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.