Search results for 'tag:Nouns tag:Constructions' matching tags 'Nouns' and 'Constructions'

Next year's and my/our next year's

Anonymous — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:14:15 GMT

Hi,

Can we put the words like 'our' or 'my' (are they possessive pronouns?) before this type of phrasal construction?

Please come to my/our next year's wedding anniversary party.
I am looking forward to seeing you at my next year's annual get-together.

Re: How to find out the parallel of a phrase in Parallel structures ?

Avangi — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:00:27 GMT

"combined with" just means "plus," or "in addition to." The expression serves as a conjunction, and doesn't really modify anything. The two things which are combined are described in some detail, and the descriptions, in a sense, go along with them. If you really want to trim them down to single nouns, "emphasis" is one and "perspective" is the other.

If you truly had a compount subject here (emphasis and perspective) you'd have to use a plural verb "makes." So I guess you'd have to say "emphasis" is the subject of the sentence and "perspective" is an appositive to that subject.

The Lotus, together with the Porsche, makes the race very exciting. Compared with:
The Lotus and the Porsche make the race very exciting.

I suppose you can say that an appositive is parallel to the thing it's in aposition to. I know they're supposed to be grammatically parallel.

I think it's probably not an appositive. The appositive would have to be equal to, not in addition to the other thing. The Lotus, an incredible machine, makes the race very exciting.

In your example, "perspective" is in addition to "emphasis." Even so, these would be the two parallel parts of your construction.

does this sentence means "the emphasis and a perspective make this study a social science" or " the importance of data and perspective makes this study a social science"?

Emphasis and perspective! The prepositional phrase "on the importance of data" is simply a modifier of "emphasis."

I'm sorry. I'm at a loss to explain the relationship between the "emphasis" phrase and the "perspective" phrase. They are obviously not of equal status, else we'd have a plural verb.

Re: 'better' and 'more good'

CalifJim — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:47:20 GMT

The adjectival construction *more good = better

They both mean the same thing.

We always substitute better for *more good. *more good is considered ungrammatical.

So Case 2 is incorrect.

more good is correct only when good is a noun:

I hope we are doing more good than harm.

Re: Gerund

CalifJim — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:36:52 GMT

simonsez
"I enjoy watching t.v." The word watching is used as a subject noun (i.e. a gerund) and the word t.v. is what?

watching is not a subject noun, no. The underlying structure is

I enjoy [ I watch TV]. The bracketed part is the object of the verb enjoy.

The clause I watch TV when expressed as a gerund construction becomes my watching TV. That is, the subject becomes a possessive adjective, and the verb becomes a gerund. (The rest stays the same. TV is still the direct object of watch.)

When the main clause and the gerund clause share the same subject, you delete the subject of the gerund construction (my), leaving

I enjoy watching TV. (Not I enjoy my watching TV.)

Compare:

I like collecting stamps.

He hates writing letters.

But when the main clause and gerund clause do not share the same subject:

Peter objects to my watching TV.

Re: One of many problems faced by English learners is their own misconceptions.

