RemainorNottoRemain:ExploringtheMultipleWaystoUseRemaininEnglish

TheBasicMeaningofRemain

RemainisaverbthatiscommonlyusedinEnglishtoexpressastateorconditionofstayinginthesameplaceorconditionwithoutchanging.Itcouldrefertothingsorpeople,anditisusedinvariouswaystoconveydifferentmeanings.

Themostcommonusageofremainisrelatedtotime.Forexample,ifyouhaveameetingat10a.m.anditisnow9:30a.m.,youcouldsay\"Ihave30minutesremainingbeforemymeeting\".Thisusagegoeshand-in-handwiththeword\"time\":\"IhavetwominutesoftimeremainingbeforeIhavetoleave\".Anotherwayremainisusedinrelationtotimeiswhenreferringtoapastevent:\"Thedamagestillremainsafterthehurricanehitthetown.\"

Anotherwaytouseremainistorefertothingsthatareleftafterthemainparthasbeentakenawayorusedup.Forexample,ifyouhaveeatensomechocolateandthereisonlyasmallpieceleft,youcouldsay\"thereremainsonlyasmallpieceofchocolate\".Ifyouareateacherandhave30studentsintheclassbutonly25arepresent,youcouldsay\"Fivestudentsremainabsenttoday\".

TheUseofRemainasaTransitiveVerb

Oneinterestingwaytouseremainisasatransitiveverb.Thismeansthattheverbneedsadirectobjecttoreceiveitsaction.Whenusedinthisway,remainhasanactivesense,asopposedtothemorecommonpassivesenseasalinkingverb.Forinstance,youcouldsay\"Iwillremainfriendswithmyex-boyfriend\"(activemeaning).Thisalsoimpliesthatwithouteffort,thispersonwillremainfriendswiththeirex.Youcouldalsosay,\"Iwillremaincommittedtothisrelationship\",wheretheverbremainshowsaperson'scommitmenttotherelationship.

Anotherexamplewouldbetouseremainasatransitiveverbtorefertothecontinuationorpersistenceofsomething.\"Thetraditionremainsstronginthiscommunity,\"forexample,indicatesthatthetraditionisstillcontinuingorisstrong.Similarly,youcanuseremaininthiswaywhendiscussingthingslikepowerandinfluence,suchas\"heremainsinfluentialinthedecision-makingprocessofthecompany.\"

PhrasalVerbswithRemain

Finally,thereareseveralphrasalverbsthatincluderemain.Phrasalverbsareverbformsthatconsistofamainverbandoneormoreprepositionsorparticles.Phrasalverbscanoftenbeconfusing,buttheyaddvarietytothelanguageandhavepracticalusesindailyspeech.

Onephrasalverbwithremainis\"remainbehind\",whichmeanstostayinthesameplacewhenothershaveleft.Forexample,\"Tomremainedbehindafterthepartytohelpwiththeclean-up.\"Anotherphrasalverbis\"remainon\",whichmeanstostayinvolvedorinterestedinsomething.Forexample,\"Despitehisbusyschedule,heremainsontheboardofdirectors.\"

Finally,thephrasalverb\"remaintobeseen\"meansthatsomethingcannotbepredictedorknown,andthattimewilltellhowitwillturnout.Forexample,\"Itremainstobeseenhowthenewpolicywillaffectthecompany.\"

Conclusion

RemainisawordwithavarietyofdifferentmeaningsandusesintheEnglishlanguage.Itcanbealinkingverb,anactiveverb,orusedasaphrasalverb,dependingonthecontextandsituation.KnowingthevarioususagesofremainwillhelpyouhaveabettergraspofEnglishandallowyoutocommunicatemoreeffectivelyindailyinteractions.