliary form of "To be# changes- the participle stays the same. The "To be# will change form to indicate whether the sub+ect is singular or plural4

The foundation is supported by enormous floating caissons that keep it from sinking into the swamp. They were constructed by workers half submerged in the murky waters.

=otice how the information about who did the action is fre,uently found in a prepositional phrase beginning with "by.# Passive constructions do not always include this information4

&ooden caissons were used until fiberglass structures were developed in the >?@As. %aissons were also designed to function under water in the construction of bridges.

The "To be# will also change to indicate the time of the action and the aspect of the verb (simple, progressive, perfect).

&ater is pumped out of the caisson to create an underwater work chamber. (simple present) *ome caissons were moved to other construction sites. (simple past) &hile the water was being pumped out, workers would enter the top of the waterproof chamber. (past progressive) :any other uses of caisson construction have been e6plored. (present perfect) %aissons had been used by the ancient 2omans. (past perfect) 5ther uses will be found. (future)

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. *ee the section on mo4al& for the

various kinds of information conveyed by modals (advisability, predictability, guessing, necessity, possibility, etc.).

The wall +oints may be weakened if the caissons can!t be rebuilt. Perhaps the caissons should be replaced- I think they ought to be. These ancient, sturdy structures might have been rotted by constant e6posure to water.

Bisit our section on the pa&&i$e for advice on when to use the passive and when to substitute more active verb forms. &hen "To be# verbs are combined with modal forms in this manner, the construction is called a phra&al mo4al. (ere are some more e6amples4

2osario was able to finish her degree by taking online courses. *he wasn!t supposed to graduate until ne6t year. *he will be allowed to participate in commencement, though. *he is about to apply to several graduate programs. *he is going to attend the state university ne6t fall.

*ometimes it is difficult to say whether a "To be# verb is linking a sub+ect to a participle or if the verb and participle are part of a passive construction. In "%ertain behaviors are allowed,# is 0are# linking "behaviors# to 0allowed0 (a participle acting as a predicate ad+ective) or is "are allowed# a passive verb1 In the final analysis, it probably doesn!t matter, but the distinction leads to some interesting variations. %onsider the difference between

The +urists were welcomed. and The +urists were welcome.

In the first sentence, the participle "welcomed# (in this passive construction) emphasi7es the action of welcoming4 the smiles, the hearty greetings, the slaps on the back. In the second sentence, the predicate ad+ective "welcome# describes the feeling that the +urists must have had upon being so welcomed.

*ro.re&&i$e Form&
%lick 95R5 for a thorough discussion of the progressive verb forms. Progressive forms include a form of "To be# plus a present participle (an -ing ending). 9rodesen and $yringCC categori7e progressive verbs according to the following functions4

to describe actions already in progress at the moment 0in focus0 within the sentence, as in "I was doing my homework when my brother broke into my room, crying.# or "I will be graduating from college about the same time that you enter high school.#

to describe actions at the moment of focus in contrast to habitual actions, as in "&e usually buy the most ine6pensive car we can find, but this time we!re buying a lu6ury sedan.# to e6press repeated actions, as in ":y grandfather is forever retelling the same story about his adventures in 2angoon.# to describe temporary situations in contrast to permanent states, as in "Deffrey goes to the Eniversity of %onnecticut, but this summer he is taking courses at the community college.# to e6press uncompleted actions, as in "(arvey and :ark are working on their deck.#

Ta. 3ue&tio & with (To Be)

%lick 95R5 for a description of tag ,uestions, a device by which a statement is turned into a ,uestion. &hen we use "To be# verbs in a tag ,uestion, the basic formula follows4 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.

2obert 9rost was 3merica!s favorite poet, wasn!t he1 (e wasn!t widely accepted in this country at first, was he1 'ou were going to skip this poem, weren!t you1 There were several typographical errors in this anthology, weren!t there1 (.e careful here. It!s not "weren!t they.#) I am not a very good reader, am I1 I!m a better reader than you, aren!t I1

(/on!t try to make sense of this last construction. It is acceptable. In very formal te6t, you might write "am I not# instead. "3in!t# is not regarded as acceptable e6cept in te6t attempting to duplicate substandard speech.)

2r4er with %4$erb&

=otice that adverbs of fre,uency normally appear after forms of the verb "To be#4

3s a student, he was seldom happy. 3rturo is always first in line. They were never on time.

=otice that the adverb still appears after "To be# verbs but before other main verbs4

:y brother8in8law still works for the bank. (e is still a teller after twenty years.

3n 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.

This medicine has to be carefully administered. *he turned out to be secretly married to her childhood sweetheart.

e+e&&ary :&e& o' (To Be)

$ven 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 +ust sits there and te6t 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 e6pletive constructions ("There is,# "There were,# "it is,# etc.). =ote that the relative pronoun fre,uently disappears as well when we revise these sentences.

(e wanted a medication that was prescribed by a physician. *he recogni7ed the officer who was chasing the crook. 3nyone who is willing to work hard will succeed in this program. It was 3lberto who told the principal about the students! prank. (=otice that the "it was# brought special emphasis to "3lberto,# an emphasis that is somewhat lost by this change.) 3 customer who is pleased is sure to return. 3 pleased customer is sure to return. (&hen we eliminate the "To be# and the relative pronoun, we will also have to reposition the predicate ad+ective to a pre8noun position.)

3n e6pletive construction, along with its attendant "To be# verb, can often be eliminated to good effect. *imply omit the construction, find the real sub+ect of the sentence, and allow it to do some real work with a real verb.

There were some e6cellent results to this e6periment in social work. (%hange to . . . .) This e6periment in social work resulted in . . . . There is one e6planation for this story!s ending in 9aulkner!s diary. (%hange to . . . .) 9aulkner!s diary gives us one e6planation for this story!s ending.

5n the other hand, e6pletive constructions do give us an interesting means of setting out or organi7ing the work of a subse,uent paragraph4

There were four underlying causes of &orld &ar I. 9irst, . . . .