Verb "to BE" in English | Use and meaning

source: Crown Academy of English       2017年7月4日
The verb "to be" expresses the existence of a person or thing. It also gives us more information about that person or thing.
The verb "to be" can act as a main verb. In that situation, it is a linking verb. A linking verb does not describe an action. It tells us more about the subject of the sentence. It doesn't have a direct object. Instead, it has a complement.
This complement is either a noun (subject complement) - Example: I am a teacher.
or an adjective (adjective complement) - Example: I am tired.
or prepositional phrase. - Example - I am in the car.
The verb "to be" can also be an auxiliary verb (helping verb). This means that it helps another main verb to do its job.
Example: I am working (present continuous)
In the above example, "I am" is the auxiliary verb and "working" (present participle) is the main verb. Together they form the present continuous tense.
The verb "to be" is used in all the continuous tenses as an auxiliary. I give other examples in the video.
The verb to be as an auxiliary verb + the past participle gives us the passive voice.
Examples: The car was made in Japan.
or
The cat is called Tom.
There are plenty of other examples in the video lesson.
The accent in the video is a British English accent.

Part 1 of this video series (form) can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wvzg...
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