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

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: Pronoun Case. Please Help.

Avangi — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:57:34 GMT

Hi, Eddie, thanks for catching my "it's." I make that error about 60% of the time and catch it on re-read about 90% of the time.

I think A. Stars answered you well on "That is he." There are two issues: the grammar issue, and the usage issue.

Re the grammar, there are various transformations possible, but to keep it simple, the subject usually comes first, followed by the verb. Here's a compound sentence: Cogito ergo sum - I think, therefore I am. "I think" is an action verb. "I am" is a being verb. It just means "I exist." But the being verb (simple predicate) is more often followed by a predicate nominative OR a predicate adjective. I am an actor. That is I (in the picture). That was I (on the phone). (Do you know who the guy is who/that broke my window?) I am he. Both the subject and the complement are nominative, but most people use an objective case complement, "That was me." Most people would even say, "It was me who broke your window." (Predicate adjectives would be, "I am drunk;" "I am late.")
What I started out to say when I wandered, is that in your example, "That must be he on the plane," in terms of subjects and objects this is the same as "That is he on the plane," or "He is he on the plane." The being verb acts like an equal sign. "He is John." "He = John." But, just because "He" is the subject of the sentence and "He" = "John" doesn't mean that "John" is really the subject of the sentence, in terms of the syntax !
Personally, I get a strong sense of equality from the being verb, which is why I personally prefer to use the nominative case complement.
But to say the complement equals the subject is not the same as to say that it is the subject. The first is contextual; the second is syntactical.
Anyway, "That's him on the plane," is as correct as any other substitution of objective in place of nominative case pronouns.

Re: Pronoun Case. Please Help.

AlpheccaStars — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:39:06 GMT

Eddie88
I was wondering when you said, 'right again! the pronoun and it's object must make up...'

In America (assuming this is where you are based) do they use apostrophes to show possession of these pronouns? (it's object). Where I am from, we omit the apostrophe to avoid the confusion with the contraction, 'it is.'

The it's is not correct, even in American English.

It's = = it is.

its = = possessive case of it.

Eddie88
What I am saying is that 'that must be he on the plane' isn't he the subject of the sentence?

He is in the predicate nominative case. However, in casual speech following "must be" we break the grammatical rule and use the objective case. .

Re: Pronoun Case. Please Help.

Avangi — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:58:32 GMT

Eddie88
1)    This was an example on an internet site: 'That must be him on the phone'

The site suggested that it should read, 'that must be he on the phone'    Correct. But I'm the only person I know personally who says it that way.

Their justification was this: the nominative form of the pronoun following the verb be  Right !   I am I, Don Quixote! The first "I" is the subject of the sentence, the second is the predicate nominative, following the "to be" verb.

Now, I understand this; however, could the justification be equally sound if I were to say that it is the nominative (subjective) case because the pronoun is the subject of the sentence, so it should be HE? Absolutely true! But that principle does not apply in any way to your first example. It must be a different sentence. He is he, Don Quixote. (Sorry, that's a little too cute. let's say, "He is on the phone.")
Perhaps you mean to say that "He" is the subject of the real sentence, or he is the person performing the action in the real meaning of the sentence. I've heard these things discussed, but they have nothing to do with the syntax of the sentence. That is, they're contextual, not syntactical, or something like that.

However, this raises another problem for me. When there is a preposition, the pronoun is meant to be in the objective case. Is this only true when the preposition PRECEEDS the pronoun? Because in this case, ON follows the pronoun, so I wasn't sure if the rule applied.   Right again! The pronoun and it's object must make up a prepositional phrase. She brought the water to us.  The ground was shaking under him. She was walking beside me.    "She" (nominative) is subject of the sentence. "Me" (objective) is object of the preposition. He is on the phone. The object of the preposition "on" is "phone," certainly not "he."
Edit. Oh yes, sorry I forgot Winston Churchill's famous exception, This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put.

2)    Could you please tell me the rules for the usage of were and was? For example, in line 4 of this writing piece is it 'if I were to say...' or 'if I was to say... ' WHY?
"Were" (first person singular) is the correct use of the subjunctive mood in certain "if" sentences, but few people (like me) use it anymore. Simple past ("was") is considered acceptable. Do a search for "subjunctive" on this site or elsewhere.

3)    Finally, in academic prose one is not to use the word that too often, if at all. Once again in line 4, the word that is used here. It sounds correct to use that rather than which. Should I use which to be more formal, even though it sounds weird? Sorry, I'm not finding your example.

Sorry, I took "in line 4 of this writing piece" as a colloquialism, "in line 4 of a certain writing piece." I thought it was weird.

I need help with understanding intransitive verbs!

alaricepent — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:43:08 GMT

"Sandra lived with eight family members in a small apartment."

You can't have a Direct Object within a prepositional phrase. Right?
So that means "lived" is an intransitive verb ( cause they don't take Direct Objects), because "with" follows it, and that's a preposition, right?

so where is the complement in this sentence and what kind is it? (predicate nominative., etc.)

Re: Predicate Nominative/ Predicate Adjective !HELP!

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:00:17 GMT

yes, but how do you find a predicate adjective? i need to know - i have a paper due tomorrow =]

Re: Help on Predicate Nominatives, Object of Prep, and DO!

Mister Micawber — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:33:55 GMT

.
Yes, that seems fine, Melissa.

Direct Object: The dog chewed the bone.
Object of Prepostion: The meat on the bone was almost gone.
Predicate Nominative: The best part of a pork chop is the bone.
.

Help on Predicate Nominatives, Object of Prep, and DO!

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:12:15 GMT

Hello.

I'm in 8th grade and am homeschooled. In my English class, I have recently been learning about diagraming subjects, appositives, direct objects, object of prepostitions, and predicate nominatives.
It would be easy, if I was still understanding the major parts. So I've been doing some research here on the net about the three that I still don't understand: Predicate nominatives, Object of Preposition, and Direct Object. In abbreviation, DO, OP and PN.

I think I'm starting to catch on, but any excess help would be greatly appreciated.

So far, I've taken these notes:

Direct Object: A noun that recieves the action of the sentence but that is not the subject.
Object of Prepostion: A noun or pronoun that follows a preposition & completes the prepostional phrase.
Predicate Nominative: A noun or pronoun that appears in the predicate of the sentence, following a linking verb and refers to the same person or thing as the subject of the verb.

Did I get all of my notes correct?

As said earlier, any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

- Melissa.

Re: Predicate Nominative/ Predicate Adjective !HELP!

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:06:16 GMT

              oh now i get it! here is my very own example:

In 1868, Moreno became president again. President is the predicate nominaitive.

                                                  (^T^)
                                                  ------ u u ahah
                                                 (monkey)

                                           happy thanksgiving

Re: passive voice

Huevos — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:22:52 GMT

Goodman
How would you classify this sentence then?

Goodman, your sentences are active voice. Their construction is: subject + linking verb (to be), + a noun phrase (predicate nominative). The passive voice, on the other hand, is formed thus: subject + verb to be + past participle of the lexical verb.