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Use of BEING in A Sentence

Being can be used as a main verb, helping verb, gerund, present participle, and noun. As a main verb, being indicates a continuous state of being, such as "you are being funny." As a helping verb, being is used in the present and past passive continuous tenses, such as "a book is being written." As a gerund or present participle, being functions as a noun or adjective/adverb, like in "being a teacher allows you to change lives." Finally, being can simply refer to existence, as in "every being deserves to live."

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1K views5 pages

Use of BEING in A Sentence

Being can be used as a main verb, helping verb, gerund, present participle, and noun. As a main verb, being indicates a continuous state of being, such as "you are being funny." As a helping verb, being is used in the present and past passive continuous tenses, such as "a book is being written." As a gerund or present participle, being functions as a noun or adjective/adverb, like in "being a teacher allows you to change lives." Finally, being can simply refer to existence, as in "every being deserves to live."

Uploaded by

Naval Goyal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is the difference between 

A car is being parked. and A car is parked. ?

“a car is being parked” - someone is currently parking a car right now


(progressive tense)

“a car is parked” - it is already parked and not moving (past tense)

A car is being parked. = Someone is in the process of parking a car.

A car is parked. = A car has already stopped and is already in the parking area.

Use of BEING in a sentence


Is being a helping verb or a main verb? In this post, we will learn different uses
of being in the English language.

In English, the verb being is used as both a helping and an action verb in different
situation. Let’s understand how and when to use being in English.

Use of BEING in English


1. As a main verb
2. As a helping verb
3. As a noun (gerund)
4. As a present participle in participle phrases
5. BEING as a noun
Different uses of BEING

1. Use of being as a main verb


As a main verb, BEING is the present participle (V3) of the verb BE. As a main
verb, being refers to a continuous state of being that someone deliberately is in.
It is used as a main verb in the Present continuous tense and the Past Continuous
tense.

V1 V2 V3 (past participle) Present participle (V1+ing)

Be (is/am/are) was, were been being

different forms of the verb ‘be’

When being is used as a main verb (stative), it is followed by the helping verb


BE (is, am, are, was, were).

Examples of BEING as a main verb:


 You are being funny.
 She is being silly right now.
 Why are you being my father?
 Jon is being a great team member to us.
 She was being crazy in the party last night.
 I am just being sarcastic. Excuse me!
 They were being really rude to me yesterday.
 Jyoti is not being sincere towards her job.
 You are not being you.
In all the above sentences, being is working as a stative verb. It is not showing
any dynamic action. It is just showing a state of being that someone is or was in
deliberately. Try replacing it with the verb ‘behaving.’ You will understand what
it’s doing.

Note: Do not use feelings or emotions after BEING.

 I am being happy. ❌
 I am happy. ✔️
 He is being sad/emotional. ❌
 He is sad/emotional. ✔️
You don’t deliberately get into a state of a feeling/ emotion. You can’t just turn it
on and off; a feeling or emotion is a consequence.

2. Use of being as a main verb


We use being as a helping verb in the Present Continuous tense and the Past
Continuous tense in passive voice.

Structures:

Present continuous tense (passive voice)

Subject + is/am/are + being + V3 + (by the doer)


Past continuous tense (passive voice)

Subject + was/were + being + V3 + (by the doer)


Examples of being as a helping verb:

 We are writing a book about human mind. (active, present continuous)


 A book on human mind is being written (by us). (passive, present
continuous)
 The cops were beating some kids brutally. (active, past continuous)
 Some kids were being beaten. (passive, past continuous)
 She is being offered a job.
 I am being ridiculed.
 My friends are being beaten up.
 The next video is being recorded right now.
 Your efforts are being appreciated.
 His father is being checked up right now.
 The food is being prepared right now.
 The movie was being made that time.
 That book was being written last month.
 The actors were being tested for their roles.
 Our annual performance was being evaluated in the meeting last night.
NOTE: In passive voice, the focus is given to the receiver of the action, and the
doer is generally ignored. As a result of which, we, usually, don’t add the doer of
the action in a passive voice sentence.

3. Use of being as a noun (gerund)


Being is also used as a gerund (a noun) in a gerund phrase. Let’s take some
examples of being as a noun (gerund).

Examples:

 Being a politician in this country is tough.


(Gerund phrase = Being a politician in this country, acting as the subject)
 Being angry does not help in taking rational decisions.
(Gerund phrase = Being angry, acting as the subject)
 Being a teacher allows you to change lives.
(Gerund phrase = Being a teacher, acting as the subject)
 I hate being his friend.
(Gerund phrase = Being his friend, acting as the object of the verb)
 The benefit of being my friend is that nobody messes up with you.
(Gerund phrase = Being my friend, acting as the object of the
preposition OF)

4. Use of being as a present participle


in participle phrases
Being is also used in the beginning of a participle phrase. Let’s take some
examples of being as a present participle.

A participle phrase works either as an adjective or an adverb in a sentence.

Examples:

 Being scared to death, I don’t play with dogs.


 Rahul, being a father of two kids, does not flirt with girls.
 Being the owner of the company, you have to deal with all the
complaints.
 Being a cop, he has to be strong.

5. BEING as a noun
Being means “a life” or “existence” and can be used as a word.

 Every being deserves to live.
 The movement of releasing stray dogs was brought into being last year.
 Many believed that Shiva is a mythical being.

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