0

I be traveling around the world.

Does it mean "I am traveling around the world" and "I was traveling around the world"? Does it indicate both of them?

Improve this question
7
  • 1
    It's using nonstandard grammar but since the (incorrect) verb form be is in the present tense, we assume that the correct verb form would also be in the present tense; so in normal grammar it would say "I am traveling around the world".
    – Hellion
    Commented Aug 28, 2015 at 19:39
  • 1
    Please can you tell us where you found the sentence, I be traveling around the world. Did you write it yourself or did you read it somewhere?
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Commented Aug 28, 2015 at 19:44
  • Some U/S slang uses "I be..." and "We be..."
    – Kristina Lopez
    Commented Aug 28, 2015 at 19:47
  • Can it have been a fragment?
    – Victor Bazarov
    Commented Aug 28, 2015 at 20:02
  • 1
    The biggest problem with this sentence is that I can't help reading it in a stereotypical pirate accent, and following it up with 'Yarr!'
    – MrTheWalrus
    Commented Aug 28, 2015 at 20:28

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

It may be an instance of the "habitual be" used in some dialects (including the pirate stereotype @MrTheWalrus mentions).

Otherwise, "be" in a sentence like that can indicate the present tense subjunctive mood ("If I be travelling..."). This would only be the case if the sentence is somehow contrary to fact, conditional, or otherwise in the subjunctive mood. I think this use of the subjunctive is fading from some English dialects although I can't find a reference for this.

It is also possible that it is a simple error.

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    It's almost certainly the habitual. What traditional grammar calls the 'present subjunctive' has virtually vanished from every English dialect and register, except in clauses complementing 'mandative' verbs like *command, require, order, plead'. The mandative subjunctive is mostly a conservative US usage, but it is said to be reviving now in UK English.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Aug 28, 2015 at 22:50
  • Until the OP tells us the origin of the sentence we can't possibly know whether it is dialect or an error or anything else. Maybe the OP made it up.
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Commented Aug 28, 2015 at 22:57

You must log in to answer this question.