1

Truth be told, the government's strategy of using this moment to not paper over any cracks that may have appeared in their narrative of shepherding over 160 million people towards a better, brighter future, ever-more prosperous and resourceful, but rather to serve up some bitter uncomfortable truths - none harsher than to expect more of the same going forward. (Source of this sentence: Load Shedding (Dhaka Courier - Bangladesh).

Does the sentence stated above have any main verb? If it has a main verb, what is it? The above sentence seems to be written poorly.

Furthermore, what does that modify in the above sentence?

Improve this question
7
  • 5
    I think there is little point for a learner to try to untangle one of the worst-written sentences I have seen discussed on this site.
    – mdewey
    Commented Dec 19, 2022 at 14:28
  • 1
    So many metaphors!
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Dec 19, 2022 at 14:48
  • 3
    That is a horrible, horrible sentence. I don't think it does have a main verb, because by the time the author got through that thicket of phrases, he'd forgotten what he was trying to say.
    – stangdon
    Commented Dec 19, 2022 at 14:53
  • It think it can be of value for a learner to look at such a text, because such constructions are out there and a learner will encounter them. It should not be imitated, but it should be understood for what it is.
    – David Siegel
    Commented Dec 19, 2022 at 15:39
  • @DavidSiegel - the writer fell into a common trap, namely that of getting so carried away with elaborate language that he or she forgot to check for basic grammar. The sentence would be better as 'The truth is that the government's aim is not to hide any failings in their policies but rather to prepare the people for hard times'
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Dec 19, 2022 at 16:01

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
0

Technically, this isn't a complete sentence, precisely because it lacks a main verb. When you pare this text down, omitting unneeded complications, it reads:

the government's strategy of using this moment to not X, but rather to Y.

This makes it clear that what we have here is a descriptive phrase, one with lots of complications inside X and Y. To make it a full sentence there would need to be a verb, One could either add a verb on the end that said something about what the described strategy was, or was doing. Or, perhaps better, it could be changed to:

the government's strategy is one of using this moment to not X, but rather to Y.

That would still be an overly complicated sentence, but now a full sentence.

Oh, in the expression

.. to not paper over any cracks that may have appeared ...

the clause headed by "that" modifies "cracks" describing what sort of cracks the author means.

It is possible in a few cases to have a sentence wiuth no verb at all. For one example, direct answers to to questions are generally considered full sentences, even if shortened to omit the verb. for example:

A: Are you coming tomorrow?
B: Yes!
A: What time?
B: 7:00 pm

B's answers are sentences., Ofg course they are short for "Yes I am" and "I will arrive at seven pm" or something similar.

It is also possible to construct pathological sentences where a verb is implied but not stated, such as the well-known example of:

This sentence no verb.

where the verb "has" is implied. I would not advise using such sentences in normal speech or writing.

But aside from shortened sentences, and ones with implied verbs, I think that every sentence requires a main verb. Some might argue that the above examples are not truly complete sentences.

Improve this answer
-1

The main verb implied in the sentence is to be. But it is an incomplete sentence in addition to other blaring compositional problems.

The basic sentence structure is:

The government's strategy of using this moment...

a suitable ending might be:

...is deceitful.

So the complete sentence might read:

The government's strategy of using this moment is deceitful.

Yes, your assessment is correct. The incomplete sentence is written very poorly.

Regarding your question about the use of the word, that, it is not serving as a modifier. Grammatically it is being used a conjunction to connect the two phrases, to not paper over any cracks and may have appeared.

Improve this answer
2
  • -1 While that would be a reasonable way to make a complete sentence out of the original text, I don't see that "is" or some other form of "to be" is clearly imnplied by the original text. Other ways of completing (and improvingz0 it are quite possible.
    – David Siegel
    Commented Dec 19, 2022 at 16:50
  • @DavidSiegel I understand your sentiment. I'm looking at the overall content and sensing that it is some kind of assessment of the strategy. Contextually and stripping away all the excess verbiage, the verb feels like some form of the verb, to be. You certainly could use some other verb, but the most common usage would simply be a state-of-being. It is this, or it is that.
    – Yaacov Deane
    Commented Dec 19, 2022 at 17:19

You must log in to answer this question.

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