Search results for 'tag:Nominative tag:Modals' matching tags 'Nominative' and 'Modals'

Re: The infinitive "to be"

CalifJim — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 02:34:32 GMT

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 clause is expressed with an infinitive. He helps us >> him to help us.
The final, correct form of I want (He helps us) is I want him to help us.

When the subject of want is the same as the subject of the complement clause, the subject in the complement clause is deleted:

I want (I am a doctor) >> I want me to be a doctor >> I want me to be a doctor >> I want to be a doctor.

In the same way:

She wants (She is happy) >> She wants her to be happy >> She wants ~~her~~ to be happy. >> She wants to be happy.

In the first of these a doctor is a predicate noun/nominative, as you say. And in the second, happy is a predicate adjective, as you say.
___________

The other pattern is quite different. is/are/was/were to be is a semi-modal construction with an idiomatic meaning. The whole pattern (in brackets below) can be analyzed as a verb phrase.

She [is to be] a doctor.

CJ

Re: How to use i.e. /e.g./ for example /and so on

Jussive — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 17:47:52 GMT

CalifJim wrote:
If a student points to some construction and asks me if it's the subjunctive or not, I can't reply, 'No, it's a monkey!'

Now there you are wrong! You are the teacher and can say any dang thing you want!
In fact a smart retort like that might go a long way toward making your students realize that knowing the correct terminology for this or that word or phrase is not at all the same as gaining competence in the use of English.

It rather depends on whether you want your students to be able to express themselves naturally in the real world, or whether the important thing is for them to pass tests in which they correctly identify word groupings as "noun phrase", "progressive tense", "gerund", "possessive adjective", "pronoun in the nominative case", and other such lingo of no use to them once they walk out the classroom door. It's quite amazing the number of students who know the word "nominative" but draw a blank on "lease a car" or "repair the light fixture". It is as if we were preparing them to live their entire lives in the English classroom.

Of course, if you are making your living in an academic institution where all those things are regarded as marks of competence in English, then you really have to concentrate on the lingo, like it or not, I suppose. If so, my condolences!

CJ

I completely agree with you bar a couple of things, CJ:

These technicalities are good for diagnostic reasons. It doesn't help anyone in the fluid process of speaking English, but if there is something wrong then it's easier if there's a technical understanding of grammar and the termonolgy involved so that the teacher can pinpoint the problem quickly. Also, I think, some particular and detailed aspect of any subject may be unnecessary and seem obsessive to some, however, to others it may play an important role to their overall understanding of that subject. It really does depend on how you've put the pieces together in your own mind as to whether one particular piece holds more or less value for you in your understanding of the subject.

As you indicated, though, the students have to pass exams, and I have been taught and am supposed to teach the language in this way, whether I like it or not. Personally, I'd rather just give the grammar where and when I think it's needed and not base their whole learning experience on it.

One last thing, I appreciate that sometimes and in some sense, termonology is just that, and you may as well call some things 'monkey', however, termonology also categorises important functions, elements and differences. For example, I get the sense that there IS a good reason why grammar books tend not to categorise the non-past and modals used hypothetically as 'the subjunctive'.

...but anyway, that's for:

http://www.englishforums.com/English/CoupleQuestionsAboutSubjunctive-Hypotheticals/bpkbn/Post.htm

Jussive

Re: parts of speech

Mister Micawber — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 14:39:08 GMT

1) My little brother would not turn down the radio volume in the morning.

MY = possessive adjective
LITTLE = DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVE
BROTHER = noun
WOULD = modal auxiliary
NOT = NEGATIVE PARTICLE
TURN = main verb
DOWN = adverb particle
THE = definite article
RADIO = noun (used as an adjective)
VOLUME = noun
IN = preposition
THE = definite article
MORNING = NOUN OBJECT OF PREPOSITION; THE PREP PHRASE IS A TIME ADVERBIAL

1) She came to class very late.

SHE = nominative personal pronoun
CAME = main verb
TO = preposition
CLASS = noun
VERY = adverb of intensity
LATE = adverb of time

parts of speech

Hela — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 12:04:31 GMT

Dear teachers,

Would you please tell me if my analysis is correct ?

1) My little brother would not turn down the radio volume in the morning.

MY = possessive adjective
LITTLE = determinative adjective (quantifier)
BROTHER = noun
WOULD = modal auxiliary
NOT = ??
TURN = main verb
DOWN = preposition or adverb ? (adverb particle ?)
THE = definite article
RADIO = noun (used as an adjective ?)
VOLUME = noun
IN = preposition
THE = definite article
MORNING = adverb of time

1) She came to class very late.

SHE = nominative personal pronoun
CAME = main verb
TO = preposition
CLASS = noun
VERY = adverb of intensity
LATE = adverb of time ?

Thank you very much.
Hela