Transcript TO BE - csdhr.qc.ca

TO BE
The auxiliary/verb
To Be as a verb
To Be is mostly used as a verb. It is a
verb when it is placed after the subject
in a sentence structure:
S (subject)
V (verb)
Richard
IS
O (object)
sick
In the preceding case, you can easily
see that that to be is placed AFTER
the subject making it a verb.
Like any other verb, it has a subjectverb agreement. In the preceding case
it is the subject, being Richard, can be
replaced by the personal pronoun HE.
So the subject is 3rd person singular.
Richard
Richard can be
replaced by the
personal
pronoun HE
because it refers
to a man 3rd
person singular
IS
sick
To BE as
a verb
So IS is used in this
case because it is the
proper subject-verb
agreement structure.
To be as an auxiliary
To Be is used as an auxiliary in two (2) ways. Firstly To Be is used as an auxiliary in a
compound verb like in the present and past continuous tenses. These compound verbs
are formed form an auxiliary (To Be) and an action verb ( ing form). Ex: They ARE
RUNNING
I AM skating on an ice rink
We WERE looking at birds
Notice that even
in a compound
verb, To Be as an
auxiliary still has a
SUBJECT-VERB
agreement
Secondly, To Be is used as an auxiliary in yes/no questions. It is placed at
the beginning of the question to respect the yes/no question structure
A (auxiliary) + S (subject) + V (verb) + rest of question?
From an affirmation using to Be as a verb, we simply change to Be
from a verb to an auxiliary.
In this case there will be NO verb in this form of yes/no question
unless the verb in the affirmation is a compound verb
Examples of to be as an auxiliary in the simple
present and present continuous tenses
They
ARE they
ARE
at the museum
at the museum ?
In this example using the Simple Present tense of To Be,
the verb is simply moved from the verb emplacement to the
auxiliary emplacement in the structure to form a yes/no
question
In the case of a compound verb using to be as an auxiliary like in the
present and past continuous tenses, only the auxiliary To Be changes place
inside the structure.
Sam
WAS LOOKING
WAS sam
Cindy
IS
Cindy
looking
is looking
looking
at his wife.
at his wife ?
at her boyfriend
at her boyfriend ?
To be in the affirmative form in the Simple Present
tense
AFFIRMATION
I AM
YOU ARE
HE IS (boy or man)
SHE IS (girl or woman)
IT IS ( thing or animal )
WE ARE
YOU ARE
THEY ARE
ABREVIATION
I’M
YOU’RE
HE’S
SHE’S
IT’S
WE’RE
YOU’RE
THEY’RE
TO BE in the interrogative form in the simple
present tense
Interrogative form
Am I ________________?
ARE YOU_______________?
IS HE_________________?
IS SHE________________?
IS IT________________?
ARE WE ___________________?
ARE YOU____________________?
ARE THEY_____________________?
TO BE in the negative form in the simple present
tense
Negative form
I am NOT
You are NOT
He is NOT
She is NOT
It is NOT
We are NOT
You are NOT
They are NOT
Abbreviated negative
form
I’m NOT
You’re NOT
He’s NOT
She’s NOT
It’s NOT
We’re NOT
You’re NOT
They’re NOT
TO BE AFFIRMATIVE FORM IN THE SIMPLE
PAST TENSE
AFFIRMATION
I WAS
YOU WERE
HE WAS (boy or man)
SHE WAS ( girl or woman
IT WAS ( thing or animal )
WE WERE
YOU WERE
THEY WERE
To be in the interrogative in the simple past tense
Interrogative form
WAS I ________________?
WERE YOU_______________?
WAS HE_________________?
WAS SHE________________?
WAS IT________________?
WERE WE ___________________?
WERE YOU____________________?
WERE THEY_____________________?
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exrecise 3
TO BE IN THE NEGATIVE FORM IN THE
SIMPLE PAST TENSE
Negative form
I was NOT
You were NOT
He was NOT
She was NOT
It was NOT
We were NOT
You were NOT
They were NOT
Abbreviated negative
form
I wasn’t
You weren’t
He wasn’t
She wasn’t
It wasn’t
We weren’t
You weren’t
They weren’t