Search results for 'tag:Verbs tag:Noun phrases' matching tags 'Verbs' and 'Noun phrases'

Re: participle as a subject

Cool Breeze — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:38:04 GMT

CalifJim
Your question opens up a good many sticky points in the terminology. Do we (Can we) talk about certain structures by naming them without regard to their function in context? Or not? Probably not. Is love a noun or a verb? Only context will tell.

Hmm... this seems to be another case of varying terminology. I have no objection to calling a participle an adjective, I'm just not used to that. Nor am I used to many other grammatical terms used here, like "a noun phrase". Don't get me wrong! I certainly don't mean there's anything wrong with it or that it is worse or better than the terms I am used to. I just had never heard it before I hit these forums. I can guess at the meaning of such expressions, of course.

The terminology must sometimes be confusing to learners whose native languages are so different from English that they don't even have verbs, let alone participles or gerunds! I can't start using terms I am not familiar with and thus I use the terms I learned to use in school ages ago. Hopefully I'll still be of use and assistance to some learners, at least to those who come from European countries. I'm sure I sometimes just confuse native speakers of English.

That tradition is centuries old in Europe. It is probably based on early grammarians' work and analysis of Latin. For example, "my" and its equivalents in all the grammar books that I have read and that deal with Finnish, Swedish, German, English and Latin grammar is invariably called a pronoun. In America, I think it's a called a possessive adjective? Perhaps in Britain too. Of course it isn't used instead of a noun and thus the name is misleading, but grammarians just call it a possessive pronoun anyway. It is a matter of what has been more or less consciously agreed upon. I have seen the term "dependent possessive pronoun" used to refer to "my", and the term "independent possessive pronoun" has been applied to words like "mine" because they don't need a noun after them. Therefore they are "independent". If I began to use such terms here, I'm sure I would confuse people even more!

Yes, context will tell, and I think it is plain to see in all cases. In Finnish, there are no such problems - if that is a problem at all. A noun cannot be mistaken for a verb. Nouns and verbs are always different words.

Cheers, CB

Re: participle as a subject

CalifJim — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:48:17 GMT

Cool Breeze
I am walking. Walking is an adjective?

"allegedly" See below.

From Introduction to the Grammar of English (Huddleston, Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics)

... participles are said to be 'verbal adjectives'.

First example given:

He was telling the truth.

Later:

... a present participle ... allegedly has adjectival properties. I say 'allegedly' because it is difficult to see any significant functional resemblance to an adjective ... [in the first example on the list].

He goes on to say that the -ing words in such examples are clearly verbs, while in other contexts they are clearly adjectives.

_____

With respect to the original question then, I suppose the more accurate description is that participles are either parts of verb phrases or are adjectives. In either case, a participle -- being verb or adjective -- cannot be the subject of a sentence unless it is in the cleft sentence structure, as illustrated earlier in the thread by GG. I think that's the only structure that allows a participle or an adjective to be promoted to the status of a noun phrase so it can be a subject.

At least that's my claim. Maybe someone can provide a counterexample. That would be instructive.

Edit:

'Destroyed' is the best description of that town.

Here a participle (adjective) is promoted to a noun and is the subject of the sentence. So there are cases other than the cleft sentence structure that allow it. Nevertheless, note the quotes. It works in the same way that anything in quotes can be promoted to subject:

'Xygneoowytoeyy' is a nonsense word.

'got into the truck' is not a complete sentence.

_____

Your question opens up a good many sticky points in the terminology. Do we (Can we) talk about certain structures by naming them without regard to their function in context? Or not? Probably not. Is love a noun or a verb? Only context will tell.

Cool Breeze
To hear him sing is an unforgettable experience.

to hear him sing is a sentence with a non-finite verb used as a noun phrase in a higher level sentence. The idea is that the terminological identity of a word or group of words may change depending on which level in a hierarchy of clauses it is considered. At the lowest level of the "tree", to hear is indeed an infinitive (a non-finite verb), but in the context of the whole sentence (higher in the hierarchical tree), to hear him sing is the subject of the main clause, is nominal in nature, and is called a noun phrase. (Infinitives are often nominal in nature, so this is not surprising; for example, [I want + noun phrase] can take either of these forms: I want some pizza. I want to sing.)

Cool Breeze
Using an infinitive as a subject may not be common in American English

Actually, infinitives are used in AmE as subjects. The location geographically or historically has nothing to do with it. But infinitives (and their complement(s), if any), taken together, can make noun phrases.

To be absolutely precise, it is a noun phrase (NP) that must be the subject of a sentence. I oversimplified by saying 'noun or pronoun'.

