Search results for 'tag:Paragraphs tag:Predicates' matching tags 'Paragraphs' and 'Predicates'

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: Comma - Compound Predicate or Parenthetical Phrase

Grammar Geek — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:20:04 GMT

Avangi, I completely agree with your first post.

In a strict narrative paragraph, you don't seperate a compound predicate with a comma.

However, to create a pause, for dramatic effect, the comma is just perfect.

Re: Comma - Compound Predicate or Parenthetical Phrase

sd15 — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:47:26 GMT

Avangi
Hi sd15, Welcome to the English Forums.Â I'm afraid all our gurus have gone home for the night.

I agree there's no grammatical justification for the comma, and I agree that you have a compound predicate.

I'd take the comma as an optional stylistic pause.Â Would that be semantic?

If you want the feeling, "She ran to the end of the field without looking back," surely, no comma.Â "Never" is way more dramatic.Â Does this come at the end of a paragraph?Â -Â a chapter?Â You could even use a dash.

I think the comma here is just another tool the author uses to play the reader, one way or the other.

Best wishes,Â - A.

Most authorities consider it error to use a comma where none is authorized. Only opting against an authorized is a matter of style. "Optional stylistic pause(s)" must have reasons, exhausted by syntax and semantics. Some linguists say the comma is governed entirely by semantics, but I'm not even sure whether the distinction between restrictive and non-restrive relative clauses is semantic or syntactic.For my example, I haven't seen any rule that clearly authorizes the comma.Â

Your example, "She ran to the end of the field without looking back," doesn't change the writer's option for comma use, as that string could appear as "She ran to the end of the field, without looking back." But the prepositional phrase, "without looking back," makes the option understandable: you can treat "without looking back" as parenthetical or not, depending upon the intended emphasis. "nd never looked back," on the other hand, can't be a parenthetical phrase or a restrictive clause, when the string isn't a phrase or a clause.

From these considerations, I conclude that calling the construction an "optional stylistic pause" is just euphemistic for error, although an error committed by educated writers and even professional editors.

I wasn't thinking of any particular role in a document, but my remarks consider only non-fiction. Maybe there's room for "optional stylistic pauses" in fiction, where even the frankest grammatical error can be justified.

Re: Comma - Compound Predicate or Parenthetical Phrase

Avangi — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 06:39:22 GMT

Hi sd15, Welcome to the English Forums. I'm afraid all our gurus have gone home for the night.

I agree there's no grammatical justification for the comma, and I agree that you have a compound predicate.

I'd take the comma as an optional stylistic pause. Would that be semantic?

If you want the feeling, "She ran to the end of the field without looking back," surely, no comma. "Never" is way more dramatic. Does this come at the end of a paragraph? - a chapter? You could even use a dash.

I think the comma here is just another tool the author uses to play the reader, one way or the other.

Best wishes, - A.

Re: Analyzing WH-questions the H&P CGEL way

Anonymous — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:22:51 GMT

Oh, I'm so sorry.

First, I posted in the wrong forum. This topic would be more appropriate in ESL Linguistics Discussion Forum. Could the moderators move it there, if possible?

Second, "WH-questions with both subject-auxiliary inversion and ." was meant to read "WH-questions with both interrogative phrase fronting and subject-auxiliary inversion." Likewise, "I'm at all sure" is "I'm not at all sure."

Third, the third paragraph should rather read like this (because the italics don't show up for some reason):

Let us take the sentence "What did the Captain say?" as an example. Here "the Captain" is obviously the subject. But what is the predicate? Is it "say ___", with the gap as the object, or what is it?

And lastly, of the image only the text label was left. Man, did I mess up the post!

//AC

Re: conjunctive adverbs

miriam — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:13:39 GMT

Conjunctive adverbs, or simply "conjuncts", do exist, and are different from sentence adverbials.These conjuncts link sentences or paragraphs and usually appear at the beginning of a sentence.

The adverbials Anonymous mentioned in their first post, those that tell us something about the verb (why, when, where, how, what for, etc.) are adjuncts (as opposed to conjuncts. Unlike conjuncts, adjuncts are part of the structure of the sentence (from the point of view of syntax); they will appear in the predicate. You also have âsentence adverbialsâ, which modify an entire clause or sentence and are placed, usually, at the beginning of the sentence).

