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

Re: participle as a subject

Cool Breeze — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:38:04 GMT

CalifJim
Your question opens up a good many sticky points in the terminology. Do we (Can we) talk about certain structures by naming them without regard to their function in context? Or not? Probably not. Is love a noun or a verb? Only context will tell.

Hmm... this seems to be another case of varying terminology. I have no objection to calling a participle an adjective, I'm just not used to that. Nor am I used to many other grammatical terms used here, like "a noun phrase". Don't get me wrong! I certainly don't mean there's anything wrong with it or that it is worse or better than the terms I am used to. I just had never heard it before I hit these forums. I can guess at the meaning of such expressions, of course.

The terminology must sometimes be confusing to learners whose native languages are so different from English that they don't even have verbs, let alone participles or gerunds! I can't start using terms I am not familiar with and thus I use the terms I learned to use in school ages ago. Hopefully I'll still be of use and assistance to some learners, at least to those who come from European countries. I'm sure I sometimes just confuse native speakers of English.

That tradition is centuries old in Europe. It is probably based on early grammarians' work and analysis of Latin. For example, "my" and its equivalents in all the grammar books that I have read and that deal with Finnish, Swedish, German, English and Latin grammar is invariably called a pronoun. In America, I think it's a called a possessive adjective? Perhaps in Britain too. Of course it isn't used instead of a noun and thus the name is misleading, but grammarians just call it a possessive pronoun anyway. It is a matter of what has been more or less consciously agreed upon. I have seen the term "dependent possessive pronoun" used to refer to "my", and the term "independent possessive pronoun" has been applied to words like "mine" because they don't need a noun after them. Therefore they are "independent". If I began to use such terms here, I'm sure I would confuse people even more!

Yes, context will tell, and I think it is plain to see in all cases. In Finnish, there are no such problems - if that is a problem at all. A noun cannot be mistaken for a verb. Nouns and verbs are always different words.

Cheers, CB

Re: Grammar- is using versus is by using

26TMNTJG2PG — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:58:07 GMT

I have recently found 'by using public transport' in the following sentence is closely connected with the prepositional phrase in LEO. Therefore, it should be a prepositional phrase that followed 'One way of lowering fuel consumption is'.

One way of lowering fuel consumption is by using public transport. - Your above assertion can only be correct if (the preposition) by is necessary. Let us see the functions of a preposition stated below to determine this.

The best time to practice water conservation is before a water shortage. (prepositional phrase = noun functioning as a complement - Besides it also tells us about the time.)

As for the noun phrase 'using public transport', it can also function as a gerund phrase according to the example below shown by LEO - gerund phrase is just a general name. One way of lowering fuel consumption is using public transport.

One of Serena Williams' biggest disappointments after her semifinal defeat was losing her spot for tennis singles in the Olympics. (gerund phrase = complement - Besides it also tells us about the disappointments.)

A preposition shows in what relation one thing stands to another, i.e. what one thing has to do with another in respect of Place, Situation, Circumstance and Time.

Unlike the following sentence which indicates a situation or circumstance, the preposition by is necessary:-

We learn more by not taking answers at face value.

Regards.

Re: Grammar- is using versus is by using

bhikkhu1991 — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:07:06 GMT

Hello,

I have recently found 'by using public transport' in the following sentence is closely connected with the prepositional phrase in LEO. Therefore, it should be a prepositional phrase that followed 'One way of lowering fuel consumption is'.

One way of lowering fuel consumption is by using public transport.

The best time to practice water conservation is before a water shortage. (prepositional phrase = noun functioning as a complement)
LEO-prepositional phrase= preposition + object of the preposition + modifiers.

As for the noun phrase 'using public transport', it can also function as a gerund phrase according to the example below shown by LEO.

One way of lowering fuel consumption is using public transport.

One of Serena Williams' biggest disappointments after her semifinal defeat was losing her spot for tennis singles in the Olympics. (gerund phrase = complement)
LEO- gerund phrase = gerund + modifiers, objects, or complements.

