Is 'being' what for?

Question

Given the sentence:He didn’t have a clue what was going on, but he didn’t seem to be being expelled, and some of the feeling started coming back to his legs.I guess that in ‘to be being expelled,’ ‘be’ is for making passive voice and ‘being’ is for the meaning of future, that is, ‘to be expelled’ would be being happened in near future. Is this the right guessing?

Avidlearner · Accepted Answer

Where you found this sentence. this seems incorrect/ i am not sure though. i have not seen this kind of structure. "to be expelled" might be enough here.

Eipjoo · Answer

Avidlearner : This's come from Harry Potter book 1.

Avidlearner · Answer

i will discuss it with natives in the chat rooms.

Eipjoo · Answer

Avidlearner : Thank you...

Enoon · Answer

J. K. Rowling does not make mistakes.

eipjooI guess that in ‘to be being expelled,’ ‘be’ is for making passive voice and ‘being’ is for the meaning of future, that is, ‘to be expelled’ would be being happened in near future. Is this the right guessing?

No. "To be" goes with "seem", and "being" makes it passive. Infinitive clauses have no time frame, so as far as tense goes, "to be being expelled" sits in the literary past with the rest of the passage.

Eipjoo · Answer

I really thank you for your excellent reply.

CalifJim · Answer

eipjoohe didn’t seem to be¹ being² expelled,

1 (Any form of) BE can govern an -ing form to form the continuous aspect.
2 (Any form of) BE can govern a past participle to form the passive voice.

So you have continuous aspect: The action was going on; it was in progress.
And you have passive voice: The action of the verb expel applies (backwards) to "he". (to expel him)

Meaning: It did not seem that (something) was (in the act of) expelling him.

CJ

Eipjoo · Answer

It's very analytic and understandable. Thank you.

Is 'being' what for?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions