I recently received a question about the gerund being, as one of many uses of the -ing form to be. This is an interesting study of how one form of a verb can have many different uses and entirely different grammatical functions. In this case, being may be part of a verb phrase, an adverb or a noun. Here’s some examples how:
Being as a Present Participle
Being is the present participle (-ing) form of the verb to be, used with the verb to be to form the continuous tenses:
- [Subject] + [to be] + being + [Complement].
Usually, continuous tenses demonstrate a process in progress (i.e. incomplete at the time discussed) or a temporarily repeated activity. With the verb to be, however, we usually refer to states, conditions and feelings in the simple form when we would use continuous for other tenses. This makes the continuous use of to be usually limited to specifically emphasising a temporary condition – often one that is unusual or surprising.
- He was being very helpful on Sunday, for some reason.
- She is being strangely quiet this morning.
This use is more unusual in the future, where the future simple can already emphasise a state, and we’re less to likely to discuss surprising/unexpected information.
Being in the Passive Voice
Being can be used in the the passive continuous forms to show a process in progress (as above, an incomplete or repeated activity). For the passive voice, this is combined with the past participle:
- [Subject] + [to be] + being + [Past participle]
This structure is used to emphasise the doing of the process, rather than the subject (the actor), either because the result is more important than the cause or because the actor is unknown.
- The cliff was being eroded (by the sea).
- Our phone signal is being blocked by something.
Being as a Gerund
The gerund being is a word form that uses the -ing form as a noun. It is used to describe the substance of being, which could be used as a subject or object, with a few different meanings:
- A life-form, e.g. He claimed to have seen a being from space.
This use is common when it is ambiguous or unimportant to specify exactly what the life-form is, so we can refer to uncategorised or new living things as ‘beings’. We can also group wider lifeforms as beings without subgroups, such as living being (or the way we generally refer to human beings).
- To refer to someone in terms of their life essence/wholeness, e.g. She loved art and believed it made up her whole being.
This use is a little like existence, but generally relates it particularly to an individual. You might see it referring to other nouns like animals and objects, but typically a thing’s being has some connection to sense of purpose/life meaning, so it’s often useful for discussing people and their nature.
- To refer to a state of existence, e.g. The idea came into being after hours of brainstorming.
This use would usually be found in rather formal settings, discussing something coming into being in a somewhat academic sense.
Being as an Adverb
Being can be used as a conjunction or as part of an adverbial phrase. Here, it roughly means because or since, and is often connected to a subordinate clause with that, as or as how:
- Wendy missed the train, being that she was late.
It can also be used for the same meaning without a complete clause, to give an adverbial complement:
- Wendy missed the train, being late.
(Or with the subject/verb to follow as an afterthought: Wendy missed the train, being late as she was.)
Being as part of a Noun Phrase
Being can also be used in combination with a complement to form a noun phrase from a state or condition, in order, for example, to refer to it in terms of cause and effect.
- His being tall was the main reason they hired him.
This use will often be applied in similar situations to the adverbial use; the above example could also be said as Because he was tall, they hired him. Or Being tall, he got the job. (In its most standard structure: They hired him because he was tall.)
I hope these explanations and examples give some insight into how we use being in different ways – a lot of these ideas translate to different verbs in the present participle form.
That was great
Didn’t get the uses clearly
Hi Madhvi, which part is unclear, perhaps I can clarify?
Can I have privilege to ask more about “BEING” in English?
I’m always happy to answer questions, what would you like to know?
“Chief Minister Pinarayi said that the lockdown may have affected the state of mind of many children and they may be more sensitive to parents’ scolding or other domestic issues. While the reasons may seem as trivial as “being” scolded for playing a mobile game or bunking an online class, harsh words of parents may affect them gravely.” – In this sentence I believe “Being” is “VERB (Behavior or Attitude. Correct? If not, please explain me
Hi Shijil,
It’s being used in a passive construction here, “being scolded”, where scolded is the action but “being” frames the process as being done to the object (children) rather than in the active (parents scolding children).
On Friday, several residents from Poonthura had come out on the streets, despite the area being a containment zone. Here “being” is what ” Verb, gerund, participle or noun?
In this example, “being” is used as part of a noun phrase; it’s the -ing form of the verb but would be treated like a noun or noun phrase when following ‘despite’. This is due to the nature of despite, which typically connects a noun or noun phrase, and therefore treats a verb similarly if we’re discussing an action – if it were the verb on its own it would be more plainly a gerund, a noun form of the verb.
E.g. I was late despite running.
Got it, need to review everyday
Pl tell me use of word in passive of present simple with example and rule
I’m not sure I follow – as “being” would not be used in the present simple, but present continuous (in the passive, e.g. “I am being assessed.”)?
