The role of the verb "to be" in English

The question of existence arose in the first reflections of the ancient philosophers, and the concepts relating to the basic meaning of the verb "to be" "to be", "eternity", "infinity", "emptiness (nothing)" and others act as basic for man. This could not but be reflected in the language - the verb "to be" is recognized as fundamental, broad-valued and performs many functions in the English language. In addition, it is considered one of the most commonly used in the language. Among the three basic verbs of the English language "to be", "to have", "to do" it also occupies a leading position and plays the most important role.

For every nation, the concept of "to be, to exist" is key. This feature could not but be reflected in the language. It is known that in languages belonging to the Indo-European family, the verb "to be" is one of the most frequently used. The French linguist Gustave Guillaume in his theory of psychosematic include the verb "to be" verbs, supporting the idea of the Genesis, existence, and hence to verbs with initial values. Such verbs are the basis for the rest of the verbs of the language, because in order to live, to carry out any kind of activity, it is necessary, first of all, to exist. From the point of view of the scientist, the verb "to be", being official, can be considered as complete in terms of form, and as incomplete in terms of content. In turn, acting as a semantic verb, "to be" is complete in terms of content and incomplete in terms of form [1]. In the English language, we can observe how in different contexts the verb "to be" acts as a semantic verb in one place and as a service verb in another.

Accordingly, the verb "to be" in the English language may have both the completeness of the form and the completeness of the content. The verb "to be" in English plays the most important role. It is actively used in all styles: both literary and colloquial. This is not accidental, because the verb "to be" has seven meanings as a semantic verb, can act as a verb-ligament, as an auxiliary verb and as a modal verb. In addition, thousands of stable combinations, idioms, Proverbs and sayings can serve as a vivid illustration of the wide use of this verb, where we can observe the verb "to be" in its various forms. These traits are proof of the polyfunctionality of the verb "to be". Also this verb is one of the most frequent words of the English language. It is known that earlier English was synthetic. English was in a state of transition from synthetic to analytical language from about 1100 to 1500 (the transition began in old English and ended in early English). Now, the English language can rightly be called analytical [2]. What was previously expressed in inflectional forms of nouns can now be expressed in prepositions, positions in a sentence or phrase. In this regard, the verb "to be" expanded its scope of use. In modern English, this verb is involved in the formation of many analytical lexemes, as it has a high degree of compatibility with prepositions, adverbs and nouns, thereby expanding its meanings. It is this verb that participates in the formation of the verb forms "Continuous" and passive voice, developed in the middle English period (1100-1500 years) and is still sometimes used for perfect forms of verbs of motion ("He is gone") can Not be said about the broadness (eurysemy) of the verb "to be" in English. Under broadly understood "meaning, containing the maximum degree of generalization, manifested in its pure form only in terms of isolation of words from speech and receiving a certain narrowing and specification in the use of the word in speech."

The participation of the verb "to be" in the formation of analytical lexemes and the functioning of the latter in the language allow us to assert the breadth of this verb. The broadness of meaning is also explained by the fundamental nature of the very concept of being, which is one of the most all-encompassing and generalizing concepts in the Universe. The verb "to be" can be called "the basis of the basics" also for the reason that it begins to teach English grammar to those people whose native language is not English. And throughout the training in English as a foreign verb "to be" continues to play the role of the base, as without its knowledge and use it is impossible to apply in speech many absolutely necessary constructions. In modern English there are eight different forms of the verb "to be":

"be" - the infinitive form of the verb, subjunctive and imperative;

"am" - the present tense form of the first-person singular verb;

"are"- the present tense form of the second - person singular and plural, the first and third - person plural;

"is" - the present tense form of the third-person singular verb;

"was" - the past tense form of the first and third-person singular;

"were" - the past tense form of the second-person singular and plural, first and third-person plural, subjunctive;

"being" is a form of present-day continuative participle, a form of gerund;

"been" is a form of perfect participle.

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the Roots of the verb "to be" go back to the old English verb "bēon" ("beom", "bion") with the meaning "to be, to exist, to become, to happen, to be". It is noteworthy that the conjugation forms of the verb "to be" come from different verbs. For example, the forms "am" and "is" have proto-Indo-European roots and correspond to the Latin forms of the verb "esse" "sum" and "est". The forms "was" and "were" come from the Indo-European root with the meaning "to remain" ("remain"). In old English there was a verb "wesan" from this root. Forms of "be" and "been" of Indo-European origin roots date back to the Latin "fui"and "fio" values "I was, I be" ("I was, I become") and the Greek "phuein" meaning "to bear fruit, bring forth, create; to cause the growth"

("bring forth, cause to grow"). It is worth noting that all these proto-Indo-European roots have a certain semantic similarity, since the meanings of these verbs can be derived from one another [3]. The meanings of the old English verb "bēon" "to be, to exist, to become, to happen, to be realized", the verb "wesan" "to remain, to abide" and the Latin roots "fui"and "fio" "I was, I become" very close. Greek "phuein" with the meaning of "to bear fruit, to give birth, to create; cause growth" can be derived from these roots, as "to be, to exist, to become, to remain, to remain" and means "to bear fruit, to give birth, to create; to cause growth."

Interestingly, the origin of another form of the verb "to be" "are" is still unknown. Therefore, it was suggested that in ancient English there could be another verb with a similar meaning, which did not reach us, but was reflected in this form of the verb "to be" - "are". Thus, the forms of the verb "to be" evolved from three different verbs of the old English language: "bēon", "wesan", recorded in the sources, and another, not fixed, but having the ability to be reconstructed. Being formed from different roots and bases, the verb forms "to be" are suppletive and even abnormal in English. The verb "to be" has many functions. It can be not only semantic, but also act as an auxiliary verb, forming some forms in the system of tenses. Often the verb "to be" is used as a conjunction verb. You can also see the verb "to be" at the heart of many phrasal verbs, highlight it as the equivalent of a modal verb. The verb "to be" is actively used in Proverbs and stable combinations of the English language. The English verb "to be" has many uses. There are about seven [4] meanings of the verb, for example:

• 1)    to exist, to live, to be;

• 2)    to be in a certain place; to be present;

• 3)    to come, to leave; to go, to return; to be, to be; to walk, to go;

• 4)    to be inherent, characteristic of something or someone;

• 5)    stay in any condition.

According to R.Courtney dictionary "English phrasal verbs. English-Russian dictionary" in modern English there are about seventy-four phrasal verbs formed from the verb "to be". 5 the most common phrasal verbs formed from the verb "to be": 1. be off, be out, be for, be down, be out of [4]. There are a number of well-established expressions with the word "home". It seems that this suggests that the concept of "be" was associated with the existence of the British home, family and friendly relations. For example: to be at home; to be at home with; to be at home in. A situation in which a person can get daily, understandable and familiar to the person the feelings are also reflected in the expressions with the verb "to be":

• 1)    to be at a loss;

• 2)    to be at one's wit's end;

• 3)    to be at sea;

• 4)    to be down in the mouth;

• 5)    to be in a good/bad mood.

The verb "to be" can also function as a modal verb, in which case it is followed by an infinitive of the semantic verb with a particle "to". The verb "to be" as the equivalent of a modal verb can be used in the following situations: To Express the direction or desire of another person; To Express mutual agreement; To Express what was planned; To Express what should happen in accordance with the situation (often used with "not, never etc".); To Express a condition (if somebody/it were to do something; were somebody/it to do something)

Thus, all of the above confirms that the verb "to be" plays one of the most important roles in the English language. This verb occurs in various grammatical structures, has the ability to be combined with different units of language, thus forming new larger units of language, both at the grammatical and lexical levels.