DIE : BE DEAD

Topic 23

DIE : BE DEAD

Compare the sentences in these pairs:

* When I arrived, he was dying.

* When I arrived, he was already dead.

[was / were is second form of BE verb.]

* When he died, in 1946, he was seventy-five years old.

* In 1956 he had been dead for ten years.

[been is third form of BE verb.]

Note the use of the preposition of to show the cause of death.

* Hundreds of people died of cholera in the recent outbreak.

[outbreak: a sudden violent spontaneous occurrence (usually of some undesirable condition)]

* He died of hunger and cold.

Die may be followed by an adjective or noun.

* My grandfather died an admiral (i.e. was an admiral when he died).

* If you will do this for me, I shall die happy (i.e. I shall be happy when I die).

Die is used in the Progressive Tenses meaning ‘have a strong wish’.

* She was dying to know where you had been.

* We are all dying for a chance to go sailing.