What Does “Be Of” Mean?

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What Does “Be Of” Mean?

https://grammarhow.com/be-of-meaning-usage/

“Be of” comes before a noun to refer to something that might be applicable to a context or situation. On its own, the phrase means nothing. When a noun is used after it, such as “interest” or “help,” it becomes an idiomatic expression‎ related to that noun and its meaning.

be of meaning usage

Each noun that follows “be of” creates a new idiom. Unfortunately, there’s no specific meaning associated with “be of,” so you will have to learn each individual noun before you can understand how “Be of” might work within given contexts.

We’ll include some of the most popular ones to help you understand more about it.

Be Of Interest

The noun “interest” allows you to talk about something that might be interesting to someone. If the context is relevant and interesting to someone, you might use this phrase to indicate that.

I think this might be of interest to you. How about you take a look.

Be Of Help

“Be of help” refers to assistance. You might be able to help someone, or you might have something that will be useful to allow someone to complete a task. If something can help, then “help” is the correct noun after the preposition.

I think this tool might be of help to your current situation.

Be Of Assistance

“Be of assistance” is identical to “be of help.” However, it’s slightly more common in business English, and you’ll often hear customer service representatives use this phrase when they are looking to help a customer.

How can I be of assistance today, sir?

Be Of Use (=useful)

“Be of use” refers to relevance and usefulness. We can use this when we want to see whether someone might benefit from using something that we can offer them.

Will any of these be of use? I think we can work out some way to make this all work out.

Be Of Importance (=important)

“Be of importance” allows you to show that something is relevant or important to someone. You might refer to a person or an object being “important,” depending on what someone is looking for within the context.

I have a few things here that are going to be of importance when you go forward with this project.

Be Of Value (=valusble)

“Be of value” relates to something’s effectiveness in a situation. If it adds value or helps you with something, you might be able to use this noun to show that you are benefitting from it.

Well, I think this is going to be of value to me. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Be Of Age

“Be of age” works when you are referring to something that requires a specific age before it can be done. You might refer to someone in the future tense, telling them that they will have to “be of age” before they can do something (i.e. they are too young right now).

I’m afraid you’ll have to be of age before you can join your friends in this one.

How To Use “Be Of” In A Sentence

I’m not going to be of much use, but I’ll give it my best shot. What do you want me to do?

This will be of little relevance to the situation. But I thought it might be useful for you right now.

How can this be of help to us right now? Do we really look like we need this?

It won’t be of any interest in a few more hours. Just wait for him to tire himself out with it, and then we won’t have to worry about it.

It’s going to be of major importance at some point in the future. I think it’s worth looking into.

You may also include an emphasizing adjective before the noun to further improve the meaning. Phrases like “little importance” or “any relevance” are a good way of helping you to change the meaning of “be of” in small ways.