Showing posts with label bin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bin. Show all posts

Friday, August 19, 2011

be, bee, been, being, bean

Be or be means to exist or live--
What will be, will be.
"To be, or not to be..."
Be or be means to occupy a place or position--
I can't be there tomorrow.
Will you be my valentine?
She will be the new director.
Be or be means to embody, express or act out a particular state, age, condition, or quality--
I will be 55 soon.
Don't be rude.
I can't be sure.
Be or be may mean to take place or happen--
It will be quitting time soon.
It seems to be raining.
Be or be may be used to form a future ( tomorrow, or later ) form of a verb ( action word )--
I'll be seeing you.
We will be there next week.

Been or been ( nearly rhymes with bin ) is the past participle of "be"--it is combined with a form of "to have"--to make the past perfect--something that was already done, or already existed, in the past, or that continues from past to present--
I have been waiting for hours.
It has been a long, long, time.
Have you been here long?
Has this always been here?

Being or being is the present participle of "be"--something going on as we speak--combined with the appropriate form of "to be"--
He is being obnoxious.
Being right is all that matters to him.
Being is also used to make the "passive voice"--the action in a sentence is happening to the subject--
The movie is being shown at 9.
This instead of making the main idea an object-- "They are showing the movie.
By using the passive voice, the main idea ( the movie ) remains the subject.  If "they" are the main idea--you have been talking about your friends, who show movies--then "They are showing the movie" may more clearly express what you mean.

Being is also used to mean creature or wight, as in "human being"--
What sort of being is this?
All human  beings are the same species.

Bee means the six-legged, winged creature that makes honey--
Don't bother the bee or it might sting.
She has a bee in her bonnet.
She's as busy as a bee.
The plural ( more than one) of bee is bees (rhymes with freeze)--
Let's picnic somewhere else. There are too many bees here.
He is afraid of bees.
A bee is also a group of people working on a project, such as a quilting bee, or in a competition, such as a spelling bee.

Bean or bean is a legume--the food we cook in a bean pot, or sprout to put in salads--
Boston is famous for its baked beans.
Would you like some three bean salad?
No, I prefer ten bean soup.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"There  seems to be a bee in my beans."
"Has the bee been in the beans long?"
"Being a bee, he doesn't say ."

Note--a "be-in"  was a groovy type of party in the late 1960's---for hippies and their friends.
Note # 2--"bin" means a box or enclosed place for storing bulk goods such as flour, potatoes, or coal--
The coal bin is nearly empty.