Avangi — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:27:00 GMT

Jackson6612

Avangi
either "learners of the English language," or "English language learners."
Why is article the essential here? There is only one English language. e.g. I'm learning Chinese language these days. Is there any need to specify Chinese language using the? The use of the is justified in sentences as in ''I'm learning the Southern American English dialect nowadays. The article is required in all of these. I honestly have no idea why. My guess is that "language" is the object of the verb "to learn," and would require an article if it were used without "English" as a modifier. To qualify for standing without the article, a "subject of study" must be one of a few very well-established courses. "I'm majoring in Romance Languages at university." Here, Romance Languages is the recognized name of a well-established course of study, as is Chinese. In the case of a dialect, the indefinite article would be used if there were more than one. Avangi
<<One - - is their own misconceptions.>> IMO there should be number agreement here. Possibly, "One - - - is dealing with their own misconceptions."
Yes, there should be number agreement between verb and object. If I followed your suggestion then the sentence would read: One of many problems faced by learners of the English language is that they are dealing with their own misconceptions. Is that what you suggested? That would be fine. I was considering "that they are" to be optional, as the gerund "dealing" may serve by itself as predicate nominative following the being verb "is." Avangi
This is about "learners." You refer back five times with "they." At some point you might remind the reader who "they" are. Eg, "these learners," "the students," something else of your choosing.
Is choosing'' used as a present participle in the above context? I'd say functionally it's a gerund, serving as object of the preposition "of." The other option, "choice," would of course be a noun.
Avangi
<<During the learning process, they should stop taking the machinery of their native tongue for granted.>> As the final sentence of the first paragraph, this seems enigmatic. It's very well phrased, but the meaning is less than obvious (to me.) I feel like I want an additional sentence by way of (=as means of, as a type of) explanation, or clarification. Optionally, you could make your "machinery" image a little easier to connect up.
How can I make the machinery image a little easier to connect up? How did I know you were going to ask me that danged question?? During the learning process they should remind themselves that the machinery of their native tongue was a long time in [the] building and fine-tuning, and they must be willing to devote an equal effort to the new language. (I'm not sure I have your intention right.)
Avangi
In the second paragraph, at first blush (=when first thought of or considered) the antecedent (=a word or phrase which a pronoun refers back to) of "They" would seem to be "English speakers."
Yes, you are right. I will be more careful about such constructions in future.
Avangi
Have you verified that "idiomaticness" is a word? Or is it a "nonce (=occurring, used, or made only once or for a special occasion) word"?
It is a proper word according to the Merriam-Webster's dictionary.

Congratulations on your hard work. - A.

Edit. "Why is the article "the" essential here?"

Re: One of many problems faced by English learners is their own misconceptions.

Jackson6612 — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:13:32 GMT

Hi Avangi,

Avangi
either "learners of the English language," or "English language learners."

Why is article the essential here? There is only one English language. e.g. I'm learning Chinese language these days. Is there any need to specify Chinese language using the? The use of the is justified in sentences as in ''I'm learning the Southern American English dialect nowadays.

Avangi
<<One - - is their own misconceptions.>> IMO there should be number agreement here. Possibly, "One - - - is dealing with their own misconceptions."

Yes, there should be number agreement between verb and object. If I followed your suggestion then the sentence would read: One of many problems faced by learners of the English language is that they are dealing with their own misconceptions. Is that what you suggested?

Avangi
This is about "learners." You refer back five times with "they." At some point you might remind the reader who "they" are. Eg, "these learners," "the students," something else of your choosing.

Is choosing'' used as a present participle in the above context?

Avangi
<<During the learning process, they should stop taking the machinery of their native tongue for granted.>> As the final sentence of the first paragraph, this seems enigmatic. It's very well phrased, but the meaning is less than obvious (to me.) I feel like I want an additional sentence by way of (=as means of, as a type of) explanation, or clarification. Optionally, you could make your "machinery" image a little easier to connect up.

How can I make the machinery image a little easier to connect up?

Avangi
In the second paragraph, at first blush (=when first thought of or considered) the antecedent (=a word or phrase which a pronoun refers back to) of "They" would seem to be "English speakers."

Yes, you are right. I will be more careful about such constructions in future.

Avangi
Have you verified that "idiomaticness" is a word? Or is it a "nonce (=occurring, used, or made only once or for a special occasion) word"?

It is a proper word according to the Merriam-Webster's dictionary.

Re: Pronoun question

CalifJim — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:16:27 GMT

Eddie88
Why is the rule that one is to use the possessive pronoun with a gerund?

Why is the rule that one is to use "am" with "I", and "are" with "you"? Why is the rule to use "this" with singular nouns and "these" with plural nouns? The rules are an attempt to summarize usage. There is no reason why. They're just rules.

And anyway, you don't always have to use a possessive pronoun with a gerund.

