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I am a learner of English and I have some doubts about 'be'. Please check the sentences and help me to understand it(be).

What are differences between these sentences. I meant to ask why we should use 'be' here.

There are a few restrictions that need to be kept in mind.

VS

There are a few restrictions that need to keep in mind.

Let me also share what I understand by it(be) and when I use it normally, but I am not sure that I have been using it perfectly so I just wanted to make it more clear.

We use be to complete a sentence for a non-living thing as a non-living thing cannot be done itself. It needs someone's help to complete the action.

user62015
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1 Answers1

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Snailplane put you on the right track by inserting the proper tag: "passive-voice" is the key idea.

We have two ideas :
1. There are a few restrictions.
2. We need to keep these restrictions in mind.

To join these two ideas into one sentence we have two solutions:

Using a relative clause:

There are a few restrictions that we need to keep in mind.

"that" is a relative pronoun, object of "keep in mind", it can be omitted:

There are a few restrictions we need to keep in mind.

Using the passive voice:

There are a few restrictions that need to be kept in mind.

"Be" is part of the passive voice (be+past participle of the verb).

Using the passive voice here saves us from expressing the agent ("we") that is obvious and general here.

There are a few restrictions that need to be kept in mind (by us/people).

would be correct but clumsy. If necessity arose to express it than the construction with the relative clause would be preferred.

None
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  • You have not arrived at his second sentence. Notice that there is no we, no be and keep is in the present tense. – mosceo Mar 17 '14 at 04:35
  • @Graduate: as I say in my answer his second is not correct because "need" has no subject. I rectified his second sentence in my answer. – None Mar 17 '14 at 06:42
  • @Laure Thank you so much. Let me ask you one more question about 'be'. Why are we using 'be' here (It could be done)? – user62015 Mar 20 '14 at 05:47
  • @user62015. "It could be done." is a sentence in the passive voice. See what I wrote in my answer "Be" is part of the passive voice (be+past participle of the verb). This page might help you understanding the passive voice. – None Mar 20 '14 at 06:18