By Idioms, Gerunds

1. to steal the showa) Jack Nicholson stole the show in Batman. (question: is it possible to use this idiom as far as idioms are concerned? question2: would it be better to use here the pres. perfect?) I think this is fine, though when talking about movies (especially describing action), we...

Hi Barbara,Thank you very much!May I ask a couple of clarifications about sentences no. 1 and no. 4? Grammar Geek wrote:1. Could you help me tackle this problem? He should …………… promoted out of his mind.He should push any thoughts of him being promoted out of his mind. of HIS being promoted...

The explanation is long and complex - below is a quick , simple and not very well laid out explanation The problem here arises because the infinitive is said (by those who studied Latin at school and those who believe their teachers who were told by those who studied Latin at school) to be "to...

Hi Hancus 1/ Could you give me a link where I can find: a/ any exact American standard definitions about the economy, finance, banking... b/ any exact English standard definitions about the economy, finance, banking... c/ any lessons of grammar. (that means if want to search the use of...

Oh, So many wonderful teachers in this forum! Hi, Aperisic Your explanation in post 263792 is just attractive. It has pointed out the root of my suspicion. I've known this expression for a long time, but I never used it before, because I used to worry about it would be read as a request to...

Admit to is an idiom. Technically it consists of the intransitive verb admit and the preposition to. The idiomatic combination admit to means acknowledge.She admitted to making a mistake means She acknowledged making a mistake. Technically, making is the gerund object of the preposition to,...

It's the ambiguity between transitive and intransitive "drive". I'd agree that the main problem lies in the double role of the gerund. I notice for instance that: a) when I deliberately read the sentence with 'driving' as transitive, I find a pull towards 'driving for 10 miles in the rain...'...

Mr. P., Could you reconsider whether the "for" in "I was worth X-ing for" is a required element of the idiom? I've been reading this thread with interest, and it occurs to me that the "for" is an artifact of the verb choice for X, not part of the idiom itself. The "for" may go with the verb it...

I wanted to know that I was worth . i.e. there are now 3 terms in the equation. To look at it another way: if we look back at the sentence to which the ‘it’ refers, we find that ‘it’ = ‘what I wanted’. The equation then consists of: Term A: ‘I’ Term B: ‘driving 10 miles in the rain/ to get...

Hello again SfB As you've commented, there are two senses of 'difficulty': 1. state of difficult-ness (mostly singular) 2. obstacle, hindrance, impediment (mostly plural) Some phrases seem to belong to #1: a) 'with difficulty' b) 'have' (adjective) 'difficulty' (in) + gerund (e.g. 'have...