1

The pain is of a degree that calls for morphine.

Can we change be + of with has?

The pain has a degree that calls for morphine.

I know we can not do that in every sentence with of ... then, what is the rule here that allows us to make this change in some sentences ? thanks

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

to be of and to have express two different ideas although in some contexts they may seem similar

  • to have is a verb describing possession of the subject.

  • to be of describes a property or origin of the subject.

"Degree" is describing the quality of the pain; we wouldn't think of a degree as something the pain has/possesses.

Thus,

The pain is of a degree that calls for morphine

would be understood.

The pain has a degree that calls for morphine

sounds unnatural.

If you want to use "has", you could say:

The pain has an intensity that calls for morphine

Improve this answer
0
-2

The pain is of a degree is not idiomatic. One has to start with a grammatical sentence. An English speaker would say: The X of Y for this structure.

Idiomatically, we would say: The degree of (the) pain calls for morphine. The extent of the damage is sad. '

Nouns qualifying the intensity of some condition:

The level of [noun]

The intensity of [noun]

The extent of [noun]

The degree of [noun]

The lack of [noun]

This is not a full list, it is merely illustrative of the structure here...

Improve this answer
4
  • 2
    Not idiomatic doesn't make a sentence ungrammatical. "The degree of this pain calls for morphine" may be more likely, but I'm not actually sure that "is of a degree" would not be understood easily or found in actual English writing. It does have non-zero use in NGrams
    – eques
    Sep 15, 2016 at 14:17
  • Maybe "of a degree" is not common, but it's perfectly understandable and in live usage. For example, "Here is a fusion of psychological and social problems which is of a degree that surpasses similarities to the others." or "...the level of pastiche on display in the movie is of a degree only perhaps matched by ..."
    – stangdon
    Sep 15, 2016 at 15:09
  • 2
    of a degree here is perfectly ok.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Sep 15, 2016 at 16:47
  • It is not about being understood. The examples you posted are very complex albeit unedited sentences. /The level of pastiche/ + /of a level is REDUNDANT/. It should be; /The level of pastiche in the movie is only matched by/ The standard way to express this is: [adjective] degree of pain calls for. Using NGram as proof of anything linguistic is a fallacy. And /Here is a fusion etc./ also sounds unedited. Of a degree is not wrong in and of itself. Let's not confuse unedited text "found on the Internet (NGram) and what could be said more idiomatically.
    – Lambie
    Sep 18, 2016 at 17:56

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .