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Cleft sentences consists of a be-verb, right?

However, can the be-verb be be-verb forms other than "is" or "was"?

Are both examples correct?

Example 1

What he did could have been make fun of others.

I mean here, "Maybe he made fun of others."

Example 2

What he did should have been finish the work quickly.

I mean here, "he was supposed to finish the work quickly."

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    What he did should have been to finish the work quickly.
    – Lambie
    Commented Mar 14 at 14:48
  • I don't find Lambie's sentence idiomatic. To my mind, the idiomatic version is "What he should have done was finish the work quickly". "What he did should have been to..." strikes my ear as very odd.
    – TimR
    Commented Mar 15 at 15:36

1 Answer 1

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You're right that the 'be' can be in any form. The forms of to be are be, am, is, are, was, were, being, and been

However, your examples using 'should have been' or 'could have been' aren't correct for other logical reasons. Maybe the tenses are confusing matters, but it sounds like you're saying "this is what someone did" but then saying it is something they could have or should have done, both of which mean they didn't do it.

Your examples should be:

What he did could have been making fun of others. (if you mean you don't know his motives)
or
What he did could be seen as making fun of others (if you mean that is how what he did might be perceived).

What he should have done is finish the work quickly.

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