Re: Is "is" a verb?
From: DE781 (de781_at_aol.com)
Date: 06/15/04
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Date: 15 Jun 2004 15:45:43 -0700
"Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message news:<40CF33AE.3C0C@worldnet.att.net>...
> DE781 wrote:
> >
> > "Dylan Nicholson" <wizofaus@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<2j6qmtFub0n6U1@uni-berlin.de>...
> > > "DE781" <de781@aol.com> wrote in message
> > > news:c98b1ba0.0406141453.2e330253@posting.google.com...
> > >
> > > > I am indeed a native speaker of English. I challenge ANYONE to tell
> > > > me that "I'm being well" is not a correct English sentence!
> > >
> > > Plenty of things in English are arguably 'correct' - in that you wouldn't be
> > > able to find printed anywhere a specific rule stating that the sentence is
> > > grammatically wrong. But 'correctness' is only half of what matters when
> > > speaking/writing a language. "I'm being well" is not idiomatic as part of
> > > Standard English in any major English-speaking country.
> >
> > Who ever said it was? *I* sure as hell didn't. But "I'm GOING well"
> > is not exactly something you'd expect to hear every day either.
> > CONTEXT is EVERYTHING. Like I said, if you were putting on a play and
> > someone was acting as a lawyer, the "lawyer" could ask if he was
> > "being" a lawyer well. To which the askee could respond "you're being
> > it well". Of course, "you're DOING (it) well" or "you're acting (it)
> > well" are probably more LIKELY answers. But, why the hell mightn't
> > someone say, "you're being it well" or "you're being good at it"?
> > Just because something isn't heard EVERY day, that doesn't make it
> > incorrect. The Hindu said "I'm being well" is NOT an acceptable
> > English sentence. I've just proved him wrong, as I've proved many
> > wrong throughout the history of my time at the AUE. I'm being it VERY
> > well, as matter of fact, if I do say so myself.
>
> Do you not notice the difference between
>
> You're being it well (which, in that context, is not impossible)
>
> and
>
> You're being well
>
> ?
>
> The second string of words isn't grammatical or idiomatic or "correct."
If you can be IT well, you can be well. If you can dance a specific
dance, say the salsa, well, then you can "dance it well" OR you can
"dance well". If you're being the best you can be, then you're being
well. Whether you're being successful well, being ignorant well,
being pompous well (like Riggs), being bitchy well (like Marinelli),
it doesn't matter. You're being well.
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