Wednesday, August 08, 2007

On the common use of "to be"

Here is another short one. It is along the same lines as the previous post. About how we phrase things some times. The one for today is on the use of the verb "be".

Have you noticed how easy it is to argue with most when they say "That movie _is_ good." I like come back with something like: "No, it _is_ not!" And round, and round you go. Notice how much more difficult it seems to be to argue against "I thought that movie was great!" Do you see the point I'm trying to make?

I hear opinions being phrased as facts every day! You might be thinking: "Come on dude, just do the conversion in your head." And I do. The problem starts when you *might* be talking about facts and not just opinions. How can I unequivocally tell them apart if they are being phrased the same way? Context is not always enough for me.

Do you have some examples that you can think of? Conversation with a boss? An employee? A sermon? A friend? A mate?

You *are* ugly. Today *is* hot. The world *is* round :)

What does it take to be able to use the "be" verb correctly? Expertise in the area you are talking about? Facts and data? Reference points? (As in, today *is* hot, as compared to yesterday)

Anyway.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those who think they know everything greatly annoy those of us who really do :)

Anonymous said...

...speaking of the "matter of fact" talkers...

Anonymous said...

Wow, this must have tripled your average post size.