Meaning of “be of” in the given context

The name of the pictureThe name of the pictureThe name of the pictureClash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP





.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;







up vote
3
down vote

favorite
1













Thursday’s tragedy should serve as a grim warning to the powers that be of potentially darker times ahead if the surcharged rhetoric is left unchecked.




What does be of mean here?










share|improve this question





























    up vote
    3
    down vote

    favorite
    1













    Thursday’s tragedy should serve as a grim warning to the powers that be of potentially darker times ahead if the surcharged rhetoric is left unchecked.




    What does be of mean here?










    share|improve this question

























      up vote
      3
      down vote

      favorite
      1









      up vote
      3
      down vote

      favorite
      1






      1






      Thursday’s tragedy should serve as a grim warning to the powers that be of potentially darker times ahead if the surcharged rhetoric is left unchecked.




      What does be of mean here?










      share|improve this question
















      Thursday’s tragedy should serve as a grim warning to the powers that be of potentially darker times ahead if the surcharged rhetoric is left unchecked.




      What does be of mean here?







      meaning meaning-in-context phrase-meaning






      share|improve this question















      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited 3 hours ago









      Deancue

      1,363722




      1,363722










      asked 4 hours ago









      Kshitij Singh

      1276




      1276




















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes

















          up vote
          3
          down vote













          "The powers that be" is a set phrase, which means:




          important people who have authority over others (Cambridge Dictionary)




          So the correct parsing of the sentence should read "the powers that be" together. The sentence is saying that




          Thursday’s tragedy should serve as a grim warning of potentially darker times ahead to the people in power if the surcharged rhetoric is left unchecked.




          As you can see, the "of" goes not with "be", but with "warning". The complement that follows "of" describes the content of the warning and tells you what is being warned. "The powers that be" is the people in power/positions of authority, and is the recipient of the warning, to whom the warning is issued.






          share|improve this answer




















            Your Answer








            StackExchange.ready(function()
            var channelOptions =
            tags: "".split(" "),
            id: "481"
            ;
            initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

            StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
            // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
            if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
            StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
            createEditor();
            );

            else
            createEditor();

            );

            function createEditor()
            StackExchange.prepareEditor(
            heartbeatType: 'answer',
            convertImagesToLinks: false,
            noModals: true,
            showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
            reputationToPostImages: null,
            bindNavPrevention: true,
            postfix: "",
            imageUploader:
            brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
            contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
            allowUrls: true
            ,
            noCode: true, onDemand: true,
            discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
            ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
            );



            );













             

            draft saved


            draft discarded


















            StackExchange.ready(
            function ()
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fell.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f184771%2fmeaning-of-be-of-in-the-given-context%23new-answer', 'question_page');

            );

            Post as a guest






























            1 Answer
            1






            active

            oldest

            votes








            1 Answer
            1






            active

            oldest

            votes









            active

            oldest

            votes






            active

            oldest

            votes








            up vote
            3
            down vote













            "The powers that be" is a set phrase, which means:




            important people who have authority over others (Cambridge Dictionary)




            So the correct parsing of the sentence should read "the powers that be" together. The sentence is saying that




            Thursday’s tragedy should serve as a grim warning of potentially darker times ahead to the people in power if the surcharged rhetoric is left unchecked.




            As you can see, the "of" goes not with "be", but with "warning". The complement that follows "of" describes the content of the warning and tells you what is being warned. "The powers that be" is the people in power/positions of authority, and is the recipient of the warning, to whom the warning is issued.






            share|improve this answer
























              up vote
              3
              down vote













              "The powers that be" is a set phrase, which means:




              important people who have authority over others (Cambridge Dictionary)




              So the correct parsing of the sentence should read "the powers that be" together. The sentence is saying that




              Thursday’s tragedy should serve as a grim warning of potentially darker times ahead to the people in power if the surcharged rhetoric is left unchecked.




              As you can see, the "of" goes not with "be", but with "warning". The complement that follows "of" describes the content of the warning and tells you what is being warned. "The powers that be" is the people in power/positions of authority, and is the recipient of the warning, to whom the warning is issued.






              share|improve this answer






















                up vote
                3
                down vote










                up vote
                3
                down vote









                "The powers that be" is a set phrase, which means:




                important people who have authority over others (Cambridge Dictionary)




                So the correct parsing of the sentence should read "the powers that be" together. The sentence is saying that




                Thursday’s tragedy should serve as a grim warning of potentially darker times ahead to the people in power if the surcharged rhetoric is left unchecked.




                As you can see, the "of" goes not with "be", but with "warning". The complement that follows "of" describes the content of the warning and tells you what is being warned. "The powers that be" is the people in power/positions of authority, and is the recipient of the warning, to whom the warning is issued.






                share|improve this answer












                "The powers that be" is a set phrase, which means:




                important people who have authority over others (Cambridge Dictionary)




                So the correct parsing of the sentence should read "the powers that be" together. The sentence is saying that




                Thursday’s tragedy should serve as a grim warning of potentially darker times ahead to the people in power if the surcharged rhetoric is left unchecked.




                As you can see, the "of" goes not with "be", but with "warning". The complement that follows "of" describes the content of the warning and tells you what is being warned. "The powers that be" is the people in power/positions of authority, and is the recipient of the warning, to whom the warning is issued.







                share|improve this answer












                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer










                answered 4 hours ago









                Deancue

                1,363722




                1,363722



























                     

                    draft saved


                    draft discarded















































                     


                    draft saved


                    draft discarded














                    StackExchange.ready(
                    function ()
                    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fell.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f184771%2fmeaning-of-be-of-in-the-given-context%23new-answer', 'question_page');

                    );

                    Post as a guest













































































                    Popular posts from this blog

                    How to check contact read email or not when send email to Individual?

                    Displaying single band from multi-band raster using QGIS

                    How many registers does an x86_64 CPU actually have?