Search results for 'tag:Determiners tag:Noun phrases' matching tags 'Determiners' and 'Noun phrases'

Help me with this sentence, please!

vi4ro — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:19:07 GMT

I have posted this question on another forum, but I haven't exactly received a satisfactory answer, so here it is:

"I am all that you have home." (If anyone here is a fan of The Decemberists, then they might recognize this line!)

"I" would be noun phrase one and the subject
"am" would be the predicating verb and stative verb
"all that you have home" would be the subject complement and second noun phrase, where "all" is the quantifying predeterminer, "that" is the demonstrative determiner, "you" is the head-noun, and then... what would "have home" be?

I am so embarrassed! I am not entirely sure whether or not everything I have above is even correct (so please, be sure to let me know if it isn't!)

Re: I need clarification on this

Cool Breeze — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 09:50:01 GMT

Buddhaheart wrote:
1. We really appreciate your giving us your opinion regarding this issue. OK

2. We really appreciate you giving us your opinion regarding this issue. Not OK

What comes after the main verb âappreciateâ is a noun phrase âyour giving â¦â. âGivingâ is a gerund acting as a noun. What precedes a noun must be a determiner and in this case âyourâ. âYouâ is a pronoun and therefore is incorrect.

Hi Buddhaheart

Your is a possessive form of you. By the same logic, I assume, you would also say:

We really appreciate the French's giving us their opinion regarding this issue.

CB

Re: I need clarification on this

Amoras — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 07:00:32 GMT

First and foremost, thanks for the reply. I really appreciate it.

1. We really appreciate your giving us your opinion regarding this issue. OK

2. We really appreciate you giving us your opinion regarding this issue. Not OK

What comes after the main verb âappreciateâ is a noun phrase âyour giving â¦â. âGivingâ is a gerund acting as a noun. What precedes a noun must be a determiner and in this case âyourâ. âYouâ is a pronoun and therefore is incorrect

For (1), i understand what you're trying to explain, but my question is, does it apply to all cases? For example, i suppose the sentence "I dont remember you giving me anything that night" is the correct instead of "I dont remember your giving me anything that night".

For (2), doesnt "you giving us your opinion" imply "the act of a person giving his opinion", therefore, doesnt sentence (2) imply the same meaning as "We really appreciate your act in giving us your opinion regarding this issue" ? Same goes for (3). But i think "We are looking forward to hearing your feedback" or "We are looking forward for you to give us your feedback" should be better sentences.

Sorry if im not getting the point, but it bothers me. Thanks again! =)

Re: I need clarification on this

Buddhaheart — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 02:06:47 GMT

1. We really appreciate your giving us your opinion regarding this issue. OK

2. We really appreciate you giving us your opinion regarding this issue. Not OK

You could turn these sentences into a complex one thus âWe really appreciate the fact that you considered our opinion regarding this issue.â

3. We are looking forward to your giving us your feedback. OK

âToâ here functions as a preposition and NOT as a marker of infinitive. Therefore âyour giving â¦â is noun phrase and the above reasoning also governs.

4. If it wasn't for my healing, he'd still be half dead. OK

Type II Conditional expressing unreal condition. He wasnât half dead because of me.

5. It was my talking that convinced him into believing us.

âConvincedâ means âcaused to believeâ. Consider revising the sentence thus: âIt was my sweet talking that convinced him.â or âI persuaded him to believe in us.â & etc.

6. It was my healing them that made them (to) win *won the fight.

The verb after âmadeâ is an infinitive without the marker âtoâ. A simple infinitive canât be in the past tense. For example, make me (to) cry (*cried); make me go (*went) away & so on

Re: what could come after a preposition?

CalifJim — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:27:38 GMT

The only thing that can come after a preposition to form a prepositional phrase is a noun phrase, usually a noun accompanied by its preceding determiner and perhaps an adjective. A relative clause may be added. The noun itself may be a gerund.

If the element after the candidate for a preposition looks like it's not a noun, then either of these holds:

a. The preposition candidate is not a preposition, but perhaps an adverb or conjunction.
b. The structure after the preposition candidate actually is a noun phrase.

Both of your examples are in the category labeled b.

In your first example bad should be viewed as an adjective used as a noun, 'promoted' to a noun because of the elision of situation or its equivalent, one.

The situation can be seen as a bad situation.
The situation can be seen as a bad one.

In your second example, bad and good are simply abstract uncountable nouns meaning that which is bad and that which is good, respectively.

CJ

Re: In the following sentence ''He'' is subject, ''is'' is a...

CalifJim — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 02:22:28 GMT

Categories or Parts of Speech

he - pronoun
he - noun phrase (NP)*
is - verb
a - article
nice - adjective
person - noun
a nice person - noun phrase (NP)*
is a nice person - verb phrase (VP)*

*These designations come from a system of analysis called 'transformational grammar'.

Functions

he - subject
is - copula
a - determiner
nice - modifier
person - complement
a nice person - complement
is a nice person - predicate

At the highest level of functional analysis, each sentence has simply a subject and a predicate; the predicate is everything in the sentence except the subject.

The same part of speech (category), particularly nouns, can be used with different functions. For example a noun can act as a subject, a subject complement, a direct object, an indirect object, an object complement, the object of a preposition, or a modifier. In grammatical analysis the different kinds of terminology shown above are often mixed. The same component in a sentence may have several different names. Also, the same term may be used both as a category and as a function. The word verb, for example, is often used both to mean a part of speech and as the name of its function in the sentence. There are often many different terms that apply to the same word or group of words. The terms selected depend on the type of analysis which is being done.

