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This question arises from a sentence in the editorial which I was reading this morning.

It is understood that Modi will be back in New York on September 28 from San Francisco for a key bilateral meeting.

Should be back be be backed? If not, what is the difference?

choster
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Sahil Yadav
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1 Answers1

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"Back" in the phrase "will be back" is not part of the verb; it's an adverb telling you the manner in which Modi will be in New York, basically he'll be there again.

"Will be backed" is the future passive form of the verb "to back," which can have several meanings, including "to support." Thus

Republican candidates will be backed by billionaires, except for Donald Trump who is a billionaire, at least by his own accounting.

The two locutions are different and not related, either grammatically or semantically.

deadrat
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  • +1, though back isn't an adjective. It can be considered an adverb (more traditionally) or a preposition (more recently, particularly in the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language), but not an adjective. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Aug 06 '15 at 07:00
  • @JanusBahsJacquet Of course "back" isn't an adjective here. Thanks. That should be "adverb," not "adjective," and I've made the correction. I blame the drugs. But "back" has its adjectival uses. It tends to get absorbed, as in words like "backbencher," "backyard," and "backstory." But it survives on its own in "back teeth" or "back number." – deadrat Aug 06 '15 at 07:31