“we usually”in line 4 .Should that be “be usually”?
Hi Indrani, actually ‘we’ was correct but it should say ‘refer’; ‘we usually refer’ – thank you for pointing that out!
Thank you Phill! Good article.
Perfect explanation with theory plotted like math formula and practice expressed in examples!
In case of the example “Being tall, they hired him.”, shouldn’t two phrases in the sentence have the same subject? I read this sentence as “Since they were tall, they hired him.” Thank you in advance!
Whoops, yes you are right – that would be dangling participle! I will update that example!
What about ‘the mouse bravely ran across to the hole in the corner, despite the cat being in the same room.’
That would be as part of a noun phrase, “the cat being in the same room” connects the noun with a complement via ‘being’ to express the noun’s state; as with the example above, you could convert it to a state clause “even though the cat was in the same room”.
Ever since coronavirus cases started being reported out of Kasaragod, the district collector Sajith Babu had been insisting in his press meets that people who had returned from Naif have to report to nearby Public Health Centers. = In this sentence why BEING used and what does it mean. ?
Hi Shijil, that use is as part of a passive construction (to be reported) – it is used here to show reports were made without indicating who did them. It’s in the present participle form (being) to show the reports were in process, and that combined passive (being reported) forms a verb complement for ‘to start’. Together, the entire clause gives us a time clause referring to the time when the action of reporting cases first began, without indicating the subject, while also indicating an ongoing process. I hope this helps.
Thank you for the good article though I have one question.
Consider two sentences.
‘Notice the two parts being correlated’ and ‘Notice the two parts are correlated’. Are these two sentences the same?
If they are not the same, what does each sentence mean?
Hi Michael,
These are not the same, no; ‘being correlated’ draws attention to the process, while ‘are correlated’ draws attention to the result. A bit like the difference between: ‘Notice what is happening’ vs ‘Notice what has happened’. I hope this makes sense!
Which is better?
Before being allowed into Nilgiris people will be vetted
Or
People to be vetted before being allowed into Nilgiris.
And why?
Both are possible, they would have slightly different purposes; the first version shows a statement of process, emphasising what will happen, while the second is a more neutral statement to say this is a necessary condition. (Note, the second should probably have an extra word, such as ‘All people are to be vetted…’ to be clearer, and in both cases ‘all people’ might sound more definitive.)
Thank you
You’re welcome!
“Being as you understand the process, please explain yourself.” Is this correct?
Hi Leanne,
Yes that works.
Hi,
I find this in “Advanced Language Practice” book. I copy the right answer as below:
If local folklore is to be believed, he does this without fail at midnight on 6 September every year, this being the date of the untimely death of one George Carpenter, the gardener of the hall, who met his doom in the library, had burned by his own lantern.
I fail to understand what is meant by “this being the date…”. What “being” here functions as? Is there this kind of grammar? Please advise and thank you in advance
Hi Ameli,
This is the noun phrase form from the end of the article; it works like an adverb to establish a condition/state as part of the noun phrase, to say “this being the date of X” to roughly mean “which is the date of X” or “as this was the date of X” (similar to the above example “his being tall” = “as he was tall”).
I hope that clears it up.
Phil
Hi there Phil, thanks for a wonderful explanation. Can you help me please? Can I say my bathroom is being dirty at the moment?
Hi Inna, in general no (it would be possible, but it would mean the bathroom is actively doing the dirtiness!) – this is because being is used as a present participle there, to form the continuous tense, but when dealing with state verbs like be, we tend to use the simple tense to describe current states. There are a few different articles covering the distinction on this site, but I think this is the main one to look at: https://englishlessonsbrighton.co.uk/present-tenses-state-verbs/
Hi Phil, why is being a good option here and what use is it??
It is a virtual playground for nearly 200 million monthly users, with two-thirds of those users being of school-going age.
Hi Marce,
This is the noun phrase use, it’s used as part of the phrase to connect a state/condition (in this case age) with the main subject (“users”). It is a good option here essentially to flow better, instead of creating another clause – the alternative would be something like “with users of whom two-thirds are of school-going age” or “and two-thirds of those users are of school-going age”, both of which are not as smooth to say.
In this case, though, we could actually remove the “being”, as the meaning would be quite easily understood without it.
Phil
I am afraid of being slapped. Is this a passive voice if it is then in active voice it means someone is slapping me and I am afraid of it. Pls reply am i right or wrong
Hi Gurkirat, no this isn’t passive, it is stative “I am afraid …” describing your state, with being slapped being a complement to describe what you are scared of. In the same way you could say “I am hungry”, or with additional information, “I am hungry for pizza.” As you are describing a state (fear) it doesn’t really come into active/passive for the actual action; the passive would be “I was slapped.”