What is wrong with this sentence?

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Anonymous

#446260 Mon, 26 Nov 07 02:47 AM

I had to argue with a non-native (though well educated) English speaker as to why this sentence was just wrong.

The sentence is:

"The mountains having surrounded and protected Andong (a city name), many ancient arts and customs have been preserved here, including the Hahoe masks."

The sentence was based off these grammar structure samples:

"The weather being fine, we decided to start for our picnic." "Generally speaking, it is not easy to learn a foreign language."

Help please?

Thank you.

Anonymous

Grammar

Grammar Geek

#446266 Mon, 26 Nov 07 03:37 AM

Why do you think it's wrong?

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,287)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Anonymous

#446267 Mon, 26 Nov 07 03:37 AM

I forgot to mention the context.

The sentence was a reply to the question:
Why has Andong become a cultural center?

The sentence's preceding sentence (part of the total response to the question) was:

Andong's location has played a part. "The mountains . . . "

Anonymous

#446268 Mon, 26 Nov 07 03:40 AM

Well do you think that this sentence should be used as the sample sentence for that grammar structure in a national textbook?

It sounds very unnatural to me. But grammatically it looks fine.

Anonymous

Grammar, Sample

Yankee

#446422 Mon, 26 Nov 07 01:37 PM

The sentence sounds unnatural to me, too. It sounds as if it is saying that first there was the city of Andong, then the mountains decided to surround and protect Andong, and these activities resulted in arts and customs in Andong being preserved.

To me, this might be better wording:
"With the surrounding mountains protecting/having protected Andong, many ancient arts and customs have been preserved here, including the Hahoe masks."

What's your take, GG?

Yankee

Joined on Sat, Apr 15 2006

Connecticut, USA

Senior Member (4,102)

Amy "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain

Grammar Geek

#446426 Mon, 26 Nov 07 01:51 PM

I can see your point, but I didn't picture the mountains nestling around the city deliberately. You could also change it to (without changing the structure of the sentence much) "The mountains that surround Andong having protected it for centuries,..."

I'm not a fan of the "Having X'd, " beginning, but I don't argue its correctness. I would prefer "Because of the protection provided by the mountains that surround Andong,..."

It actually read okay to me - just a bit long.

Grammar Geek

Yankee

#446431 Mon, 26 Nov 07 02:01 PM

Thanks, Barb. I didn't see any blatant grammar problem either. I guess the way "surrounding" was used sounded too active to me.

Yankee

Grammar

Grammar Geek

#446437 Mon, 26 Nov 07 02:15 PM

Like the woods of Birnam?

Grammar Geek

Cool Breeze

#446447 Mon, 26 Nov 07 02:33 PM

Anonymous wrote:
"The mountains having surrounded and protected Andong (a city name), many ancient arts and customs have been preserved here, including the Hahoe masks."