The verbs «to be», «to have»

THE VERB ‘TO BE’

Present Past Future

Per son	Sin gular	Per son	Plu ral	Per son	Sin gular	Per son	Plu ral	Per son	Sin gular	Per son	Plural
I	am	we	are	I	was	we	were	I	will be	we	will be
		you	are			you	were			you	will be
he she it	is	they	are	he she it	was	they	were	he she it	will be	they	will be

 

In affirmative sentences the form of the verb ‘to be’ immediately follows the subject:

She is a student. They were at home. I will be there.

In interrogative sentences the form of the verb ‘to be’ is placed before the subject: Is he your brother? Were you married?

In negative sentences the negative particle ‘not’ is placed after the form of the verb ‘to be’:

I am not a doctor. We were not ready.

In the future the verb ‘will’ is placed before the subject in interrogative sentences and the negative particle ‘not’ is placed after the verb ‘will’ in negative sentences: Will you be at home? It will not be good.

The functions of the verb ‘to be’

The verb ‘to be’ can perform the following functions in the sentence:

1. that of a notional verb:

He is here. I was at home. You will be at the library.

2. that of an auxiliary verb (to form tenses in the active and passive voice):

They are running very fast (the present continuous tense).

Were you reading when the telephone rang? (the past continuous tense)

The doctor was sent for (passive voice).

The capital of China is called Beijing. (passive voice)

3. that of a modal verb:

We were to meet at the station at five (expresses arrangement or agreement, part of a plan).

You are to stay at home till your mother comes ( expresses orders and instructions).

4. that of a link verb in the compound nominal predicate where the nominal part may be expressed by a noun, an adjective, a pronoun, a numeral, etc.:

He is a pupil. The sea is beautiful. We are four. It was he.

5. The verb ‘to be’ is used to talk about mental or physical condition:

to be hungry (thirsty, warm, hot, cold, sleepy, afraid, lucky, right, wrong).

6. The verb ‘to be’ is used to talk about age, height, weight, length, size, shape, colour:

I’m nearly forty. He is six feet tall. The room is 10 metres long. What size are your shoes? What colour are his eyes?

7. The verb to beis used in the construction there + to be:

There is a radiator under the window.

Note! The sentence «There is a table in the room» is more often used than «The table is in the room».

8. The verb ‘to be’ is not used in the continuous form.

But we can use the structure I am being/you are being + adjective/noun to talk about actions and behaviour in a particular situation, but not to talk about feelings:

You’re being stupid = You’re doing stupid things.

I was being very careful = I was doing something very carefully.

But: I am happy (a feeling). I was very depressed when you phoned (a feeling).

9. Normally ‘be’ is used without the auxiliary ‘do’: I’m not often sick.

But ‘do’ is used to make negative imperative sentences with ‘be’ (when we tell smb. not to do smth.)

Don’t be silly! Don’t be such a nuisance!

And ‘do be’ can begin emphatic sentences:

Do be careful! Do be quiet, for God’s sake!

10. Set expressions with the verb ‘to be’:

to be right - быть правым

to be wrong - быть неправым

to be well - хорошо себя чувствовать

to be healthy - быть здоровым

to be ill/ sick - болеть

to be glad - быть радым

to be pleased with - быть довольным чем-то

to be lucky - быть удачливым

to be satisfied with - быть удовлетворённым чем-то

to be mistaken - ошибаться

to be hungry - быть голодным

to be thirsty - испытывать жажду

to be angry with - злиться на кого-то

to be afraid of - бояться чего-то (кого-то)

to be interested in - интересоваться чем-то

to be late - опаздывать

to be on time - быть вовремя

to be in / to be at home - быть дома

to be out - не быть дома

to be at work - быть на работе

to be married - быть замужем (женатым)

to be single - быть не замужем (не женатым)

 

EXERCISES

Exercise 1. Fill in ’m, ’s, ’re, ’m not, isn’t or aren’t,as in the example.

1. We aren’t old. We ’re young. 2. My favourite sport is tennis. It... golf. 3. The Pyramids …. in Paris. They’re in Cairo. 4. I ….. from Spain. I’m from Mexico. 5. She isn’t Stella. She ….. Molly. 6. I’m not Bill. I ….. Tom. 7. The Taj Mahal isn’t in Ottawa. It ….. in Agra. 8. They ….. from Poland. They’re from Sweden. 8. Jill ….. my friend. She isn’t my sister. 9. I ….. 24 years old. I’m 27.

Exercise 2. Fill in am, is, or are.

1. Roses and daisies and tulips … are … grown in our flower garden. 2. A garden ….. a place where we grow fruit trees. 3. Fruit ….. good for you to eat. Eating fruit helps us to be healthy. 4. Glass ….. used to make things. Windows ….. made of glass. Glass ….. something hard that you can usually see through. It ….. easy to break glass. 5. I ….. happy. ….. you happy too? 6. A kangaroo ….. a large animal that eats plants. They.…. good jumpers. 7. A mother ….. sometimes called Mom or Mommy. 8. Neighbours ….. people who live near one another. 9. Georgia and Ross..… not neighbours, they live far from one another.

Exercise 3. Insert was or were.

1. I.... was.... working on a puzzle. I ….. trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. 2. Diana’s cold ….. worse yesterday. Her cold is not as bad today as it ….. yesterday. 3. I don’t think you ….. right. 4. A zoo ….. a place where I liked to go when I ….. seven. 5. The rain started to fall from clouds. Some clouds ….. white and puffy. Other clouds ….. big and dark.