We write when we need to remember something, be it an idea, a quote or the outcome of a study.
In the second clause, the beginning is be. What is the grammatical rule behind it?
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1"Be" is an active verb - it is the present subjunctive.– GreybeardCommented Jul 24, 2020 at 21:27
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2No, be is not an active verb. In this case it's just the auxiliary verb for the predicate nouns following it. Changing the form of be to the infinitive and inverting it with the subject it to form be it an idea, a quote, or whatever is an archaic idiom that was an old substitute for modern whether it is an idea, a quote, or ..., and used to be a substitute for less modern whether it be an idea, a quote, or ... while English still had a subjunctive mood. Now you only find stuff like this in ancient writings, and in modern writings that want to appear learnèd.– John LawlerCommented Jul 24, 2020 at 21:39
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1 Answer
"Be it" is the present subjunctive third-person singular of the verb "to be."
It is the same in every person, and in both singular and plural:
- I be
- you be
- he/she/it/one be
- we be
- you be
- they be
The present subjunctive is perfectly correctly (but now unusually) used following "if" or "whether," but it is still commonly used where the (pro)noun and verb are inverted and the "if" or "whether" is omitted.
For example, "whether it be" can be written as "be it."
The subjunctive mood is often used with an inverted word-order: for example, "Long live the king!"
In the original post, "be it" carries the meaning of "whether it be" (sometimes nowadays written less emphatically in the indicative mood as "whether it is").
The same applies to the word "should" which forms the future subjunctive:
- I should be
- you should be
- he/she/it/one should be
- we should be
- you should be
- they should be
The same inversion of subject and verb can occur, with "if" or "whether" omitted.
For example, "if he should die" can be written as "should he die."
Finally, the same applies to "were" which forms the imperfect (past) subjunctive. For example, "If I were..." can be written as "Were I..." (although I believe that the inverted word-order is used slightly less commonly in in this tense). As above, it is now quite usual to see the indicative mood used following "if" (i.e. "If I was...") but in this case the word-order cannot be inverted; it would be misinterpreted as a question ("Was I ... ?").