I am only a learner of English, I hope the experts or grammarians can correct this reply.

Thank you.

With best wishes.

Re: gerund

Huevos — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:01:12 GMT

Cool Breeze
Having read is indeed a gerund in the sentence, a perfect gerund to be exact. There are lots of threads on the subject of the gerund.

Could you please explain how that is so? I saw "Mr. Doe having read the book many times" as a noun phrase of the second clause and "having read" as the verb phrase of the previous quote. How is it operating as a gerund?

to-infinitive/reserve

bhikkhu1991 — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 08:36:31 GMT

Answer A. He rang to reserve a table for four.

Answer B. He rang making a reservation for a table for four.

Hello,

I have found out the two sentences are correct.

1.Why Answer A is preferable to Answer B in a test question?

2.Is Answer B informal ? Please explain the reason.

3. Is "making a reservation for a table for four" a gerund noun phrase?

Thank you.

With best wishes.

Re: 1)I sat on the terrace, drinking coffee.

Belly — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 07:39:50 GMT

Hoa Thai wrote:
Belly wrote:

Ok I understood that drinking implies a continuous activity, but it may violate with the parallelsim, may not it?

Not really! This sentence contains the vilolation: "He sat at the terrace and was drinking coffee." One clause uses the simple past tense and the other uses the past progressive tense. In your previous sentence, 'drinking' is a gerund (a noun form of a verb). 'Drinking coffee' is noun phrase acts as an adjectival component.

Belly wrote:

According to my grammar book, could isn't used in context like this. Could is used when we generally referring to the past.

I don't know what you mean. Please quote your book.

Belly wrote:

I'm with you in the last question, Hoa Thai, I don't know why my teacher corrected so. Notwithstanding, you can see my original work at http://www.englishforums.com/English/CorrectEssay/zwlkz/Post.htm. It's my orginal work befored it was modified by my teacher.

Could you show what I shared with you to your teacher and ask for his opinion?

My take:

1. 'go to (vocational) school' represents a task students do.
2. 'go to a (vocational) school' represents an undefinitive selection.
3. I am troubled by 'go to (vocational) schools' and would like to hear others' opinions.

Take care,
Hoa Thai
EDIT NOTE: I will look at your other post and share with you my opinion later.
EDIT NOTE #2: I saw 'school' instead of 'schools' in your other post!

I haven't seen that we can use past and past continuous in like that. I sat there drinking coffee. What is an adjectival component? I sat there drinking coffee, which occurs first? which later?

Yes, the original was school, but my teacher corrected it into schools

Re: 1)I sat on the terrace, drinking coffee.

Hoa Thai — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 06:51:07 GMT

Belly wrote:
Ok I understood that drinking implies a continuous activity, but it may violate with the parallelsim, may not it?

Not really! This sentence contains the vilolation: "He sat at the terrace and was drinking coffee." One clause uses the simple past tense and the other uses the past progressive tense. In your previous sentence, 'drinking' is a gerund (a noun form of a verb). 'Drinking coffee' is noun phrase acts as an adjectival component.

Belly wrote:
According to my grammar book, could isn't used in context like this. Could is used when we generally referring to the past.

I don't know what you mean. Please quote your book.

Belly wrote:

I'm with you in the last question, Hoa Thai, I don't know why my teacher corrected so. Notwithstanding, you can see my original work at http://www.englishforums.com/English/CorrectEssay/zwlkz/Post.htm. It's my orginal work befored it was modified by my teacher.

Could you show what I shared with you to your teacher and ask for his opinion?

My take:

1. 'go to (vocational) school' represents a task students do.
2. 'go to a (vocational) school' represents an undefinitive selection.
3. I am troubled by 'go to (vocational) schools' and would like to hear others' opinions.

Take care,
Hoa Thai
EDIT NOTE: I will look at your other post and share with you my opinion later.
EDIT NOTE #2: I saw 'school' instead of 'schools' in your other post!

