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01Hello!
02This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Tayyab in Pakistan about a form of the verb be in English.
03Dear Teacher, I am always confused when it comes to the usage of being.
04Thank you, Tayyab.
05I am happy to answer this question, Tayyab.
06Let's start by considering a basic way we use the verb be in English.
07We commonly use this verb to link or join a subject with its description.
08The description will often be a noun or an adjective.
09The following two examples show this.
10That man is a farmer.
11That man is rich.
12Expanding on this use of the verb be, we can call a description of how a person feels and experiences his or her life as a state of being.
13A state of being can last for a short or a long time.
14However, a state of being is longer than a momentary feeling.
15The following examples show this usage.
16In retirement, her state of being became more relaxed.
17His state of being has not been good in recent months.
18We can also use the word being to begin a description.
19This can help us describe something or someone in one sentence instead of two.
20For example, we could use two sentences to describe a man who does not speak very much with other people.
21Mr.
22Jones was someone who spoke very little.
23He sat quietly while others did the talking.
24But if we use the word being, we can express this idea in one sentence, as in the following example.
25Being a man of few words.
26Mr.
27Jones sat quietly while others did the talking.
28Here is another example of changing a description from two sentences to one sentence.
29Manute was very tall.
30That is why he decided to play basketball instead of football.
31Being very tall, Manute decided to play basketball instead of football.
32We can also use the word being, combined with the noun or adjective that follows it, as the subject of a sentence.
33Consider the following examples.
34Being a parent has helped me better understand my own parents.
35Being open to criticism will help you improve your work.
36In these examples, the phrases being a parent and being open to criticism are the subjects of the sentences.
37Lastly, we can use the word being as a noun to describe a highly intelligent form of life.
38Humans are beings.
39And somewhere in the universe, other intelligent beings might exist.
40For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English?
41We'd like to hear from you.
42Send us an email at learningenglish at voanews.com And please include where you are from in your email, too.
43And that's Ask a Teacher.
44I'm Andrew Smith.
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