Search results for 'tag:Nominative' matching tag 'Nominative'

Re: Relative clause versus predicate nominative

CalifJim — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:06:55 GMT

The dealership that sold more cars eded up losing more money. =adjective clause

My trouble was that they had never been there before=predicate nominative (noun phrase)

Question: What type of pronoun is that in the second sentence? It's not a pronoun because it doesn't take the place of a noun. It's called a complementizer.
Question: Will a relative pronoun in an adjective clause always immediately follow the noun and modify that noun?No, but it usually does. Here are some exceptions.

The book the cover of which is green can be found next to the table under which the cat is lying.

The first which refers back to the book. The second which refers back to the table.

Question: Will the that in the predicate nominative (second sentence) always immediately follow a verb and modify the subject? If it's a predicate nominative, yes, it has to follow a form of some linking verb, usually the verb to be. Not always immediately, however:

My trouble was [most likely / almost certainly / undoubtedly] that they had never been there before.

Relative clause versus predicate nominative

Eddie88 — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:46:01 GMT

Hi,

1)

Question: A relative clause and adjective clause are the same thing, correct?

2)

The dealership that sold more cars eded up losing more money. =adjective clause

My trouble was that they had never been there before=predicate nominative (noun phrase)

Question: What type of pronoun is that in the second sentence?

Question: Will a relative pronoun in an adjective clause always immediately follow the noun and modify that noun?

Question: Will the that in the predicate nominative (second sentence) always immediately follow a verb and modify the subject?

Thanks.

Re: Help please! Subordinate or main clause

Eddie88 — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:45:48 GMT

Hi, I have just two sall questions from your detailed analysis. The questions are based on your analysis, which I have copied below.

Anaylsis of Ind. Clause #2:

Subject: what I can tell you

Verb: (Linking verb) is

Subject complement: (predicate nominative) that it was one day before my birthday

The subject in this case has a subject and a verb, why is it not a clause? The word What, what is it as this is preventing the group of words being a subject. It cannot be a noun phrase as there is a verb present. What is this group of words called, other than being the subject?

Secondly, can the subject complement also be a noun clause or can't one have a linking verb joining a a noun (which seems to be the whole of the subject???) to a noun clause?
Can one only have a linking verb joining two nouns...

Thanks.

Re: Help please! Subordinate or main clause

Eddie88 — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:44:35 GMT

Hi, I have just two sall questions from your detailed analysis. The questions are based on your analysis, which I have copied below.

Anaylsis of Ind. Clause #2:

Subject: what I can tell you

Verb: (Linking verb) is

Re: Nominative and objective case

AlpheccaStars — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:13:25 GMT

We certainly don't want you to flunk!

First, you have to know what a noun is and what a pronoun is.

A noun is a person, place or thing, like a house, a dog, a pen, a computer, or the Internet.

A pronoun is a word that substitutes for a noun. "I" substitutes for AlpheccaStars. "You" substitutes for "Anonymous" Other pronouns are: he, she, it, they, someone, anybody....

Now when we use a noun in a sentence, it has a place. And the place we put it determines its case.

Nominative case is also called subject case (before the verb or after certain verbs where the subject noun is the same person or thing as the noun after the verb. I am AlpheccaStars. He is superman.).

Possessive case is when one noun owns another noun - The man's name. (Man's is possessive case. )

Objective case is everything else - it can be direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition.

The dog bit the man. (dog is nominative case, man is objective case)

He bit the man.

The dog bit him. You see that He is nominative case, and we use a different word (him) to mean that "he" is in objective case. The change in the word happens for pronouns, not for nouns, as you see below. In ENglish, the word order in a sentence is very important.

The man bit the dog.

Re: Nominative and objective case

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:59:48 GMT

I am a 11 year old that might flunk english because of nominative and objective case what is the difference between the two.

