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When “be it” is at the beginning of a sentence, what kind of structure do you call it?
The Next CEO of Stack OverflowIs there an American English equivalent of the British idiom “carrying coals to Newcastle”?Is this proper English: “I am student”?British English form of the word playoff“what hair colour have you got?” or “what colour hair have you got?”What is the meaning and structure of this sentence?A question of sentence structureCan you switch verb tenses when beginning a new sentence?so ~ that ~ structure vs. inversion of sentenceWhat is the American equivalent of a “backie”?How often are words used for outerwear in British English considered underwear in American English?
I think it is kind of inversion and I'd found some info on Wikipedia, but I cannot recall what term this structure is, I even remember some examples from Wiki, say, "be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."
Can anybody help me out?
american-english british-english inversion
asked yesterday
AngyangAngyang
746
add a comment |
I think it is kind of inversion and I'd found some info on Wikipedia, but I cannot recall what term this structure is, I even remember some examples from Wiki, say, "be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."
Can anybody help me out?
american-english british-english inversion
asked yesterday
AngyangAngyang
746
Fi Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he live or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to butter my bread.
– B. Goddard
yesterday
add a comment |
I think it is kind of inversion and I'd found some info on Wikipedia, but I cannot recall what term this structure is, I even remember some examples from Wiki, say, "be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."
Can anybody help me out?
american-english british-english inversion
asked yesterday
AngyangAngyang
746
I think it is kind of inversion and I'd found some info on Wikipedia, but I cannot recall what term this structure is, I even remember some examples from Wiki, say, "be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."
Can anybody help me out?
american-english british-english inversion
american-english british-english inversion
asked yesterday
AngyangAngyang
746
asked yesterday
AngyangAngyang
746
edited yesterday
Angyang
asked yesterday
AngyangAngyang
746
asked yesterday
AngyangAngyang
746
asked yesterday
AngyangAngyang
746
746
Fi Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he live or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to butter my bread.
– B. Goddard
yesterday
add a comment |
Fi Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he live or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to butter my bread.
– B. Goddard
yesterday
Fi Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he live or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to butter my bread.
– B. Goddard
yesterday
Fi Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he live or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to butter my bread.
– B. Goddard
yesterday
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
In terms of morphology, the verb is in the subjunctive mood (be rather than indicative is).
In terms of word order, we’re dealing with a case of subject-auxiliary inversion (be before the subject).
In terms of semantics, the structure can express a variety of meanings such as optative, a wish or a hope (be it the best year of your life), in which case the structure carries archaic, formal, often religious connotations. But in your case it encodes arbitrariness or free-choice, ‘no matter which’ (be it new or be it old), or concession, ‘although, even if, even if I grant’ (be it as it may). The two uses are difficult to distinguish.
So your construction could be described quite well as a case of subject-auxiliary inversion with free-choice/concessive, subjunctive be.
answered yesterday
Richard ZRichard Z
1,287314
Thanks for your detailed explaining Richard I learnt a lot; btw I just succeeded in locating it on the Inversion section of the English subjunctive on wikipedia and that's exactly what I wanted to find.
– Angyang
yesterday
@Angyang Please mark this answer as your accepted answer if it answers your question.
– R Mac
yesterday
@Angyang On the other hand, if you mean that either English subjunctive § Inversion or English conditional sentences § Inversion in condition clauses answered your question, can you please post an answer with those details?
– Mathieu K.
yesterday
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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active
oldest
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1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
In terms of morphology, the verb is in the subjunctive mood (be rather than indicative is).
In terms of word order, we’re dealing with a case of subject-auxiliary inversion (be before the subject).
In terms of semantics, the structure can express a variety of meanings such as optative, a wish or a hope (be it the best year of your life), in which case the structure carries archaic, formal, often religious connotations. But in your case it encodes arbitrariness or free-choice, ‘no matter which’ (be it new or be it old), or concession, ‘although, even if, even if I grant’ (be it as it may). The two uses are difficult to distinguish.
So your construction could be described quite well as a case of subject-auxiliary inversion with free-choice/concessive, subjunctive be.
answered yesterday
Richard ZRichard Z
1,287314
Thanks for your detailed explaining Richard I learnt a lot; btw I just succeeded in locating it on the Inversion section of the English subjunctive on wikipedia and that's exactly what I wanted to find.
– Angyang
yesterday
@Angyang Please mark this answer as your accepted answer if it answers your question.
– R Mac
yesterday
@Angyang On the other hand, if you mean that either English subjunctive § Inversion or English conditional sentences § Inversion in condition clauses answered your question, can you please post an answer with those details?
– Mathieu K.
yesterday
add a comment |
In terms of morphology, the verb is in the subjunctive mood (be rather than indicative is).
In terms of word order, we’re dealing with a case of subject-auxiliary inversion (be before the subject).
