| 词组 | be |
| 释义 | be Be is the most common verb in English. It is used in many different ways. The present tense forms of 'be' are am, are, and is, and the past tense forms are was and were. Be is used as both an auxiliary and a main verb. ...a problem which is getting worse. It was about four o'clock. See entry at ↑ 'Am', 'is', and 'are' are not usually pronounced in full. When you write down what someone says, you usually represent 'am' and 'is' using 'm and 's. 'I'm sorry,' I said. 'But it's not possible,' Lili said. 'Okay,' he said. 'Your brother's going to take you to Grafton.' You can also represent 'are' using 're, but only after a pronoun. 'We're winning,' he said. You can also use the forms 'm, 's and 're when you are writing in a conversational style. See entry at ↑ ◊ used as an auxiliary Be is used as an auxiliary to form continuous tenses and passives. She was watching us. Several apartment buildings were destroyed. See entry at ↑ In conversation, get is often used to form passives. See entry at ↑ ◊ used as a main verb You use be as a main verb when you are describing things or people or giving information about them. After be, you use a complement. A complement is either an adjective or a noun group. We were very happy. He is now a teenager. See entry at ↑ ◊ indicating someone's job When be is followed by a noun group indicating a unique job or position within an organization, you do not have to put 'the' in front of the noun. At one time you wanted to be President. Note that make is sometimes used instead of 'be' to say how successful someone is in a particular job or role. For example, instead of saying 'He will be a good president', you can say 'He will make a good president'. ◊ indicating age and cost You can talk about a person's age by using be followed by a number. Rose Gibson is twenty-seven. You can also use be to say how much something costs. How much is it? It's five pounds. For further information, see entries at ↑ ◊ with prepositional phrases You can use many kinds of prepositional phrase after be. He was still in a state of shock. I'm from Dortmund originally. ...people who are under pressure. ◊ with 'to'-infinitives You sometimes use 'to'-infinitive clauses after be. After dinner they were to go to a movie. Who is to question him? For further information, see entry at ↑ ◊ in questions and negative clauses When you use be as a main verb in questions and negative clauses, you do not use the auxiliary 'do'. Are you O.K? Is she Rick's sister? I was not surprised. It was not an easy task. ◊ in continuous tenses Be is not usually used as a main verb in continuous tenses. However, you can use it in continuous tenses to describe someone's behaviour at a particular time. You're being very silly. ◊ 'be' and 'become' Do not confuse be with become. Be is used to indicate that someone or something has a particular quality or nature, or is in a particular situation. Become is used to indicate that someone or something changes in some way. Before he became Mayor he had been a tram driver. It was not until 1845 that Texas became part of the U.S.A. See entry at ↑ ◊ after 'there' Be is often used after 'there' to indicate the existence or occurrence of something. There is a rear bathroom with a panelled bath. There are other possibilities. There was a brief silence. ◊ WARNING You cannot use be without 'there' to indicate that something exists or happens. You cannot say, for example, 'Another explanation is' or 'Another explanation must be'. You must say 'There is another explanation' or 'There must be another explanation'. See entry at ↑ ◊ after 'it' Be is often used after 'it' to describe something such as an experience, or to comment on a situation. It was very quiet in the hut. It was awkward keeping my news from Ted. It's strange you should come today. See entry at ↑ ◊ 'have been' If you have visited a place and have now come back from it, British speakers say that you have been there. I have been to Santander many times. See entry at ↑ |
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英语用法大全包含2070条英语用法指南，基本涵盖了全部常用英文词汇及语法点的翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。