Re: spend [time or money] on/in doing sth

Hoa Thai — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 10:02:03 GMT

Anonymous wrote:
Hi, TEO,

What is NP? I googled it for grammar and thousands of refrences come up. They all assume, as you do, that we know what it is!

Thanks for your reply.

Hi Anon,

NP = noun phrase. What Teo answers to his own question is that spend time on + noun phrase is an acceptable construct, as long as the noun phrase does not start with a gerund.

People also use spend time on +personal pronoun to mean help / do a favor.

Best,
Hoa Thai

Re: CPE sentence transformation

Hoa Thai — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 01:16:36 GMT

Hi,

1. Attentively, he looks at each picture in the huge photo album to search for a familiar face that he can vaguely remember.
2. Attentively, he looks at each picture in the huge photo album searching for a familiar face that he can vaguely remember.

You wrote, âI wouldn't disagree with your suggestion that the second example here is better than the first. To me, 'searching' suggests a single activity that continues while perhaps hundreds of photos are looked at. On the other hand, 'to search' suggests a series of discrete activities that start/stop as each photo is looked at. The 'searching' activity with a long and single duration is obviously more intense.â That is also an instruction that we received from our teacher. Stretch was his keyword.

Now, regarding the two sentences you asked me to give some thought:

He ran as fast as he could, to try to win a gold medal.
He ran as fast as he could, trying to win a gold medal.

First, I think the comma weakens the entire sentence too drastically. We should remove the comma. Even without the comma, I still think the first one is better because the emotion is not strong in the main clause. Rule #1, âTo unleash the power of verb chose infinitive over gerund and noun phrases,â should be applied to add weight to the entire sentence.

However, letâs use âto try to winâ and âtrying to winâ in the two following sentences:

With the loving fatherâs image in his heart, John relentlessly pushes his body to the limit to try to win a gold medal.
With the loving fatherâs image in his heart, John relentlessly pushes his body to the limit trying to win a gold medal.

What do you think? To me, the second sentence is better using rule #2, âsoften the verb by using gerund to stretch a longing / yearning emotion.â In fact, the first one does not even flow well; somehow, its rhythm changes too sharply and abruptly when âto try to winâ arrives.

That said, I think you are right to suggest that we should use the word guideline instead of rule - a guideline with a merit though.

Thank you very much for spending your time discussing this with me. For me, it has been a good educational exercise and a great pleasure!

Hoa Thai

Re: CPE sentence transformation

Clive — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 15:49:16 GMT

Hi,

1. To unleash the power of verb chose infinitive over gerund and noun phrases.
2. Soften the verb by using gerund to stretch longing emotion.

Are those two rules valid?

For the first rule:
a. Its instruments are used for routing, testing, and evaluating the audio lines.
b. Its instruments are used to route, test, and evaluate the audio lines.Yes, this is more direct, more dynamic.

For the second rule:
a. She has spent hours to wait for her husband to come home. In this example, 'to wait' is so unidiomatic that I'd say it is wrong. Perhaps you can find a better example. However, it seems a bit odd to me to make a general rule about a very specific type of context, ie one that expresses 'longing emotion'. How often do we need or want to do that? I wonder if you fully realize how the term 'longing emotion' sounds in English. It sounds like something one feels very rarely.

b. She has spent hours waiting for her husband to come home. This sounds fine.

In both cases, b is the better choice.

The second rule seems to violate the first rule. I don't see why. The rules say that the infinitive gives power, and the gerund softens, With emotion, do we not want to soften, to reduce the sense of action?

However, we don't want the act of waiting to overpower the act of spending hours waiting. The longing emotion is in spending time waiting, not in waiting by itself. Therefore, we demote to wait to waiting. You're certainly trying to deal with subtleties here. As I said above, it might be better if you could find a more suitable example to discuss.

Best wishes, Clive