Search results for 'tag:Phrasal verbs tag:Nouns' matching tags 'Phrasal verbs' and 'Nouns'

Re: Pronoun question

CalifJim — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:42:32 GMT

Eddie88
What I was meaning with the preposition and objective case query, is that I want to know if the pronoun is still the objective case if it comes before the preposition.

No. A preposition governs case only in one direction. The preposition cannot govern a word that comes before it.

_____

One exception is the fronted pronoun whom. As I mentioned in a previous post, you can have whom in a question or in a relative clause.

[For whom are you waiting]?

The man [for whom I am waiting] is the head of the finance department.

But you can put whom at the beginning and the preposition at the end of the structure, like this:

[Whom are you waiting for]?

The man [whom I am waiting for] is the head of the finance department.

In these cases, the pronoun whom is governed by the preposition that comes at the end of the structure.

____

But be careful with phrasal verbs. They have an adverbial particle that sometimes looks like a preposition, and they often have a pronoun in the objective case that comes between the verb and the particle, so it looks like there's a preposition governing a pronoun before it. This is an illusion; it's the verb that is governing the case of its object.

Lucy found two stray kittens and decided to take them in.

Re: Grammatical mistakes

AlpheccaStars — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:11:55 GMT

1) So the 1st option: "Basis on the above considerations, ..." is completely incorrect, right? Well, I would have to see the context, but the most frequent expression is "Based on". (this is a past participle of the phrasal verb "base on": I based my decision on the following points...

Basis is a noun, and can be used in expressions: "The basis for our recommendation is ..."

3) Just like "wood", "vegetation" would also be singular mass noun, and hence the word "breaks" would be right. Correct? i.e. "heat from burning vegetation breakS seed dormancy" >> the subject is not wood or vegetation, the subject is heat. The verb needs to agree with the subject.

Heat breaks seeds dormancy.

4) "Distance from the SRC was smallest in A, followed by X, Y and Z, in this order." <--"...in this order" at the end of sentence is grammatically incorrect, isn't it? >> It sounds fine to me.

Re: the diver could end up (being) stuck too far underwater

Angliholic — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:32:30 GMT

AlpheccaStars
Angliholic
the diver could end up (being) stuck too far underwater to be able to get up in time to breathe.

The correct form is "being stuck".The reason is that the phrasal verb "end up" needs a noun for a direct object.. "being" is a gerund, which is used as a noun. Examples from the dictionary are:

He thought he'd end up living in the city. He ended up marrying his high school sweetheart.

The other sentence is:

If there were a problem, he would be stuck too far underwater ... "be" does not take a direct object, so the predicate adjective "stuck" is used.

Stuck is the past participle of "stick"

Thanks, AlpheccaStars.

But the original (from an English magazine) omits "being," so I wonder whether it's better to have "being" or not.

Btw, are there any differences between "he would end up stuck ..." and "he would be stuck ...?"

Re: the diver could end up (being) stuck too far underwater

AlpheccaStars — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:16:58 GMT

Angliholic
the diver could end up (being) stuck too far underwater to be able to get up in time to breathe.

The correct form is "being stuck".The reason is that the phrasal verb "end up" needs a noun for a direct object.. "being" is a gerund, which is used as a noun. Examples from the dictionary are:

He thought he'd end up living in the city. He ended up marrying his high school sweetheart.

The other sentence is:

If there were a problem, he would be stuck too far underwater ... "be" does not take a direct object, so the predicate adjective "stuck" is used.

Stuck is the past participle of "stick"

Re: intricate

AlpheccaStars — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 04:10:31 GMT

MIA6
Here is another example: We listen to Fagin __ and share her tormented feelings.

A.talk to Nancy. B. talking to Nancy. I chose A since I thought that would make the sentence parallel, but the answer was B. So is that everytime we see "listen", we have put verb-ing form after it?

Let's take this one step at a time:

We listen to Fagin. --> This is a complete sentence (main clause); "listen to" is the phrasal verb, and Fagin is the object.

But could Fagin be doing? talking, screaming, yelling, running, and so on. For example:

Fagin's loud talking drove me crazy. ---> you see that talking is a noun here (a gerund, and the subject of verb "drove")

Fagin's talking softly to Nancy in a dark corner of the room made Jim jealous! --> here is another example, but the gerund phrase has a lot of other words with it.

So what do we listen to?

We listen to Fagin's talking to Nancy. --> this was the correct form 100+ years ago. (with Fagin being in possessive case, and talking the direct object. However, in modern times, this form has dropped out of usage, Instead, we use the gerund as attached to the noun

We listen to Fagin talking to Nancy.

