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USING THE VERB 'TO BE'
When is it acceptable to use the verb 'to be' as the only verb?
Many non-native writers tend to overuse the the verb 'to be' as the only verb in sentences,
whereas academic English prefers 'action verbs' instead.
However, there are two major cases when the verb 'to be' would be appropriate: in (1)
definitions and (2) when labelling terms with new meanings in your text. (see also relational verbs)
1. DEFINITIONS:
Definitions are statements that describe the essential nature of something in terms of its class and properties.
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TERM
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'TO BE'
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CLASS
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DETAILS
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Linux
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is
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an operating system
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(which was) originally created by Linus Torvalds with the assistance of developers around the world.
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A multiple-bit encoder
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is
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a technique
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(that is used) for embedding an ordered sequence of bits.
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2. LABELLING
Labelling places a term into a new category suggested by the writer, or identifies the term as a member of a class
to which it belongs in the context of this particular text.
- It is possible to find ‘labels’ coming after the ‘terms’, when the ‘terms’ have been introduced as ‘topics’ in earlier sentences:
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TERM
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'TO BE'
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LABEL
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DETAILS
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Speed
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is
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a major factor
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in accessing audio recordings.
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Transportation
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is
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the largest source of greenhouse-gas emissions
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in Canada.
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Notice how the actual definitions below for these two terms differ from the labelling function used above.
While definitions attempt to provide an independent, real-world description of the term, labels show how the term is related to the other concepts described in the text.
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TERM
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'TO BE'
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CLASS
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DETAILS
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Speed
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is
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a measure of the rate of movement
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expressed as the distance travelled divided by the time taken.
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Transportation
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is
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a means |
(that is used) for the moving of goods or people from one place to another in vehicles
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- The more likely position for labels is the topic position at the start of a sentence, when the label is used as a ‘text organiser’, similar in function to sentence connectors, such as ‘First,… Second,… Finally,…’ or ‘Therefore,… ‘.
Labels at the start of sentences help readers to anticipate and interpret the rest of the sentence.
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LABEL
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'TO BE'
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DETAILS
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A limitation of these models
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is
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that they largely ignore the visual context.
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Another option
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is
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to attach data to the image in the form of a file header.
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Click the button below to see which verbs can be used to replace the verb "to be".
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