Help with these terms "be it","if you ever","listing".
A man invited his girlfriend over to his house,and his girlfriend is a real estate agent.
Man: Here we are, be it ever so humble.
GF: This is some house, if you ever decide to sell, I want the listing.
1."Be it...", the man says "be it ever so humble", I think he is saying:"Although it's very humble, but still my house." I just dont understand why use "be it..."
2."If you ever...": is this "ever" meaningless, just make this sentence more forcefully?
3."listing",his girlfriend says:"I want the listing." Why can't be she just saying "HEY,I WANT TO SELL IT"! What this "listing" means? The house plus all the funiture???
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 2
0
1. Yes you are right that it means 'although', but the reason is because it is a 'subjunctive'(?) form of the verb 'to be'. You know that if you give a command, you say "Be quiet", but if you describe the person, you say "You are quiet". Or do you know the phrase "If I were...", which refers to a hypothetical situation, because usually you say "I was..." or "I am.. " or "I will be..." Or have you heard of when someone gives a blessing, "May you be happy..."? So the "be it" is like a soft way of saying "this is how it is".
2. The "ever" in this sentence is showing that it is sometime in the future, and may never happen. It means he is not thinking about selling the house at the moment. If the sentence was "If you decide to sell", it would definitely sound like he was already thinking about it and was trying to decide one way or the other. It is an important difference.
3. The listing refers to having that property on her list of available properties that she can show clients. It does not refer to any extra items. It is a real estate term that means she would get the right to sell the house, maybe exclusively (no other sales person can sell it) so that she can get the commission.
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