Re: Sentence analysis

Doll — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:14:53 GMT

Very generally it seems that it is a sentence + conjunction + sentence structure.

Nora went mad (first sentence) + becasue (conjunction) + France lost... (second sentence)

As for the analysis, (I haven't dome sentence analysis for months so I may have forgetten somethings.

last week: noun phrase a match: noun phrase

in Italy prepositional phrase lost: verb phrase (this verb phrase includes all the phrases I counted before

best team: adjective phrase and forms a sentence.

the best team: noun phrase because:conjunction

for : prepositional phrase mad: adjective phrase

the championship: noun phrase Nora: noun phrase

in: prepositional phrase went:verb phrase (this includes Nora and mad that is noun phrase and

Spain: noun phrase adjective phrase)

against: prepositional phrase (follow from the right)

I hope I didn't make a mistake above.

As for modifiers and complements:

I forgot my previous knowledge and I can't make sure whether we should take "go mad" as together or not so I skip it and Iw ill try to help as far as I remember.

"Italy" is the complement of "in"

"Spain" is the complement of "against"

"the best team" is the complement of "for".

"the championship" is the ceomplement of "in"

" a match" is the complement of "lost"

Re: when to?

CalifJim — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:28:55 GMT

Taka
I think what the author is trying to say is 'when you change trains',

Yes, that's most likely the intent.

Taka
but is that 'when to' grammatically acceptable?

Not here. No. when to clauses are indirect questions, hence, they function as noun phrases:

I didn't know when to change trains.

Be sure to tell him when to change trains.

They don't function as adverbs:

*You have to walk when to change trains.

*Be sure to read the posted signs when to change trains.

Re: names and functions of non-finite clauses

Dawnstorm — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:10:32 GMT

Actually, "to find / that the house had been burgled," is a non-finite clause. The non-finite verb "to find" (infinitive) takes as its object a finite clause ("that the house has been burgled").

The object slot could have been filled with a noun phrase, or something:

She came home [to find / the dog on the bed].

The non-finite clause in question could also function as the subject of a sentence:

[To find that the house has been burgled] can't have been pleasant for her.

Re: Grammar- is using versus is by using

26TMNTJG2PG — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:05:04 GMT

I wish to present a different way of looking at the sentences.

One way of lowering fuel consumption is using public transport.
(You can rewrite as: Using public transport is one way of lowering fuel consumption.)

' Using public transport' is a noun phrase having a dual-function role here:

1) being complement of the verb (of incomplete predication) 'is' and

2) in apposition with the noun 'way'.

One way of lowering fuel consumption is by using public transport.

(Here you can't rewrite as: By using public transport is one way of lowering fuel consumption.)

We normally say by doing something, you get/achieve something.

So, the sentence needs to be rephrased as - One can/will lower fuel consumption by using public transport

or By using public transport, one can/will lower fuel consumption.

' By using public transport' here is an adverb phrase of manner modifying the verb 'can lower or will lower'.

Re: calories are/is

Grammar Geek — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:13:27 GMT

I don't know what the parser is or how it works, so I don't know how to answer the question.

You have the subject, a linking verb, and the pred. nom, which is also a noun phrase.

Re: Plz Correct me !

Grammar Geek — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:05:57 GMT

You can lift the part set off by commas entirely out of the sentence.

The soft curtain, hanging from a rod at the upper edge of the window, sways rhythmetically in the breeze, repeatedly brushing my chair.

The soft curtain sways rhythmetically in the breeze, repeatedly brushing my chair.

You set these entire "removable" phrases that contain the extra information off with a comma on each side.

Some of your earlier examples did NOT have a non-essential phrase set off with commas. They just had long noun phrases, a comma, and then the verb phrase.

Re: gerund

Huevos — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:01:12 GMT

Cool Breeze
Having read is indeed a gerund in the sentence, a perfect gerund to be exact. There are lots of threads on the subject of the gerund.

Could you please explain how that is so? I saw "Mr. Doe having read the book many times" as a noun phrase of the second clause and "having read" as the verb phrase of the previous quote. How is it operating as a gerund?

Re: Is this sentence correct?

CalifJim — Mon, 12 May 2008 06:52:33 GMT

Again, you are just making a long noun phrase. The modifying clauses like which defines your lifestyle do not supply the necessary verb.

Here are some non-sentences like the ones you are making:

The boy who laughed. What about him? The boy who laughed did what?

You can change this to: The boy laughed. Or The boy who laughed was dressed in green.

The box that is in the corner. What about the box? The box that is in the corner is blue? is old?

You can change this to: The box is in the corner. Or The box that is in the corner is large.

You can make your phrase into a sentence:

Power, performance, luxury, and comfort define your lifestyle.