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www.byjp.me/content/memex/language/to-be.md
JP Hastings-Spital b8cc9ee66d Remove leading newlines 
This standardises all my markdown files to have no leading newline after the `---` that ends the frontmatter.

This makes display on Gemini (in which newlines matter) much more consistent!

I can't spot any errors with the regex I used here, but there may be one or two articles that change shape — hopefully I can spot them and fix them!
2024-06-20 13:40:54 +01:00

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title draft tags summary links
To Be false
language
to-be
The English verb with so many uses
wiktionary
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/be

I've been facinated by #to-be as a word since I started learning #Spanish and noticed that Ser and Estar can be used to separate out a temporary and permanent state of being; "I am sad" has an implicit temporary nature to it (rather than the permanence that can be implied with English).

Forms of 'to be'

The Wikipedia article on E-Prime calls out a number of different uses of 'to be' that impressed me, as I'd not thought about how many variable uses it has!

  • identity (noun-phrase copula definite-noun) The cat is my only pet.
  • class membership: (definite-noun copula noun-phrase) Garfield is a cat.
  • class inclusion: (noun-phrase copula noun-phrase) A cat is an animal.
  • predication: (noun-phrase copula adjective) The cat is furry.
  • ownership: (noun-phrase copula possessive-noun) The cat is theirs.
  • auxiliary: (noun-phrase copula verb-phrase) The cat is sleeping / The cat is being bitten by the dog
  • existence: (medial-proadverb-of-location copula noun-phrase) There is a cat.
  • location: (noun-phrase copula location-phrase) The cat is nowhere to be found.

The Wictionary Post has 23 unique uses of 'to be' in English I should read through!