Could you tell me which one is appropriate?
Eliminating problems by transferring the blame to others is often called scapegoating.
The eliminated problem by transferring the blame to others is often called scapegoating.
Thanks!
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1The first version is much better imho. Another possible alternative is The problem elimination or The elimination of problem. The eliminated problem by ... sounds quite wrong to me.– Damkerng T.Dec 22, 2013 at 15:52
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1 Answer
The first sentence is grammatically correct, but the second is not. A key to determining why the second sentence is incorrect is by testing the subject nouns with the modifying phrase "by transferring the blame."
The word eliminate is used in two different ways, or as two different parts of speech in the two examples. In the first, "Eliminating" is a gerund (a verb ending in -ing and used as a noun). The gerund here is part of a compound noun that indicates action. How is it acting? Answer: "by transferring the blame."
In the second sentence, "eliminated" is in past participle and modifies the noun "problem." Because "eliminated" is merely modifying the noun, we can remove it and test the noun with the phrase "by transferring the blame." In that case, the sentence would become:
The problem by transferring the blame to others is often called scapegoating.
While we could probably add some commas to make this sentence grammatically correct, the meaning would be totally different from the first sentence. The sentence doesn't really work because there is no action noun that can be modified by the modifying phrase.