CJ

Re: Movements in the area of teaching spoken grammar

milky — Tue, 22 May 2007 23:16:35 GMT

Kooyeen wrote:
Hi,
I don't think grammar in writing is different from grammar in speech at all. You can write the way you speak and speak the way you write. So... what is that QCA really doing? Nothing, I guess. Playing cards instead of working, LOL.

I agree in some part, Kooyeen. I think that spoken language and written language are not sharply divided but exist on continuum.

But, looking at specifics, Geoffrey Leech would say that conversation avoids elaboration or specification of meaning. Does written English do that?

Do these seem like characteristic examples of written English?

This little shop ... it's lovely.
I buy loads of you know records that I like.
itâs just a really good rock and roll night you know what I mean, itâs sort of like you know like you know trash trashy sex drugs and rock and roll and you know what I mean itâs fantastic
That yellow car, is it yours?
Theyâre pretty good, those mince pies
It should fit there cos itâs not that big I donât think
--------
And what's your take on this extract from The Cambridge Grammar of English?

"Full noun phrases

The use of multiple modifiers before a head noun in a noun phrase rarely happens in everyday informal speech. Speakers are alert to the constraints which listeners are under in processing information. In informal conversation there is an overwhelming preference for a very simple structure of determiner (+ one adjective) + noun such as:

Yeah itâs a big house, six bedrooms.

(compare the possible alternative: Itâs a big, six-bedroom house.)

Itâs a large house, lovely, just right.

However, in writing, it is not difficult to find more complex adjectival structures:

Living in a big, dirty, communal house eating rubbish â¦

The cosy, lace-curtained house â¦

Simple noun phrases are not a rule of spoken grammar, but it is a very strong

tendency. Any speaker may use a structurally complex noun phrase in spoken

communication (for example in a public speech or presentation), but in casual

conversation they will probably be heard as rather formal. Similarly, a writer may

wish to create a more informal, interactive and dialogic style and may make such

choices for different expressive purposes."

Re: I was looking forward to meet you.

CalifJim — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 08:55:08 GMT

Good question. It points out some of the awkwardness, not to say fallacies, associated with some of our usual explanations of the grammatical machinery of English!

It is true that it is difficult to find a noun phrase which can easily and smoothly replace meeting you in the example sentence. Some clunky possibilities come to mind.

I was looking forward to our mutual introductions.
I was looking forward to an encounter between us.
I was looking forward to an acquaintanceship with you.

But none of this talk of replacements is exactly to the point. More to the point is that in the expression look forward to, the final word to is a preposition, and prepositions must be followed by a noun or by the -ing form of a verb.

There is absolutely no need to find a synonymous noun that fits as a replacement for an -ing form you wish to use after look forward to. Moreover, there is absolutely no need to find any noun that fits comfortably after look forward to. These sorts of justifications are completely unnecessary. All you need to know is that look forward to is followed by a noun or by the -ing form of a verb. (The noun or -ing form may have to be accompanied by an appropriate determiner, of course.)

CJ

Re: adverb

Feebs11 — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 12:18:40 GMT

OED definition of "all":

â¢ predeterminer & determiner 1 the whole quantity or extent of: all her money. 2 any whatever: he denied all knowledge. 3 the greatest possible: with all speed.

â¢ pronoun everything or everyone.

â¢ adverb 1 completely. 2 indicating an equal score: one-all.

Adjective: noun
a word that describes a noun or pronoun:
'Big', 'boring', 'purple', 'quick' and 'obvious' are all adjectives.

Determiner: noun SPECIALIZED
in grammar, a word which is used before a noun to show which particular example of the noun you are referring to:
In the phrases 'my first boyfriend' and 'that strange woman', the words 'my' and 'that' are determiners.

Predeterminer: noun SPECIALIZED
in grammar, a word which is sometimes used before a determiner to give more information about a noun in a noun phrase:
In the phrases 'all these children' and 'once a day', the words 'all' and 'once' are predeterminers.

Re: How does "the" modify plurals followed by relative clauses?

CalifJim — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 00:08:30 GMT

A. She talked to the students who failed the test.
(Am I referring to some of the students who failed, or all (the?) students who failed?)
All who failed.

B. She talked to students who failed the test.
(Am I referring to all (the?) students who failed, or have I incorrectly omitted "the"?)
to students who failed the test = to some students who failed the test, where some may be all.
some can include all. She may have talked to three students, and only three failed the test (those three) or maybe five or six failed the test. In either case she talked to students who failed the test.

C. "Students who don't study usually fail."
(Am I referring to all (the?) students who don't study, or have I incorrectly omitted "the"?)
all (the) students who don't study.

D. "The students who don't study usually fail."
(Am I referring to all (the?) students who don't study, or some of the students who failed?)
all (the) students who don't study.

C. and D. are equivalent logically. C is a general (universal) statement about all students; D is a specific statement about all the students the speaker has singled out through previous contextual cues.

PS: Although A has "the" and C doesn't, they both sound natural to me. So does "the" modify the whole "students who blah blah" or just "studnets"?
Strictly speaking, the does not modify anything; it never does. But it acts as the determiner for the whole noun phrase with its relative clause, not just the head noun.

CJ