Re: Help please! Subordinate or main clause

CalifJim — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:50:10 GMT

Anaylsis of the large structure:

Independent clause #1 : I can not tell you that, mate,

Conjunction joining two independent clauses: but

Independent clause #2: what I can tell you is that it was one day before my birthday

____________________

Anaylsis of Ind. Clause #2:

Subject: what I can tell you

Verb: (Linking verb) is

Subject complement: (predicate nominative) that it was one day before my birthday

_________

Analysis of the subject of Clause #2

The subject of Clause #2 is a noun phrase formed by the fused relative pronoun what and a relative clause, call it Clause #2A.

[Note: The fused relative what is the understood fusion of that and which, where that is a demonstrative pronoun and which is a relative pronoun. that is thus the understood subject of Clause #2 and which is the understood direct object of the understood relative Clause #2A which I can tell you. what thus simultaneously serves both as the subject of Clause #2 and the direct object of Clause #2A.]

Understood demonstrative component of what: : (Subject of #2): that

Subject of Clause #2A: I

Verb of Clause #2A: can tell

Indirect Object of Clause #2A: you

Direct Object of Clause #2A: understood relative pronoun component of fused relative what : which

_________

Analysis of the subject complement of Clause #2.

The subject complement of Clause #2 is a noun phrase formed by a complementizer and a clause, call it Clause #2B.

Complementizer: that

Subject of Clause #2B: it

Verb of Clause #2B: (linking verb) was

Subject complement of Clause #2B: one day before my birthday

____

Analysis of the subject complement of Clause #2B.

The subject complement of #2B is a noun phrase.

Determiner: a numeral: one

Head noun: day

Modifier: a prepositional phrase: before my birthday

___

Analysis of the preceding prepositional phrase:

Preposition: before

Object of the preposition: a noun phrase: my birthday

Analysis of the preceding noun phrase:

Head noun: birthday

Determiner: possessive adjective my

Re: "about", "at the thought of" or nothing?

Thomas Tompion — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:30:47 GMT

A few points might be worth considering:

1. Most native English speakers have no idea whether they are using appositive nominative phrases, or adverbial clauses of time.
2. If there were no rules, no conventions about how words fit together, there would be no language. And no point in this forum.
3. Most native English speakers distinguish between plurals and singulars, between past and present, even between subjunctive and indicative forms. Common errors of uneducated speech in certain parts of the country, like double-negatives (I didn't see nobody for I didn't see anybody), or of regular verb forms (He has went for he has gone) are an irritation to many.

I think you need to decide how best you learn a language: some learn best from talking, others from books. As a learner you need to find out if you learn best from the ear or the eye, but never think that the conventions (rules) can go out of the window, because they are essential to the accurate communication of ideas, which is what we are concerned with here.

I think the question raised in this thread is about distinguishing between plural and singular; that's a pretty basic distinction.

Re: Absolute Nominative Participle Construction

Thomas Tompion — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:35:09 GMT

I think the point is that an 'absolute' construction modifies the whole sentence, whereas a participle construction modifies the subject. Thus:

Dinner being ready, we all went downstairs - Absolute construction (we didn't necessarily prepare the dinner)

Having prepared dinner, we all went downstairs - Participle construction (we prepared the dinner)

A common problem is to forget that the participle construction modifies the subject, as in
Not having read the book myself, it was difficult for me to comment.
Many people make this mistake - I found the sentence in a well-known English grammar book.

It didn't read the book, and could not have read the book myself.

One way out of the error is to say Not having read the book myself, I found it difficult to comment.

Re: Absolute Nominative Participle Construction

CalifJim — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:23:38 GMT

Clive
Do you often hear people talking like this?

I don't. Once in a great while maybe. But I do see it fairly often in literature -- Dickens, Hardy, or Melville, perhaps. Sometimes they even leave out the participle!

The dinner ready, everyone sat down to eat.

The chairman at the podium, a hush descended upon the assembly.

The tiger finally in its cage again, we breathed a sigh of relief.

PS. I think the terminology comes from Latin grammar. The 'ablative absolute' in Latin is usually translated into English by a participial construction of some kind.