Search results for 'tag:Verbs tag:Word order' matching tags 'Verbs' and 'Word order'

Re: Which question is grammatically correct?

Grammar Geek — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:28:36 GMT

With the embedded question "What do you think...?" the word order goes subject, verb, so you first one is correct.

Re: Him killed I!

Huevos — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:32:13 GMT

Anonymous
Is that correct? it seems wrong

It's not wrong. Normally in English sentences are ordered "Subject (S), Verb (V), Indirect Object (IO), Direct Object (DO)" but can run OSV, and, where pronouns are used in substitution of either the subject or object (e.g. your sentence) there are no word order constraints so OVS is possible. That said, such a construction is pretty unusual and almost certainly would be limited to use in literature for effect.

Re: who/did

Tanit — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:05:59 GMT

Newguest
Hi guys

Why in this question we do not use "did": Who brought you up? (instead of: Who did bring you up?)

And in this one we do: Who did you look up to? (instead of: Who you looked up to?)

Hi,

It has to do with the role of "who". Is it the subject (as in Who brought you up?) or is it the object (as in Who did you look up to?)?
Here's a brief extract from a page from BBC Learning English that explains the differences between these two types of sentences:

When the question word is the subject - 'who' in this example - the auxiliary 'do' isn't needed and the word order is:
subject (who) + verb (wants) + object or complement (more coffee).
A. Who wants more coffee?

...

Here's one where the question word is acting as an object:
A. Who did you meet there?
B. I met an old friend.
In this example, 'who' is the question word and 'did' is the auxiliary.
'Who' is referring to the object of the sentence, the person I met.

Compare:
Who saw you? >>> "Who" is the subject. You were seen by somebody.
Who did you see? >>> "Who" is the object. You saw somebody. (Strictly speaking, this one should be "Whom did you see?" ... but in everyday conversations "Who did you see?" is far more common).

Re: Grammar Suggestion

Mr Wordy — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:08:18 GMT

(Again, I should emphasise that these are just my personal views. Some of the questions have no "right" and "wrong" answers, and other people may have different opinions.)

1. Sitting at my writing desk placed right-hand side of open window, and working on my English assignment, resulted in adventurous and fascinated experience in such evening soft sunrays.

This version is much better in terms of number of adjectives and length of clauses, but there are several other things that aren't quite right. First, "placed right-hand side of open window" should be "placed at the right-hand side of the open window" (this could also be expressed in several other ways). However, you're writing a "mood" sentence here, not a surveyor's report, so saying that it's on the "right-hand side" seems an unnecessary intrusion to me. What does it matter if it's on the right or left? Who cares? So, for the first part of the sentence, I would say:

Sitting at my writing desk beside the open window, and working on my English assignment, ...

Moving on, "Sitting ... and working ... resulted in ..." is grammatically correct but weak here. This form would be great for a sentence such as "Sitting in this chair makes my back hurt", but here it's not specifically the act of sitting that resulted in the experience you describe, it's the whole ambience. So, I would start the next part of the sentence like this:

Sitting at my writing desk beside the open window, and working on my English assignment, I ...

Then you need to complete the sentence to explain what you experienced and/or how you felt. You should be able to adapt what you had originally, but I'd question the word "adventurous". Of course, in this kind of sentence you can say you felt anything you want, but I suspect that "adventurous" may not be quite what you mean.

2. Today, in these natural colors, stepping inn through my hazel gray opened window, over the blue wall, I feel much relaxed -- light as fur, the dark clouds of stress and fatigue seemingly fading away.

Here, "stepping" is the wrong verb ("streaming in" would be fine), "opened" would be better as "open", and I'd be greatly tempted to delete "hazel gray". I'd also delete the comma after "colors": the way that you've punctuated it suggests it might be you that's "stepping in". I think I'd also change the word order, to end up with something like:

Today, in these natural colors streaming over the blue wall and through my open window, I feel much relaxed -- light as fur, the dark clouds of stress and fatigue seemingly fading away.

This is not the greatest sentence ever written, but it's progressing.

