ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: working

Jandi — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 04:33:00 GMT

Thank you!!!
I've got it!
Lovely weather, lovely lunch, and wonderful teacher(s) I have!!!
All the best.

Re: working

CalifJim — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 03:58:07 GMT

I was thinking that under some weird contextualization "working at a construction" might just be possible, but in that case it would not mean the same as "working at a construction site".

"construction" can mean a grammatical construction, for example.
It's possible that if you are struggling to study how relative clauses work in English, for example, you might be said to be "working at a construction". This is certainly far-fetched, of course.

More likely, the meaning of "construction" that could be used is the action of putting something together. "Don't disturb your brother. As part of his homework in math he is working at the construction of a geometric proof." This is also somewhat far-fetched.

In short, I included the parenthetical remark just for completeness - not to say that "at a construction" is wrong (even though its use is severely limited), but rather to say that it cannot be used to mean "at a construction site".

Hope that clarifies things.

Re: working

Jandi — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 03:25:53 GMT

Hi, Jim.

Would you tell me why you bracketed "(if you mean 'construction site')," please?
Do you mean; both below are correct, but they have different meanings?
1. He is working at the construction site of the building.
2. He is working at the construction of the building.

Thank you very much.
Peace!

Re: working

CalifJim — Mon, 06 Dec 2004 20:05:49 GMT

You can work at a construction site, but you can't work at a construction (if you mean 'construction site').

Re: working

Mister Micawber — Mon, 06 Dec 2004 07:42:26 GMT

1-1. 'Two years ago I first met Jane, working at a hospital.' Jane was probably working, but this is not a clear structure no matter how you rearrange it. Say: '... when she was working at a hospital.'

1-2. 'Working at a hospital two years ago, I met Jane.' No idea who was working, really-- don't dally with this dangerous structure-- use 'when I was working'.

2-1. 'I happened to know Mark, working at the construction (site) of the building.' No idea again who is working there: 'when he was'.

2-2. 'Working at the construction (site) of the building. I happened to know Mark.' Still awful. Now we need 'When I worked'.

'To work at the construction (site)' is fine.

working

Jandi — Mon, 06 Dec 2004 06:03:45 GMT

Hello, teachers!

Would you please tell me if these are acceptable?

1-1. Two years ago I first met Jane, working at a hospital. [Jane was working, right?]
1-2. Working at a hospital two years ago, I met Jane. [I was working, right?]

2-1. I happened to know Mark, working at the construction (site) of the building.
2-2. Working at the construction (site) of the building. I happened to know Mark.
- Is the expression correct: to work at the construction (site)?

Thank you very much.
Peace!