The second part of the sentence now is clearer:

We listen (to Fagin talking to Nancy) and share her tormented feelings. ("we" is the subject of share. Apparently we see her expressions of torment and empathize with her. Maybe they talking about something very painful to her)

But, Fagin could also be doing the sharing, not "we"! Then the sentence changes:

We listen to (Fagin talking to Nancy and sharing her tormented feelings). --> Now we are just listening to Fagin's talking and his sharing Nancy's feelings.

There is another construction using dependent clauses:

We listen to Fagin who is talking to Nancy and share her tormented feelings. ---> now there is a full dependent clause with a subject and verb. (who is talking to Nancy).. We is still the subject of "share"

We listen to Fagin (who is talking to Nancy and sharing her tormented feelings). ---> . the dependent clause is == who is talking to Nancy and sharing her tormented feelings

Re: I need help with determining the parts of speech w/ this sentence!!!!

Avangi — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:02:02 GMT

alaricepent
Well, it is for AP English! :)

I have a feeling you and I are going to flunk AP English.

I think A. Stars had good answers for the two previous questions - the phrasal verb explanation: "for" is no longer analyzed as a preposition, but as part of a phrasal verb, which is transitive. ("What kind of a verb is paid? - tr., intr, or aux. ?")

AND ("what kind of a pronoun is "one"?) It's a "numerical expression pronoun."

I'm not sure about diagramming a "phrasal verb."

Re: Determining parts of speech...

CalifJim — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:30:03 GMT

meemski
predicate adjectives

This is a function, not a part of speech. That is, there is no such thing as a part of speech called a "predicate adjective".

Most of your examples are nouns functioning as adjectives within a compound noun structure. If you need to know these for a class, check with the teacher or your textbook to find out whether, in the grammar system you're using in class, these should be considered nouns or adjectives. (Different textbooks classify these differently.)

The exceptions are water, which is a plain old noun, and back, which is an adverb. Some grammarians might interpret to be back as a phrasal verb, however. Some of these would call back a (phrasal verb) "particle"; others, an adverb.

Re: Trouble finding subject and objects in this sentence

Huevos — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:41:18 GMT

Mister Micawber
what about 'on',

Mister Micawber
or rest on is a phrasal verb with what as direct object

I'm not sure. I don't see it as a strictly phrasal verb as the meaning is not idiomatic. He rests on the bed. He rests in bed. He rests at home. The choice of preposition doesn't seem to change the meaning of "rest". Also I'm not sure about "what" as an object. It's function here is interrogative pronoun, right? Does that make it an object (prepositional object)?

Re: The verb complement in "John tends to get hungry."

ouyang — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:58:39 GMT

Actually, I do classify some infinitive phrases that follow the verbs "seem" and "appear" as subject complements. I'm not totally comfortable with that view, so I like to consider other options.

Also, I'm not fluent in Chinese, but I think that there is an important difference between its verb-verb complements and the verb-verbal phrase complements that begin with "tend" and "dare". Verb-verb complements are like phrasal verbs in that they combine as immediate constituents before they take objects. In phrases like, "tends to be late", "tends to say stupid things", and "dare to be different", I would say that the infinitves combine with their own complements before the infinitive phrase combines with the main verb. If this is true, then I think I need to correct my previous post because these infinitive phrases must be noun phrases functioning as objects.

I would say that the dependent clauses which follow "seem" and "appear" in sentences like, "It seems that he is confused" and "It appears that he fixed the computer" are noun clauses functioning as predicate nouns. The fact that a common noun can't be substituted for predicate nouns which follow these verbs is significant, but it doesn't matter. When verbal phrases follow these verbs, then the type of verb which forms the verbal shouldn't affect the function of the phrase. The verb phrases in the following sentences should have the same pattern, "He seems to be honest.", "He seems to be the owner.", and "He seems to eat a lot." Since these phrases could function as predicate nouns in sentences like, "The important thing is to be honest.", "The best job is to be the owner." and "My advice is to eat a lot.", I would say they are also predicate nouns when they follow "seem" and "appear". Different substitutions might imply that they are predicate adjectives. I wish there was a strong argument for classifying the infinitves which follow "seem" and "appear" as their immediate constituents, but I don't think there is.

roll out

Tuongvan — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:49:26 GMT

Hi teachers

a/Would you kindly help me understand the phrasal verb"roll out" and its noun " roll out"in the below sentences?
We are organizing a workshop in Singapore on Performance management and we plan to roll it out to your location per below plan.

b/we are starting our roll out in the region .Australia has confirmed the workshop on 16 July and Korea on 22 July

These sentences are written by a Singaporean man.So if possible ,could you be so kind as to rephrase them in such a way as to sound natural to native speakers'ears?

Thank you in advance