Search results for 'tag:Clauses tag:Gerunds' matching tags 'Clauses' and 'Gerunds'

Re: Two infinitives

richard_s — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:21:34 GMT

In that case, the quote is probably:

To quit in space is the same as to quit in the corridor. Â

As Clive points out, you need the asÂ in the sentence (always write the same as)Â

The infinitives can be used instead of the gerunds to give it more of a sense of 'if you do it', other than that, as Clive says, in ordinary speech we would usually use the gerund (~ing) form.

As for articles, you are right; they are very difficult to learn. Â The good news is that they are not terribly important for making yourself understood. Â If you miss a few articles, or put them incorrectly, most native speakers can understand what you mean. Â On the other hand, if you omit a subject in a clause or omit the verb, or use the wrong form of the verb, it can be really hard for a native speaker to understand.

A lot of students find the following process useful for understanding articles:

1. Identify the noun

2. decide if the noun is countable or non-count.

3.1 If it is countable, decide if it is singular or plural.

3.1.1 If it is singular, you need to decide if it is general or specific

3.1.1.1 If is is general, use a or an

3.1.1.2 if it is specific, use the

3.1.2 If it is plural, you need to decide if it is general or specific

3.1.2.1 If is isÂ general, don't use an article

3.1.2.2 if it isÂ specific, useÂ the

3.2 If it is non-count, decide if it is general or specific

3.2.1 if it is general, don't use an article

3.2.2 if it is specific, use the

If you follow that process, it will make it easier to decide if an article is needed or not; then you only need to worry about exceptions, idioms, and all of the extra tiny rules.

In your case above, spaceÂ is general and non-count.

Re: please help

richard_s — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:13:58 GMT

Due to is a preposition, so the first clause should be a prepositional phrase (remember that you can't use modals in prepositional phrases, so you will have to change cannotÂ to not be able to. Â The verb in the clause needs to be in gerund form. You need a comma after the prepositional phrase, not a semicolon. Â

There are only 50% good included 500pcsÂ doesn't make sense. Â Probably included should be including, but I am not sure what this sentence means.

Re: That grew?

Clive — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:35:14 GMT

Hi,
This is on page 660 #17 on the SAT OG Book.
One of the brackets is suppose to contain an error.

[Crossing and recrossing] the stream, stepping on or over slippery rocks, and [following] a trail [that grew] steeper and steeper, the hikers soon realized [how challenging] their day would be. [no error]

The correct answer is [no error] but isn't [that grew] wrong? No. "That grew steeper . . .' is a subordinate clause that describes 'trail'.

All the other verbs are in present tense, except this one. Or can the others be gerunds? No, they are not. The first 3 are present participles acting as adjectives to describe 'the hikers'. 'Challenging' describes 'day'.
eg Smiling, he walked into the room.

can you explain a little about gerunds? In simple terms, a gerund is the noun form of a verb, and can be used in the same manner as a noun.
eg I like chocolate.
eg I like walking.
eg I like eating chocolate.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: The Continuous tense

Tanit — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:52:57 GMT

Anonymous
Is it a rule that the auxiliary, the past participle and the main verb are immediately after one another with no other words inbetween?

No, such a rule does not exist.

Anonymous
For example: "Have you ever had the feeling that you're being followed?"
This sentence has both "have" and "had" and two continuous verbs in it ("feeling" and "being"), but is it neither Present Perfect Continuous nor Past Perfect Continuous?

Your sentence is in the present perfect. "Have you ever had ..."
"the feeling" is a gerund, and acts as if it were a noun (it's the direct complement of "have had"). Try and replace it with "idea", "impression" etc (I'm not saying they are perfect synonym for "feeling" -- it's just to demonstrate that you can have a noun there, and to show you that "feeling" is not acting as a verb in your sentence). Another clue to understand its function is that it's preceded by the article "the".
"that you're being followed" this is a "that-clause" which describes what sort of "feeling" we are talking about. "being" here has to be seen together with "are" and "followed": "are being followed" is present continuous, passive.

Re: Auxiliary verbs

Clive — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:41:17 GMT

Hi,

"Some people say that reading books is not good for your eyes"

'Some people say . . . ' is the main clause. Its main verb is 'say'.

'Reading books is not good for your eyes' is a subordinate clause. The main verb in this clause is 'is'. It's not an auxiliary here.

Consider simpler examples of the same thing.

TV is bad for your eyes.

Some people say that TV is bad for your eyes.

You are overlooking the fact that 'reading' in your example is a gerund, which functions like a noun in the sentence.

Best wishes, Clive

Quick Reply

Anonymous

Re: Please help me with infinitive clause

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:52:11 GMT

Grammar is a descriptive process. Linguists look at a language and describe how it works.
However some Linguists describe things differently to others. The end result is usually the same, but the way they organise it, and what all the parts are call varies.
eg some Linguists say pronouns are a type of noun, some treat nouns and pronouns as different parts of speech. But both systems work out the same in the end.
However, having several different grammars is however confusing for all the rest of us!!!

An infinitive clause is the same as an infinitive phrase, however different systems of grammar are being used.
In the first clause contain any type of verb, in the second they contain a finite verb (not infinitive)

Infinitives (clauses or phrases - as you link)
Gerunds (clauses or phrases)
and
participle (clauses or phrases)
are all phrases that contain a verb.
They are clauses in some grammars and not in others.
My personal preference is to regard all phrases with a verb as a clause.
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Gerund phrase Getting the promotion is my only hope.

Infinitive phrase I wanted to leave.

Participle phrase Flying high in the air, the rocket exploded.

1024x768 Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 These phrases or clauses as vary depending on whether they are replacing nouns, adjectives or adverbs.
The Infinitive comes in two froms, the to-infinitive shown above and the bare infinitive.
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bare infinitive. All I did was touch it

Re: Structure of sentence

lisadove — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:21:33 GMT

16: is known as (passive structure; active form: We know Boston as the Hub...)

17. storing, erasing and retrieving (These are parallel and should be in the same form.)

18. Professor Andom Iyassou ("Professor" is a title. If Andom Iyassou is one person, "professor" must be singular.)

19. one mile high (height is a noun; high is an adjective)

20. a symbol (tree is singular and a is singular, so symbol should be singular)

21. as efficient as (the conventional structure for a comparison. "so efficient as" could be used as follows: The software is not so efficient as to make the previous version obsolete.)

22. I suspect you made a mistake in copying this item. I would guess (C) "for a great deal of their content on the majority of their pages."

23. very much alike. (alike is not a noun; only nouns can be preceded by the.)

24. in seconds (we use in with expressions of time: in a few days, in a million years, in about an hour.)

25. Boggs hit a grand slam (making is used in the first part because it's the object of the preposition after, so it must be in noun [gerund?] form. The main clause is "Wade Boggs hit [past tense] a grand slam for the Red Sox.")

I don't have time to do more; perhaps someone else will finish...

Re: Suggest + "not do" - verb pattern

YoungCalifornian — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:33:12 GMT

Tanit
But I'm stuck with a sentence where "to do" is replaced by "not to do":

    a1) I suggest not doing X.                         (I reckon this is fine)
    a2) I suggest not to do X.                          (???)
    b1) I suggest [that] Y shouldn't do X.         (I reckon this is fine)
    b2) I suggest [that] Y [not do | don't] X.      (this sounds terribly bad!)

