Do be do be do be do.

Continually, teaching language brings me back to theatre.

Let’s learn the verb “to be.” “Be” is what we call a “stative” verb. Stative verbs are the opposite of action verbs, and that means they describe things that “are,” rather than things we do. As an English student, you need to know the stative verbs because you can’t use them in the progressive form (the one we use to say what is happening right now) the way you can for action verbs. For example, you can say “I am running” but you can’t say “I am having a car” because “to have” is a state. You can’t choose it (you can choose to try to get, but you can’t choose to have.) You have it or you don’t.

Sometimes we use “be” in the –ing form. Like “stop being stupid, Yoon.” But it’s understood from the form that Yoon is choosing to be stupid. If she simply were stupid, we wouldn’t ask her to stop.

Some actors use be in the –ing form, “I am being a king,” “I am being angry,” but in theatre we understand that that’s not ideal. So we instruct actors not to “be” but to “do.” We understand that the nature of “be” is that it isn’t chosen, so we ask “what are you doing?” A beat is about completing an action, not “being” a thing or feeling.
All of this grammar and theatre nerdery matters for the only reason that anything matters- these approaches point to truth. When I accuse Yoon of being stupid, I am accusing her of not being true to her nature and capacity. When an actor is “being happy,” she is not delivering a truthful performance. And truthfully, in life we cannot choose to be, only to do.