The ‘Be’ Patterns
athe first three formulas states: when a form of be serves as the main (predicating) verb...
an adverbial time or place,
an adjectival
or a
noun phrase,
will follow it.
the one exception to this is a statement affirming existence, such as “I am”
Patterns one through three, describe all the sentences in which a form of be is the main verb.
Pattern one: NP be ADV/TP
the students are upstairs
No one was here
the last performance was yesterday ‘
the ADV in the formula stands for adverbial, a modifier of the verb.
the adv that follows be is limited to when and where information (so like time and place such as the upstairs or here, and yesterday.)
In the next example, the adv’s of time of time and place are prepositional phrases in form:
the next performance is on Monday.
the students are in the library.
Notice that the object of the preposition is a noun phrase, so the diagramming is just like the subject noun phrase is....but I’ll get into diagramming later.
Pattern II: NP be ADJ
the students are diligent
his style of leadership was inspirational
shipping is free
in this pattern the compliment that follows be is an adjectival. this slot is the subject compliment. which both completes the verb and modifies or describes the subject.
when diagramed it follows a diagonal line.
in these next example sentences the SC is going to be adjectives in form, and they usually are, but prep phrases can also be in the slots.
that show was over the top.
kim is in a bad mood.
you can figure these sentences belong in Pattern II because you can usually think of an adjective, that could substitue for the phrase. also, “over the top” and “in a bad mood” do not supply information of time and place.
that show was outrageous
kim is irritable.
Like I said earlier I’ll go over Diagramming in a different post, so don’t worry about it for now.
Pattern III: NP1 be NP1
the students are scholars.
Progessor Mendez is my math teacher.
the ending was a cliffhanger.
a noun phrse following be fills the subject compliment slot.
the numbers that mark the NPs show that the two noun phrases have the same referent ( that is they refer back to the same topic)
the subject compliment (sc) renames the subject and the main verb -be- connects the two like an equal sign.