Helen is annoyed by all that paper being on the kitchen table. (Few would write paper's.)

Paul agrees to there being a policy established to control the price of coal. (Certainly not there's)

And you can use a pronoun in the objective case if you want to be less formal.

Tina appreciated him/his helping her with the repairs.

Eddie88
And can someone please explain when it is the objective case when there is preposition in the sentence.

I'm not sure what you're asking, but the objective case is used after a preposition.

with me; for him; without her; from me; to him; etc.

Eddie88
For example one is to use WHOM (the objective case) when a preosition is in the sentence.

As above,

with whom, for whom; without whom, from whom, etc.

These would be used in questions and in relative clauses.

With whom did you attend the play?

For whom are you waiting?

From whom did you receive that letter?

The man of whom I spoke yesterday has arrived.

Miss Thomas was the woman with whom Mr. Sparks was dancing.

___

Constructions with whom are all rather formal.

Re: One - When is it not ok?

CalifJim — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:39:54 GMT

Recall that * means ungrammatical.

_____

one is always countable.

*coarse sand and fine one; *white sugar and brown one; *fresh milk and spoiled one; *British English and American one; *good knowledge and bad one

But (countable):

a happy child and a sad one; happy children and sad ones; the happy child and the sad one; the happy children and the sad ones

a big shoe and a small one; big shoes and small ones; the big shoe and the small one; the big shoes and the small ones

_____

The indefinite determiner a, a possessive construction, or an adjective of quantity cannot be followed directly by one; however, an adjective may intervene.

this old one, this one, that new one, that one, the fast one, the warm one, the one, a gold one, *a one, my old one, *my one, Tom's old one, *Tom's one, many new ones, *many ones, several good ones, *several ones, three short ones, *three ones

(these ones, those ones in some varieties of English; *these ones, *those ones in others.)

_____

With an adjective modifier:

the tall statue and the short one

Father's big shoes and Mother's small ones

the English teacher and the French one

-- The teacher from England and the one from France

With an adjunct:

a book with red trim and (*a) one with blue trim

the chair in the living room and the one in the kitchen

the coat that Lucy bought and the one that she stole

With a noun modifier:

*the clothing store and the hardware one

*a science book and a Latin one

*Father's work shoes and Mother's dress ones

*the chemistry teacher and the physics one

*an elm tree and a maple one

*Kluckin'-Fresh eggs and Lay-Rite ones

*the English teacher and the French one.

-- *the teacher of English and the one of French.

With a complement:

*a way of speaking and one of singing

*the Indian form of English and the Latin American one of Spanish

*a good knowledge of linguistics and a passing one of philosophy

_____

I have used "and" to connect noun phrases above only for purposes of illustration. The grammaticality of these expressions remains the same even within other structures within sentences, for example,

The tall statue was more beautiful than the short one.

*We planted an elm tree, but not a maple one.

*They shopped at the clothing store in the morning and at the hardware one that afternoon.

Re: difference

Taka — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:53:53 GMT

AH! Now I see what you mean. You are saying in #1 a way of living is the antecedent of the relative pronoun 'that' and it doesn't make sense. I agree that it wouldn't make sense IF the antecendent were 'a way of living'. But I don't think it's the antecedent.

CB, are you familiar with this kind of construction?

She is the only girl (that) I know who/that is suited for the job.

Re: Odd syntax?

Grammar Geek — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:34:54 GMT

It is a complicated sentence.

seroMack

President-elect Barack Obama -noun has begun an effort to tamp down - predicate what his aides fear are unusually high expectations among his supporters - object.

What he is tamping down are expectations. Which expections? The ones his aides fear are unusually high. The "are" goes with "what" which refers to "expectations." The expectations are feared.

Here are few other phrases that use similar constructions:

What farmers hope is a moderately dry summer. A dry summer is what is hoped for (by the farmers).

What I expect was his final performance. His final performance is what is expected.

What you plan to be your most successful party of the year. The success party if what you play.

What his aides fear are unusually high expectations.