In terms of semantics, the structure can express a variety of meanings such as optative, a wish or a hope (be it the best year of your life), in which case the structure carries archaic, formal, often religious connotations. But in your case it encodes arbitrariness or free-choice, ‘no matter which’ (be it new or be it old), or concession, ‘although, even if, even if I grant’ (be it as it may). The two uses are difficult to distinguish.
So your construction could be described quite well as a case of subject-auxiliary inversion with free-choice/concessive, subjunctive be.
answered yesterday
Richard ZRichard Z
1,287314
Thanks for your detailed explaining Richard I learnt a lot; btw I just succeeded in locating it on the Inversion section of the English subjunctive on wikipedia and that's exactly what I wanted to find.
– Angyang
yesterday
@Angyang Please mark this answer as your accepted answer if it answers your question.
– R Mac
yesterday
@Angyang On the other hand, if you mean that either English subjunctive § Inversion or English conditional sentences § Inversion in condition clauses answered your question, can you please post an answer with those details?
– Mathieu K.
yesterday
add a comment |
In terms of morphology, the verb is in the subjunctive mood (be rather than indicative is).
In terms of word order, we’re dealing with a case of subject-auxiliary inversion (be before the subject).
In terms of semantics, the structure can express a variety of meanings such as optative, a wish or a hope (be it the best year of your life), in which case the structure carries archaic, formal, often religious connotations. But in your case it encodes arbitrariness or free-choice, ‘no matter which’ (be it new or be it old), or concession, ‘although, even if, even if I grant’ (be it as it may). The two uses are difficult to distinguish.
So your construction could be described quite well as a case of subject-auxiliary inversion with free-choice/concessive, subjunctive be.
answered yesterday
Richard ZRichard Z
1,287314
In terms of morphology, the verb is in the subjunctive mood (be rather than indicative is).
In terms of word order, we’re dealing with a case of subject-auxiliary inversion (be before the subject).
In terms of semantics, the structure can express a variety of meanings such as optative, a wish or a hope (be it the best year of your life), in which case the structure carries archaic, formal, often religious connotations. But in your case it encodes arbitrariness or free-choice, ‘no matter which’ (be it new or be it old), or concession, ‘although, even if, even if I grant’ (be it as it may). The two uses are difficult to distinguish.
So your construction could be described quite well as a case of subject-auxiliary inversion with free-choice/concessive, subjunctive be.
answered yesterday
Richard ZRichard Z
1,287314
answered yesterday
Richard ZRichard Z
1,287314
answered yesterday
Richard ZRichard Z
1,287314
answered yesterday
Richard ZRichard Z
1,287314
1,287314
Thanks for your detailed explaining Richard I learnt a lot; btw I just succeeded in locating it on the Inversion section of the English subjunctive on wikipedia and that's exactly what I wanted to find.
– Angyang
yesterday
@Angyang Please mark this answer as your accepted answer if it answers your question.
– R Mac
yesterday
@Angyang On the other hand, if you mean that either English subjunctive § Inversion or English conditional sentences § Inversion in condition clauses answered your question, can you please post an answer with those details?
– Mathieu K.
yesterday
add a comment |
Thanks for your detailed explaining Richard I learnt a lot; btw I just succeeded in locating it on the Inversion section of the English subjunctive on wikipedia and that's exactly what I wanted to find.
– Angyang
yesterday
@Angyang Please mark this answer as your accepted answer if it answers your question.
– R Mac
yesterday
@Angyang On the other hand, if you mean that either English subjunctive § Inversion or English conditional sentences § Inversion in condition clauses answered your question, can you please post an answer with those details?
– Mathieu K.
yesterday
Thanks for your detailed explaining Richard I learnt a lot; btw I just succeeded in locating it on the Inversion section of the English subjunctive on wikipedia and that's exactly what I wanted to find.
– Angyang
yesterday
Thanks for your detailed explaining Richard I learnt a lot; btw I just succeeded in locating it on the Inversion section of the English subjunctive on wikipedia and that's exactly what I wanted to find.
– Angyang
yesterday
@Angyang Please mark this answer as your accepted answer if it answers your question.
– R Mac
yesterday
@Angyang Please mark this answer as your accepted answer if it answers your question.
– R Mac
yesterday
@Angyang On the other hand, if you mean that either English subjunctive § Inversion or English conditional sentences § Inversion in condition clauses answered your question, can you please post an answer with those details?
– Mathieu K.
yesterday
@Angyang On the other hand, if you mean that either English subjunctive § Inversion or English conditional sentences § Inversion in condition clauses answered your question, can you please post an answer with those details?
– Mathieu K.
yesterday
add a comment |
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Fi Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he live or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to butter my bread.
– B. Goddard
yesterday