Your questions stem from the use of the mandative subjunctive, which arises in turn from the use of the verb "to suggest." However, you've complicated things by using the complicated predicate "to do X" in your sentences' subordinate clauses. I'm assuming that "Y" always represents a personal pronoun (or proper noun), but "X" could be either a demonstrative pronoun (or regular noun in certain cases) or a verb depending on your meaning.

a1) This construction is fine if "X" is a demonstrative pronoun, but incorrect if represents a verb.

a2) This construction is incorrect. If "X" is a demonstrative pronoun, the verb "to do" must be changed from the infinitive to the subjunctive and a personal pronoun added so that the sentence reads I suggest Y not do X. This makes the subordinate clause a content clause, which means that the word "that" could be added as you've done in example b2). The sentence will not work at all if "X" is a verb.

b1) While this construction is not grammatically incorrect, it can sound too passive when "suggest" and "should" are in close proximity. Anyway, that's assuming that "X" is once again a demonstrative pronoun. This construction will not work if "X" is a verb.

b2) It may not seem like it, but switching between "not do" or "don't" (i.e. "do not" ) dramatically changes this sentence. They cannot be used interchangably in this context. As I mentioned above, the "not do" construction works fine if "X" is a demonstrative pronoun. However, if "X" is a (subjunctive) verb then "do not" or "don't" (or does not/doesn't for singular third person pronouns) must be used.

I apologize if this sounds complicated, but it's a result of using an auxiliary verb in your example predicates. If you replace "to do X" with a simpler verb it would probably be clearer. Basically, your two options are to follow the verb "to suggest" with either a gerund or the subjunctive. Either way, the word "not" would precede the dependent verb should you choose to make it negative. Looking ahead, I've used the verb "to interview" in an example of each construction.

Gerund: I suggest (not) interviewing...
Subjunctive: I suggest (that) he (not) interview...

Here's the sentence I'm trying to write (it's for a research paper):

1. "Issues of availability, together with constraints on time and scope of the research, suggested not interviewing any member of the scientific committee."
2. "Issues of availability, together with constraints on time and scope of the research, suggested not to interview any member of the scientific committee."
3. "Issues of availability, together with constraints on time and scope of the research, suggested that no member of the scientific committee should be interviewed."

I'd go for no. 1 (no. 3 seems to carry a different meaning ... or am I wrong?), but I am not sure about that. What do you think?
I'm also trying (with little, if any, success) to work out the general pattern.

Both the first and third examples work. The first is the gerund construction, the third is the subjunctive construction. The second is incorrect. However, despite being technically correct, both the first and third examples still sound awkward. Ultimately, I think this is because it sounds strange for "issues" to suggest something directly. Typically they would suggest something to someone. For instance, I think that "Issues of availability... suggest not interviewing any member of the scientific committee to me" or "Issues of availability... suggest to me that no member of the scientific committee should be interviewed" both sound better.

Re: pronoun help

CalifJim — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:26:32 GMT

Welcome to English Forums!

All four are possible. A and B are perhaps more formal.

happening is a gerund.

its/their/it/them happening again is a non-finite clause. It's a complement of the verb avoid. It's not a modifier.

Re: Passive or Past Tense? "+ing"?

Mister Micawber — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 08:58:42 GMT

.
A Singaporean man was sentenced (past passive) to two weeksâ jail and fined S$500 for tampering(intransitive verb)(Question 2 -How come is "ing" is not "tampered"-- It is a gerund) with his vehicleâs fuel gauge.

52âyearâold Mr *** pleaded guilty to two charges on August 5 for not having(verb) the minimum amount of fuel in his vehicle while leaving(verb) Singapore and for giving(verb) false information to the officer inspecting(verb) his car (Question 3- How come these sentences all the verbs is "ing"?-- The first and third are gerunds; the second is a clause expressing the same time frame: 'while [he was] leaving Singapore'. )

In the last two years, three people have been charged (passive have been + past participle) in court for tampering with their car fuel gauges, and all were fined and imprisoned (Question 4 -passive were + past participle // Past tense??-- Present Perfect aspect, Passive voice)

Hi, I have 4 quetions to ask, many thanks for reply :-) I'm very confused about using "ing"