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Debpriya De Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Be it a
"He is always watching birds, be it a sparrow ,a pigeon, or a duck."
What kind of conditional sentence is this, where we use a subjunctive form of "be" ?
Shouldn't the proper sentence be "He is always watching birds, (regardless of) whether it is a sparrow ,a pigeon, or a duck." ?
What kind of conditional sentence is this, where we use a subjunctive form of "be" ?
Shouldn't the proper sentence be "He is always watching birds, (regardless of) whether it is a sparrow ,a pigeon, or a duck." ?
Top answer
" ? It is not a conditional sentence. There is no if-clause here.
- " ?
- It is not a conditional sentence.
- There is no if-clause here.
- ,be it a sparrow ,a pigeon, or a duck" means that he doesn't watch a special kind of bird; he watches birds in general; any bird can be the object of his observation.
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3 Answers
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Debpriya De"He is always watching birds, be it a sparrow ,a pigeon, or a duck."What kind of conditional sentence is this, where we use a subjunctive form of "be" ?Shouldn't the proper sentence be "He is always watching birds, (regardless of) whether it is a sparrow ,a pigeon, or a duck." ?It is not a conditional sentence. There is no if-clause here. The
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Would anyone be able to explain me why there is he's always watching... and not he always watches ?
Don't we normally use the present simple in such cases? I keep coming across examples with the present continuous a lot though
Don't we normally use the present simple in such cases? I keep coming across examples with the present continuous a lot though
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"Would anyone be able to explain me why there is he's always watching... and not he always watches ?"
The "he's always watching" emphasises a frequently repeated action. Such expressions (present continuous with always ) are often use by the speaker who is annoyed or somehow irritated by somebody's repeated actions.
The "he's always watching" emphasises a frequently repeated action. Such expressions (present continuous with always ) are often use by the speaker who is annoyed or somehow irritated by somebody's repeated actions.
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