By Modals, Direct objects

Hi,I'm really enjoying this. You're making me think. I'm going to take your points out of sequence. I think I'm still replying to your post; if I misrepresent what you're saying, please correct me. First, the summary of what I'm going to say: A lot depends on theory, and...

The list isn't meant to be exhaustive or carefully arranged. Any additions, corrections or further examples would be welcomed. 1 main verbs; lexical verbs (all verbs which are not auxiliaries or modals) 2 action verbs; event verbs; dynamic verbs (a verb which can be used in...

Your questions reveal the limitations of the traditional technical vocabulary for discussing grammatical structures! You can think of infinitives as a direct objects of the verb want. On the other hand, want takes a clause as its complement. I want (He helps us). But the complement...

I have a sentence that I am trying to label parts of speech, but having some difficulty.The sentence is: I am allowed to ride the roller coaster I know that 'am allowed to' is a substitute for the modal verb 'may' as in: I may ride the roller coaster In the second example, I have 'I' as the...

Hi Inchoateknowledge, A finite clause is a clause that has either present/past tense or a modal verb. What he did has a past tense which means it is a finite clause. An object complement, or object predicative, is a clause element that occurs after the direct object and characterises the...

Suppose we have the following sentence "I think that a direct object would be the best choise in this case". Can i transfer it into the past with "would" remaining its modal meaning, not the past of "will". I mean, if i write " I thought that direct object would be the best choise in this...

Hello K.O. That looks good - here's a little more detail: Clause 1 We - subject were spared - passive voice, past tense the storm's fury - noun phrase, object (the storm's - possessive; fury - direct object) Clause 2 but - coordinating conjunction now - adverb are having - modal verb,...

Just to supplement Anon's comment: Yes, 'be' is the bare infinitive of 'be'. 'Bothered' is the past participle of 'bother'. As Anon says, this is a passive form of the verb, with the modal verb 'can'; so there's no need to think of it as direct object + object complement. MrP

Hello, Nobody replied to my previous post, but I hope someone will for this one 1) The representative told the press a lie out of fear of retribution. Parts of speech: The = definite article Representative = noun Told = ditransitive verb Press = noun A = indefinite article Lie = noun Out...