You use be with an infinitive to indicate that something is planned to happen, that it will definitely happen, or that it must happen. The talks are to begin tomorrow It was to be Johnson's first meeting with the board in nearly a month You are to answer to Brian, to take your orders from him. be about to: see about
You use be with a present participle to form the continuous tenses of verbs. This is happening in every school throughout the country She didn't always think carefully about what she was doing be going to: see going
You use be with a past participle to form the passive voice. Forensic experts were called in Her husband was killed in a car crash The cost of electricity from coal-fired stations is expected to fall Similar action is being taken by the US government
be WEAK STRONG am WEAK STRONG are WEAK STRONG is being was WEAK STRONG were WEAK STRONG been WEAK STRONG AUXILIARY VERB USES ; In spoken English, forms of be are often shortened, for example `I am' is shortened to `I'm' and `was not' is shortened to `wasn't'
You can say that something is to be seen, heard, or found in a particular place to mean that people can see it, hear it, or find it in that place. Little traffic was to be seen on the streets They are to be found all over the world
You use was and were with an infinitive to talk about something that happened later than the time you are discussing, and was not planned or certain at that time. Then he received a phone call that was to change his life A few hours later he was to prove it
You use be with an infinitive to say or ask what should happen or be done in a particular situation, how it should happen, or who should do it. What am I to do without him? Who is to say which of them had more power?