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tisogai



Joined: 09 Feb 2006
Posts: 196

PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 5:50 pm    Post subject: Be it ever... Reply with quote

Please help.

Be it ever so humble, home is home.
It means "No matter how humble", but how come??

Can verb and subject order mean no matter how?

Would you give me some other examples?

Thanks.
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CP



Joined: 12 Jun 2006
Posts: 2875
Location: California

PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The saying is, "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."

Meaning: No matter how humble one's home may be, there is no other place like it.

The construction beginning with the bare infinitive is old fashioned, but it pops up in old sayings like the one above, or in:

Try as he might, he could not open the pickle jar. (No matter how hard he tried, . . . .)
Be the mother ever so bad, she wish her daughter to be good. (No matter how bad the mother might be, . . . .)
Wish and hope though you may, nothing will happen until you try. (No matter how much you may wish and hope, . . . .)
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