In Numbers^x, Gerunds^x, Clauses^x

SHALL AND WILL IT is unfortunate that the idiomatic use, while it comes by nature to southern Englishmen (who will find most of this section superfluous), is so complicated that those who are not to the manner born can hardly acquire it; and for them the section is in danger of...

Swagatalakshmi wrote: OK - consulted couple of grammar books. "Participles" (verb+-ing or verb in past participle form) ALWAYS modify nouns. If you see a verb +-ing used as a stand-alone phrase (noun) which is not modifying anything, it must be a gerund. There is nothing called "adverbial...

Five fledging sea eagles left their nests in western Scotland this summer, bringing to 34 the number of wild birds successfully raised since transplants from Norway began in 1975. "On Thursday August 31st the UN’s Security Council passed a resolution authorising 17,300...

1. Five fledging sea eagles left their nests in western Scotland this summer, so they brought to 34 the number of wild birds successfully raised since transplants from Norway began in 1975. 2. "On Thursday August 31st the UN’s Security Council passed a resolution that authorizes 17,300...

Consider the follwoing sentences : Five fledging sea eagles left their nests in western Scotland this summer, bringing to 34 the number of wild birds successfully raised since transplants from Norway began in 1975. "On Thursday August 31st the UN’s Security Council passed a...

What is the word sucks in " Homework sucks " ? Is it a verb or an adjective? If it is a verb, what does homework suck? This brings up an excellent point, and a wonderful opportunity to discover the beautiful syntactic structure of the English language. The question at hand is " Does an English...

Jack112 wrote: Sorry for my lack of understanding. Could you give me a few more examples as to how to distinguish between them? 1. I have never had more girlfriends than I have now. (Correct) 2. I have never had more girlfriends than I do now. (Is this one correct as well? How...

A sentence may take the form of a single clause or be formed from several clauses. The typical clause has a noun phrase for a subject and a verb phrase for a predicate. The verb phrase may have another noun phrase or two embedded within it which serves as direct object or indirect object....

Hello Casi 1. 'First, a possessive pronoun (possP) modifies a present participle...' Mea culpa - of course 'my' modifies 'head'. 2. Second, redundancy is the reason adverbial clauses are reduced to adverbial phrases... It seems to me that the argument in this section starts from the...

Hello Komountain and Paco I'm more than happy to continue this discussion! I too want to clear up the doubts. So please don't be concerned - it's no trouble at all. I hope you don't mind if I answer both your posts at once. Fowler's article in 'Modern Usage' on the gerund gives this...