Be vs. Become — What's the Difference?

State of existence

Transformation

Identity

Change in condition

Condition

Entering a state

Location

Change in quality

Time

Career or role change

Exist

To grow or come to be

Occur; take place

To be appropriate or suitable to

Having the state, quality, identity, nature, role, etc., specified

To show to advantage; look good with

Say

(copulative) begin to be; turn into.

Used with a present participle to form continuous tenses

(copulative) To come about; happen; come into being; arise.

Used with a past participle to form the passive voice

(transitive) To be proper for; to beseem.

Used to indicate something that is due or destined to happen

(transitive) Of an adornment, piece of clothing etc.: to look attractive on (someone).

Used with the past participle of intransitive verbs to form perfect tenses

To arrive, come (to a place).

To exist in actuality; have life or reality

To pass from one state to another; to enter into some state or condition, by a change from another state, or by assuming or receiving new properties or qualities, additional matter, or a new character.

To occupy a specified position

To come; to get.

To remain in a certain state or situation undisturbed, untouched, or unmolested

To suit or be suitable to; to be congruous with; to befit; to accord with, in character or circumstances; to be worthy of, or proper for; to cause to appear well; - said of persons and things.

To take place; occur

Enter or assume a certain state or condition;

To go or come

Undergo a change or development;

To equal in identity

Come into existence;

To have a specified significance

Enhance the appearance of;

To belong to a specified class or group

To have or show a specified quality or characteristic

To seem to consist or be made of

To belong; befall

Used with the past participle of a transitive verb to form the passive voice

Used with the present participle of a verb to express a continuing action

Used with the infinitive of a verb to express intention, obligation, or future action

Used with the past participle of certain intransitive verbs to form a perfect tense

To exist; to have real existence, to be alive.

To exist.

(intransitive) To occupy a place.

(intransitive) To occur, to take place.

Elliptical form of "be here", "go to and return from" or similar, also extending to certain other senses of "go".

(copulative) Used to indicate that the subject and object are the same.

Used to indicate that the values on either side of an equation are the same.

(copulative) Used to indicate that the subject is an instance of the predicate nominal.

(copulative) Used to indicate that the subject plays the role of the predicate nominal.

(copulative) Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by an adjective.

(copulative) Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase.

(auxiliary) Used to form the passive voice.

(auxiliary) Used to form the continuous aspect.

Used to form the perfect aspect with certain intransitive verbs; this was more common in archaic use, especially with verbs indicating motion. "He is finished", and "He is gone" are common, but "He is come" is archaic.

Used to express future action as well as what is due to, intended to, or should happen.

(copulative) Used to link a subject to a measurement.

Used to state the age of a subject in years.

Used to indicate the time of day.

Used to indicate passage of time since the occurrence of an event.

Used to link two noun clauses, the first of which is a day of the week, recurring date, month, or other specific time (on which the event of the main clause took place), and the second of which is a period of time indicating how long ago that day was.

Used to indicate weather, air quality, or the like.

To exist or behave in a certain way.

To tend to do, often do; marks the habitual aspect.

. Also found in compounds, especially oaths, e.g. begorra.

To exist actually, or in the world of fact; to have existence.

To exist in a certain manner or relation, - whether as a reality or as a product of thought; to exist as the subject of a certain predicate, that is, as having a certain attribute, or as belonging to a certain sort, or as identical with what is specified, - a word or words for the predicate being annexed; as, to be happy; to be here; to be large, or strong; to be an animal; to be a hero; to be a nonentity; three and two are five; annihilation is the cessation of existence; that is the man.

To take place; to happen; as, the meeting was on Thursday.

To signify; to represent or symbolize; to answer to.

A light strong brittle gray toxic bivalent metallic element

Have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun);

Be identical to; be someone or something;

Occupy a certain position or area; be somewhere;

Have an existence, be extant;

Happen, occur, take place;

Be identical or equivalent to;

Form or compose;

Work in a specific place, with a specific subject, or in a specific function;

Represent, as of a character on stage;

Spend or use time;

Have life, be alive;

To remain unmolested, undisturbed, or uninterrupted -- used only in infinitive form;

Be priced at;

"Be" often functions as a linking verb, connecting the subject to its complement, which can be an adjective, noun, or prepositional phrase.

"Become" requires a complement that indicates the new state or condition that the subject is changing into.

No, they cannot be used interchangeably as "be" indicates a static state, while "become" implies a change or transformation.

"Be" expresses the state of existence, identity, or condition of a subject, indicating what something is or is like.

"Become" is used to denote a transition or change from one state to another, emphasizing the process of change.

"Become" implies that the subject was in a different state before the change, highlighting a contrast between the past and the current or future state.

Yes, "become" can indicate both positive and negative changes, depending on the context and the complement used.

Understanding and correctly using "be" and "become" are crucial for fluency, as they enable clear expression of states, identities, and changes.

No, "be" has various forms (am, is, are, was, were) to indicate different tenses and numbers (singular or plural).

Typically, "become" requires specification of the new state or condition; however, it can be used without explicit mention when the context is clear or the change is understood from previous information.