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jack112

#118379 Thu, 14 Jul 05 07:57 PM

1. It was fun watching the girls have some success. (So the subject here is not 'watching' but 'girls' ?)

2. Watching the girls is fun. (How come here it is 'watching' ?)

3. Watching the cars race has lost it's magic. (Is this correct?)

Thanks.

jack112

Joined on Thu, Jul 22 2004

Regular Member (715)

davkett

#118382 Thu, 14 Jul 05 08:18 PM

1. Subject: 'It' (referring to the phrase: 'watching the girls have fun'). Verb: 'was'.

2. An abbreviated, present-tense version of no.1.

3. Yes

Watching was..., watching is..., and watching has...

davkett

Joined on Tue, Jun 7 2005

Pennsylvania, USA

Senior Member (2,788)

"The rose stays fresh in its name..." -Bernard of Morlay

Verbs, Tenses

maverick88

#118383 Thu, 14 Jul 05 08:22 PM

May I try?

3) IMO yes.

2) Watching is the subject. You can ask yourself: "what is fun?" The answer obviously is "whatching the girls..." Smile [:)]

1) I am not sure about this one but it seems to me like "it" is the subject here. Again, if you ask "what was fun?" - it's either "it" or "watching" (or they both) but I tend more to "it" since the predicate refers to it.

maverick88

Joined on Mon, Nov 22 2004

Israel

Regular Member (695)

An English learner

Predicates

yulysess

#118431 Fri, 15 Jul 05 01:05 AM

What about Prop It ; to emphasize the adjective or any words that precede an infinitive, a gerund or a noun clause in a sentence.

It is nice to meet you.

It was nice meeting you.

It is no use trying to argue with him.

It is unusual to see snow in this season.

It is surprising that she is so late.

just an approach not mentioned yet.

yulysess

Joined on Fri, Jun 3 2005

Full Member (167)

Practise what you preach

Clauses, Nouns, Gerunds