Adverb: a part of speech whose main function is that of modifying a verb, an adjective or another adverb.

Adverbial: a syntactic function that may be realised by a number of structures (and even single words): adverbs, prepositional phrases, clauses (both finite and non-finite), noun phrases.

Both conjuncts and adjuncts are adverbials, only they are of different types.

Most conjuncts are adverbs or prepositional phrases: however, consequently, yet (meaning âhoweverâ), firstly, lastly, anyway, nonetheless, nevertheless, meanwhile, by the way, on the one hand, on the other hand, to begin with, to sum up, in short, etc. Even some conjunctions can function as conjuncts, as long as they appear at the very beginning of the sentence (for example âandâ and âbutâ). again, these are not part of either the subject or the predicate, but remain outside the structure of the sentence and act as links to the previous sentence/s or paragraph.

Miriam

i need help from grammar experts

market-huxley — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 22:21:25 GMT

I'm taking a correspondence course. These are some of the exercises that I need to submit. So please I need help from grammar exerperts thanks.

Question 2 : In the following paragraphs, find one example of each of the parts of the sentence listed below. Lable each example clearly. You will have a total of 16 items listed as examples.

a.Noun.
b.Relative pronoun
c.Article
d.Regular adjective
e.Pronominal adjective
f.Regular adverb
g.Preposition â single word
h.Preposition â group of words
I.Conjunction â single-word co-ordinate
j.Conjunction - subordinate
k.Verbal - gerund
l.Verbal - infinitive
m.Appositive
n.Expletive
o.Predicate - smiple
p.Complete subject

Taking a correspondence course involves a great amount of self-discipline on the part of the student.
When someone studies at home, there are always distractions to overcome: telephone calls from friends, favourite soap operas on TV, or sunny days beckoning outside the window. People who need to interact with their teacher on a daily basis may not wish to study a course on their own.

However, there are also definite advantages to studying âby mail.â A student may progress as rapidly as he or she wants to, instead of moving along at the same pace as a classroom full of people. A few missing high school credits can be picked up quickly, so the need to spend an extra year in school is eliminated. Instructors, or markers, are available to answer questions by telephone or e-mail.

Here are some of my answers: ( I'm having a tough time with this exercise... I need some help)

a.Noun. : home, window
b.Relative pronoun: who (?)
c.Article: a
d.Regular adjective: sunny (?)
e.Pronominal adjective: (?)
f.Regular adverb: quickly
g.Preposition â single word : on (the part of the student) from (friends)
h.Preposition â group of words: full of , on the part of (?)
I.Conjunction â single-word co-ordinate: (?)
j.Conjunction â subordinate: (?)
k.Verbal â gerund : beckoning , taking, (?)
l.Verbal â infinitive: to spend, to answer, to study
m.Appositive: (?) (?)
n.Expletive: there (and it ) , there (are also)
o.Predicate â smiple: involves
p.Complete subject: (instructors, or markers ) (?)

How are my answers , and what would be the missing ones.. thanks

Re: Please correct my sentence

Mister Micawber — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 02:11:49 GMT

The last predicate is redundant and jars the sentence; I would omit it:

There are seven steps to ensure an excellent essay: finding the best environment, deciding the topic, organizing the ideas, writing the thesis statement, writing the body paragraph, writing the introduction and conclusion, and applying the finishing touches.

In this case, I would not capitalize, but I believe it varies with the style manual. Leave two spaces after a colon.

Re: On which side do you fall?

milky — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 20:00:31 GMT

Alienvoord wrote:
The first sounds like a description of grammar, and the second sounds more like sociolinguistics - language in its social context. I don't think you can choose between them since they are quite different fields.

Although the first paragraph is a bit limiting in talking about verbs, objects, subjects and predicates, since not all languages have those things.

What is your definition of grammar?

Re: On which side do you fall?

Alienvoord — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 14:54:06 GMT

The first sounds like a description of grammar, and the second sounds more like sociolinguistics - language in its social context. I don't think you can choose between them since they are quite different fields.

Although the first paragraph is a bit limiting in talking about verbs, objects, subjects and predicates, since not all languages have those things.