State of being Verbs
State of being Verbs are also called Inactive or Linking Verbs as they explain the situation i.e. the way they are and changes in those situations. The name of the Verb itself tells us that this verb mainly includes the forms of ‘be’ verb. State of being Verbs tends to work as links to connect subject to words in the predicates (noun/pronoun/Adjective) to add meaning. These Verbs are considered unprogressive.
Has, Have and Had
Some people also keep ‘has, have, and had’ under this category. But since these verbs can also be used as helping verbs many disregard this categorization.
Common Linking Verbs
So, there are mainly eight state of being Verbs which are used commonly. They are explained below with examples:
Is
‘Is’ is used with Third person singular (He, She, It) in Present Tense.
He is a basketball player.
It is a puppy.
Am
‘Am’ is used with First Person Singular i.e. I in Present Tense.
I am a rapper.
I am a social reformist.
Are
‘Are’ is used with First Person Plural (We), Second Person Singular and Plural (You) and Third person Plural (They) in Present Tense.
We are beautiful souls.
They are politicians.
Was
‘Was’ is used with First Person Singular (I) and Third Person Singular (He, She, It) in Past Tense.
He was a thief.
It was a murder.
Were
‘Were’ is used with First Person Plural (We) and Third Person Plural (They) in Past Tense.
We were soldiers who fought in the war.
They were nuns.
Be
‘Be’ is used with all persons (I, We, You, He, She, It, They) in Future Tense. However, we should add ‘will’ or ‘shall’ before ‘be’.
You will be cruel.
I shall be an entrepreneur.
Been
‘Been’ is a past participle of ‘be’ and is a state of being Verb. It is used with all persons (I, We, You, He, She, It, They)
I have been to the deserted place.
Have you been through this suffering?
Being
‘Being’ is used to with all persons (I, We, You, He, She, It, They) in Past and Present Tense. We should use ‘was/were’ in front of be in the Past Tense and ‘is/am/are’ in the Present Tense.
He was being cynical.
We are being noisy.
Physical Verbs
Literally, physical refers to any activity related to the body and Verbs are words which show visible actions. Hence, Physical Verbs are those activities which take place due to the movement of our body parts.
Examples
I am breaking glass.
She built a hut.
Have you cleaned the car?
We are jumping.
He ate rice.
The maid is sweeping the floor.
Our friends were laughing.
The above used Physical Verbs breaking, built, cleaned, jumping ate, sweeping, laughing describe the activities which can be seen and are called therefore Physical Verbs,.
We can understand Physical Verbs more clearly by comparing them with Mental Verbs.
|
Physical Verbs |
Mental Verbs |
|---|---|
| Physical Verbs refer to the actions carried out by our body parts. | Mental Verbs refer to actions carried through our intellectual power i.e. mind. |
| Physical Verbs refer to action carried out by subjects which can be seen. | Mental Verbs refer to invisible actions carried out by subjects. |
| Physical Verbs are used with Progressive Tenses. | Mental verbs are commonly used with Unprogressive Tenses. |
|
Example I am dancing. Everyone can see if somebody is dancing or pulling something. |
Example I am thinking. Until someone tells us we cannot see if somebody is thinking or deciding. |
Points to remember
Adjectives /Nouns often come after Subject of being Verbs in sentences.
Examples:
I am a beautiful girl.
Am – State of being Verb
Beautiful – Adjective
He was being naughty.
Being – Subject of being Verb
naughty– Adjective