Former President Clinton was asked that question.
He said something along the lines of
"That depends on what your defintion of the word IS is"
What is the defintion of IS?
2007-03-08 03:16:35 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
Well, I supposed the only person able to truly answer this question would be President Clinton, for only he knew what definition of "is" he wanted to be used to interpret his actions (I believe this was in reference to the Lewinsky scandal).
Additionally, we'd need to see the sentence that Clinton was thinking of. Why is that? Because the "be" verb is used for many things in English, and without context, any answer that was given to you might or might not be correct.
But here's my stab at answering your question, with examples that are (must be!) in the 3rd person singular, since that is when "is" is used:
"Is" can mean that something is THE SAME as the subject of the sentence, that the object and subject are EQUAL:
*My name is Beth.
*Sharon is the vice-president of our club.
"Is" can show LOCATION:
*The bag is upstairs.
"Is" can show WHEN something will happen in the future ("was" is used for when something happened in the past):
*The party is on Saturday.
*The party was last week, dude. You missed it.
"Is" can show that something EXISTS or HAPPENS:
*Is there a hole in my pants?!
*Sherry is sitting on my cat!
It is also a part of the PRESENT PROGRESSIVE tense which shows that something is HAPPENING RIGHT NOW or is GOING ON during the specified time, among other things:
*It is raining.
*She is running every morning this semester.
*James is going to the doctor on Monday. (Shows a FIXED PLAN)
*That student is always coming to class late! (Shows REPEATED ANNOYING ACTIONS)
Because a form of "be" is part of a passive sentence, you might see "is" in that type of sentence too. It precedes the verb:
*"Sarah is hit by the opponent, she ducks, and is whacked again." said the announcer.
It is a pretty versatile verb, huh?!
2007-03-08 03:40:41 · answer #1 · answered by xgravity23 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Is means the third person singular, present indicative,of the verb be.
2007-03-08 11:22:06 · answer #2 · answered by ruth4526 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's the present tense of the verb "to be".
2007-03-08 11:19:03 · answer #3 · answered by Veruca Salt 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Is is is.
2007-03-08 11:25:01 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