It's difficult to explain why I prefer "seemingly" to "seem to be". In "I feel much relaxed -- light as fur, the dark clouds of stress and fatigue seem to be fading away." there is, to me, a "jerk" as we move from adjectival phrases ("relaxed", "light as fur") to a new substantive statement ("the dark clouds of stress and fatigue seem to be fading away"). To me, "seemingly" better fits the descriptive mood of this part of the sentence. But if you were starting a new sentence then "seem to be" would be correct: "I feel much relaxed -- light as fur. The dark clouds of stress and fatigue seem to be fading away."

Two or more adjectives can quite happily modify one noun, but the thing is not to overdo it. "His sweet soft smile" is absolutely fine, though some people would put a comma after "sweet".

Re: Would

Cool Breeze — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:43:35 GMT

Rotter
[ Om jag har pengar, ska jag kÃ¶pa en ny bil.]
{ In Swedish, the verb comes first in the main clause. Swedish is like that.}
[ If I have the money, I will buy a new car.]

Hi Rotter

Yes, of course, there are differences in the word order, but a similar auxiliary (ska, which is related to shall) and a present infinitive (kÃ¶pa, buy) is needed in your sentence. And a perfect conditional is formed in the same way in English and Swedish as well:

If I had had money, I would have bought a car. = Om jag hade haft pengar, skulle jag ha kÃ¶pt en bil.

I wish you a lot of success in your language acquisition efforts - French, that is!

Re: Maybe or may not be

Cool Breeze — Sun, 11 May 2008 09:57:18 GMT

Rotter
I called invain a friend.
Why did you alter the word order?

There is no such word as invain, it's in vain. In English it is safer not to separate an object from the verb. This sometimes happens if the object is long:

I called a friend in vain.

I heard there the language of my childhood.

nor

Anonymous — Tue, 06 May 2008 07:30:16 GMT

Hi,

At The American Heritage Book of English Usage at Bartleby.com in the section named "1. Grammar: Traditional Rules, Word Order, Agreement, and Case", I saw this line in its note:

However, when a verb is negated by not or never, and is followed by a negative verb phrase (but not an entire clasue), you can use either or or nor: He will not permit the change or (or nor) even consider it.

Can you tell me what is it saying???

Before that, it had this example sentence:

He cannot find anyone now, nor does he expect to find anyone in the future. Jane will never compromise with Bill, nor will Bill compromise wth Jane.

And it seemed to have noted that these constructions nor causes an inversion of the "does' and 'will' and subject (whatever that is).

Re: If he was lucky he'd find a cab there...

Avangi — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:00:42 GMT

Hi Jackson,

"He" is in some location, possibly unable to find transportation. Actually, "frequency" in this context is usually applied to busses. One usually calls by telephone for a taxi cab, unless one is in the city at a busy time, and can "hail" a passing cab which is unoccupied. In a remote area late at night, if he's "lucky" enough to see a cab passing by, it will most likely be occupied.

The subjunctive seems to be optional these days in this sort of sentence.

Edit. Looking at the word "there," I suspect there's some context preceding this, in which he conceives a plan to walk to some other location, where he hopes to have better luck.

P.S. a suggestion on your question: a different word order, plus the verb "be" - "What could the context for the above sentence possibly be?"

Best regards, - A.

Re: usage of 'abroad'

nona the brit — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:46:54 GMT

abroad (FOREIGN PLACE) Show phonetics
adjective [after verb], adverb
in or to a foreign country or countries:
He's currently abroad on business.
We always go abroad in the summer.

It's not always an adverb.

It doesn't suit your sentence. Foreign is much better, unless you change the word order to 'companies abroad' but that still isn't as good.

Re: Particular/particularly favorite of mine

Liveinjapan — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:20:52 GMT

Yes, I should've done it myself first

I got it. I thought the word order was adverb + adjective first, but these are an adjective and a noun phraze, I suppose.

By the way, 'favorite' is countable, so;

These are particular favorites of mine.

Is this correct?