I know, I have problem with some words. And, they are not few. Here, I want to share them with you. Hope, it may help me and you too!
1. Shopping: Is a noun. But, It is really a tricky word to use in the right way. I did many mistakes with it. But, now I know, I have to say, I am going shopping within 10 minutes. I did shopping yesterday. I like shopping very much! I am going to do some shopping. And, I am going to shop some fruits.
2. Too : There is a difference between too and so. I did this mistake recently. And, Smith ( our blog Mood) helped me to find it out. Okay, Too means excessive. So, we can't say, ''This site is too helpful''. Here, we should say, ''This site is so helpful''. But, of course, We can say,'' I am too tired to walk more.''
3. Cloth: There is a different between cloth and clothes. Cloth is material ( a piece of cloth). We use cloth to make our clothes (dresses). But, usually we do not wear cloth.
4. Fast/ Fasting: Both are noun. A fast of three days. I am fasting today. I fasted yesterday( here verb). The fasting began last Friday( noun). We fast for 30 days (verb).
5. Being: I am really in trouble with this being. It seems I have to do more home work to learn it. I think, it is okay if I say, Being a working mother is really tough to handle everything. But, I am/was being has different meaning. It means, occasionally. Example, I was being unable to help you. We can say in this way when we do an action once in a while not often. Am I right? But we can't use am being/ was being when we do an action very often. Like, we can not say, I am always being unable to help my kid''. Because it just can't be in reality. A mother can't be unable to help her kid always. But, yes, we can say,'' I am being unhappy to hear this piece of news''. It seems, I am not unhappy always but I am unhappy just for that particular news.
P.S. please help me out and share your tricky words!
Comments
It's really nice blogs. I really lot of learn. Thanks for share....
Thanks a lot, Smith! Really your this sort of information helps me (not only me, it is us) a lot. Sounds like I should have a look at 'stative verbs'. Thanks again.
@Afro
Good question! There are many words that are not usually used in the progressive or continuous tense. These words are called 'stative verbs', such as 'be', 'love', 'believe' etc. So, you can say 'He is stupid', not 'He is being stupid'.
But, you can say 'I'm being watched' - this structure is called 'passive'.
And, you can say 'Being a member of MyEC is such an honour' - 'Being a memer of MyEC' is the subject of the sentence.
Hope it helps!
But why I can not say'' I am being''? As we can say'' He is being stupid?''
Thanks a lot!
'Being' is the present particle of 'be' (am, is, are). 'I'm being unable to' or 'I'm being unhappy to' is incorrect because the verb 'be' isn't used in the continous tense. You can say 'I'm unable to' or 'I'm unhappy to', though.
Let's fix this sentence 'Being a working mother it is tough to handle everything.' - in this sentence, 'Being a working mother' should be the subject, and 'it' is redundant (in fact, this is a common error). So, you can say 'Being a working mother is tough' or 'It's tough for a working mother to handle everything'.
Hope you get it!
Another use for too, it can mean also and as well example the sentence "I have been there too and I have been there as well have the same meaning.
Using " I am" with "being" sounds a bit odd when you say I am being unhappy, you can just simply say I am unhappy to hear the news or I am unable to help. I guess it depends on the context.