Search results for 'tag:Prepositions tag:Present continuous' matching tags 'Prepositions' and 'Present continuous'

Re: intricate

AlpheccaStars — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 01:01:37 GMT

Neither of your answers fit, but here is a correctly finished sentence with most of the phrases and words:

.Despite his fondness for writing involved stories in which dying women are threatening evil villans, his appealing children's stories are his staples.

Despite his fondness for writing (gerund, object of preposition "for") involved (past participle, adjective) stories in which dying (present participle, adjective) women (here you need a verb, because you have started a depedent clause "in which") are threatening evil villains, his appealing (present participle, adjective) children's stories are his staples.

Despite his fondness for writing involved stories in which dying women are threatening evil villans, his appealing children's stories are his staples.

2. The decline in science education during the period had two causes: less funding for scientific research with a decrease in jobs related to space and defense.
The italics is related to, but why it is not "relating to"? >> "Relating to" could also be used in this particular situation

Participles as adjectives:

The present participle has the sense of present continuous time and active mood,. i.e - the crying baby, the dying woman, the coming elections, the leaning wall, the breaking news, the approaching train,the running motor, the rushing river, the looming disaster, the threatening clouds, the jumping dog

The past participle is completed time and passive mood: the closed door, the completed project, the finished sentence, the painted wall, the chanted verse, the haunted house, the written word.

Re: look forward to see ...

Diamondrg — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:45:00 GMT

What do you want to learn about it?

Its meaning: to feel pleased and excited about something that is going to happen

You can use it with simple present or present continuous without change in meaning. After "look forward to" you can use a noun or a verb, depending on the meaning you want to convey. If you use a verb, as "to" is a preposition, you should use -ing form of the verb as in the example below.

I'm really looking forward to my holiday.

I look forward to hearing from you.

using photoalbums from the net-ideas for teachers

linguaprof — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:24:40 GMT

My tips:
Look at the photoalbum: http://picasaweb.google.com/Sean.Pigg/MimsAndSeanSHouse
With an elementary/pre-intermediate student these pictures could be used to teach:
1. The vocabulary of house and living.
2. Present simple by asking: What do they usually do in this room/ place? (interrogative, negative too)
3. Present continuous, by using the pictures with people, asking What are they doing?, etc.(interrogative, negative too)
4. The use of There is, There are. (interrogative, negative too)
5. Countable, uncountable nouns- much and many- Many chairs, much space
6. Prepositions of place.
7. Comparatives and superlatives- This room is bigger than that one. This is the largest room., etc.

These are just a few ideas. Have fun!
Peter

Re: Preposition - On or In

Yankee — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 00:05:01 GMT

I don't like the verb tense in the sentences. Surely Debbie doesn't lie in or on the street regularly. The present continuous would be more appropriate.

In the sentence, the use of the word 'in' would suggest that she is lying in a spot near the middle of the road rather than near the side of the road. 'In' would be the most likely choice if Debbie was hit by a car while crossing the street, for example.

The use of the word 'on' would suggest 'on the surface of the road'.

EDIT:
I see Feebs and I are on the same wavelength regarding the verb tense.

liable

MIA6 — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 05:46:07 GMT

1. He is thankful to the old lady. I think it's wrong. I want to say that he feels thankful since the old lady must have helped him. But how to express that sentence in a right way? I think the preposition 'to' is wrong using here.

2. He is always traveling. Why does it use present continuous tense here? What's the difference if I say: He always travels.

3. That book is liable to become a best seller because it is welll written, full of suspense, and very entertaining. Is 'liable' here the right word in the sentence? Is 'likely' better? What's the difference between these two words?

Thanks.

Re: please correct this

Doll — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 13:56:38 GMT

1-... You yourself might have experienced those frustrating long hours sitting in a clumsy chair with your reading material on the desk that ..... Yourself is unnecessary here.

2-Let us honestly ask ourselves how effective those long hours were?... the place of honestly doesn't sound good to my ears.

3-...if you were sitting in a chair that fitted just right and supported your body well ... I would say a chair which fits and supports your body well... just to make the sentence shorter and easier to understand.

4-.. If you will say 'yes' to those four questions.. You cannot say will after if in a conditional sentence.

5- ...you have already grasp ... The correct form is you have already grasped.

6- qualified furniture

7- I would use for instead of the preposition to.

8- ... If you are worrying about your kid's ... I don't relish the idea of using present continuous with worry. Semantically, it makes your sentence strange. (maybe it just sounds to me like that) Say worry or feel worried ( this changes according to the meaning you want to give us) because parents generally worry about such things.

9- ...why not seriously consider attending this seminar? Why don't you seriously consider attending this seminar?

10- ...and learn what you can do to help him to study more effectively .. As far as I know the rule is help someone do something . So, I wouldn't use to here.

Re: To look forward to

Yankee — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 10:24:45 GMT

Hi Manicku

1) Other than the fact that one is the simple present tense and the other is present continuous tense, the main difference to me is that "I'm looking forward to" sounds a little friendlier and "I look forward to" sounds a little more formal.

2) The phrasal verb "look forward to" is never followed by an infinitive. The word 'to' is a prepostition in this case and you always need the -ing form of a verb after a preposition.

Re: embedding

Clive — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 05:19:09 GMT

Hi,

Let's say I have sentences like these(1):

My friend showed me the recipe for (something) last Friday.
I'm cooking it right now.

OR like these(2):

The author is writing a book about (something) right now.
I know what the book is about.

And I like to create one sentence out of each pair.

I know that those sentences make sense without embedding, but let's just say that I'm in a situation where I have to make one sentense out of the pair.

My guesses are:
1) I'm cooking what my friend show me the recipe for last Friday.
2) I know what the author wrote a book about right now.

...but, they don't sound so nice.

Are they grammatical? No.

1) I'm cooking what my friend showed me the recipe for last Friday. (your friend showed you in the past, so use past tense)
2) I know what the author is writing a book about (right now). (present continuous for an activity that is happening right now.)

If yes, is there any way not to end the sentences with preposition?
If no, what are the correct ways? (It'll be nice if some one can give me linguistic reasons.)

Best wishes, Clive

Re: Some questions on grammar

Clive — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 17:56:40 GMT

Hi guys,

1. Is this sentence correct? Why not delete the preposition "on" and write as : Which day was your last anniversary?

On which day was your last anniversary? Either is OK. It depends on whether you are thinking of the anniversary as an event or as a date.

2. I thought the uses of the verbs "do" and "are" are very different and leave very little room for confusion but are these sentences valid? Their meaning seems to be slightly different though.

Do you feel like a king? Are you feeling like a king?

Obviously, you need a context for this 'king' stuff. Your question really seems to be about Simple Present versus Present Continuous. Let's look at simpler examples.

I feel sick. I am feeling sick.

These both sound acceptable to me, and for these examples there is very little difference in meaning. Possibly #2 sounds just a little more temporary, a little less definite.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: Correcting mistakes

migo — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 22:46:09 GMT

"I am not understanding" isn't wrong, it's just uncommon and awkward. "I am understanding" is present continuous and "I don't understand" is simple present. In some contexts "I am not understanding" could be more correct than "I don't understand" as the latter implies a lack of capability in understanding while the former just implies a current inability to understand. That's something you'd have to explain to them on a case by case basis, that colloquially "I don't understand" is used instead of "I am not understanding" because grammatically there isn't anything wrong with it. You could also explain that the sentence as constructed expects but doesn't explicitly require some form of qualifying completion, so "I am not understanding what you are saying/talking about/telling me" would be expected in most cases but not all.

"He's from Riverpool" is a contraction of "He is from Riverpool", which unless Riverpool isn't the name of a place is completely correct. I'm assuming "Riverpool" is actually "Liverpool"

"The life is good" would usually be said "Life is good", but depending on context "The life is good" could be correct - it would have to be in response to something. So without the context that it was used in it's going to be hard to pinpoint what the problem really is. It's another case of it being correct but uncommon usage.

"I've met him yesterday" is also correct, although again uncommon. "I did meet him yesterday" and "I met him yesterday" would be more common usages. "I've met him" would be used in the context when the question "Have you met him?" would be used. In this case "Yesterday" is pre-empting the question "When?" It's a giveaway that the student's a non-native speaker but grammatically there isn't anything you can correct, you just have to explain that it's not what is used.

"He is happy despite he is poor" looks like they just learned how to say "despite" as "He is happy although he is poor" is correct. So depending on the students existing vocabulary it could simply be a problem of assuming that despite means the same thing or works in the same way as although or even though. Despite is a preposition and requires an object, while although is a coordinating conjunction, the student is using despite as if it were a coordinating conjunction.

I hope this helps.