BEING + ADJECTIVE

Why do we say “Mary is BEING rude” instead of “Mary IS rude”?

Is it some kind of mistake?

Of course, it’s not. Let’s find out, why we can use BE in a continuous form.

TO BE + BEING + adjective

We use BEING + adjective to talk about people’s actions and behaviour.

  • Tom is being rude.

  • Helen is being silly.
  • Mark was being unfriendly.

Usually, when you use this structure, you mean that the person normally doesn’t behave like that.

  • Tom is very friendly but today he’s being rude.
  • Helen is a smart person, but she’s being silly around this guy.

    MIND IT!

    1. Don’t use this structure to talk about feelings: “I’m sad” (not I’m being sad).

        2. We are not talking about such sentences now:

        I don’t like being sad (feeling).

        She hates being at home (place).

        In these cases, we use VERB+BEING+ADJECTIVE because after some verbs we need an ING-form.

            Have a look at these examples from animation movies.

                Are you being sarcastic?

                Now you're just being ridiculous!

                Why are you being so creepy?

                QUIZ

                Choose the correct option.

                Results

                #1. Jack _________ upset when he found out Mary had got married.

                #2. Jerry _________ nice to every one today… What’s going on?

                #3. I love hanging out with you but you _________ annoying lately.

                #4. I _________ happy to hear you are moving to Australia.

                #5. Kelly _________ mean to you cause she’s going through a hard time now.

                #6. I _________ French but I live in Spain.

                #7. It surprised me that Nick _________ so cruel yesterday…

                Finish