0

I googled about this "be it" thing and I found a little sth about it, I learned it's an old subjunctive inversion, but I can’t understand meaning of the sentence below:

But such an “objective” account is not adequate to resolve the conflict—be it to resolve the conflict by defeating one side.

KillingTime
  • 6,206
Zahra St
  • 1
  • Grammarly has the example _ It is the nurse who will advocate for you, be it to your doctor, family, or even sometimes yourself_ where 'be it to' means 'whether this is to'. But multiple alternative situations are required, which is not the case in OP's example. Are you sure the quote is complete? – Edwin Ashworth Feb 01 '21 at 14:47
  • @EdwinAshworth: It's possible to have "be XXX" with just one situation, though the meaning is changed to "even if XXX"; e.g. searching for "be he ever so brave" turns out plenty of (mostly somewhat archaic) examples. – psmears Feb 01 '21 at 15:00
  • I'd read that (as it contains 'ever so') as 'no matter how brave he is'. Here again, the structure is different. Be he XXX. Be he alive (or be he dead). Be YYY XXX. I'd say OP's example is non-standard. But it would be helpful to see more context. – Edwin Ashworth Feb 01 '21 at 15:20
  • @EdwinAshworth: I'm not sure there's a huge difference between "ZZZ no matter how brave he is" and "ZZZ even if he is ever so brave"; I think the construction can be validly explained either way :) I disagree that there's a structural difference here - "be he" vs "be it" is merely a change of pronoun. – psmears Feb 01 '21 at 15:46
  • 'Even if he is ever so brave' doesn't even belong in a poor fairy tale. // 'Even if he is adjective' vs 'Be it a lemon (or ...)', ie noun. The to-infinitival (unbalanced) is even further away. – Edwin Ashworth Feb 01 '21 at 20:02
  • @EdwinAshworth: Please "@" when replying, (1) I disagree; "Even if he is ever so brave he cannot defeat the dragon" is hardly out of place in a fairy tale (you may not like the style, but that's a matter of taste :). (2) That feels like splitting hairs: either way it's "Be "; if you think the complement being a noun phrase makes a difference there are plenty of examples of "be he the bravest ". – psmears Feb 02 '21 at 11:17
  • @psmears I've found one example in a Google search for "be he the bravest". https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22be+he+the+bravest%22&ei=IT8ZYNmVLvaq1fAPqvGh8A4&start=10&sa=N&ved=2ahUKEwiZqsPck8vuAhV2VRUIHap4CO4Q8tMDegQIDxA1&biw=1320&bih=734 where a noun follows. – Edwin Ashworth Feb 02 '21 at 12:06

0 Answers0