VW Be Verbs
Be Verbs
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.)
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