Questions tagged [catenative-verbs]
Verbs that take non-finite verbs/verb phrases as objects.
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"Neighbours spotted smoke <((to) be) coming> <(to) come> out of the house."
oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com:
(1) Neighbours spotted smoke coming out of the house.
As far as I understand, the following that-sentences are correct too:
(2a) Neighbours spotted (that) smoke came ...
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a question about catenative verbs
John wants Mary to stay.
"Wants" is the catenative verb here.
"To stay" is the catenative complement of "wants".
"Wants" is the head of "to stay".
&...
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Is 'watching him' a gerund clause in this example?
He saw James watching him.
Recently, I have become familiar with non-finite clauses. This has led me to question the function of the ing- clause in constructions like the one above. Prior to learning ...
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Grammatical explanation of participle phrase (or gerund phrase) after verb + noun (see example)
They spend hours watching video on their phones.
In this quote, is the phrase 'watching video on their phones' a present participle phrase or a gerund? If it is a participle phrase, surely it should ...
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I saw him take and I thought he arrive
Can someone explain to me the grammatical rule for:
I thought he knew it
I saw him arrive
Why use past tense (knew) for one,and present for another (arrive)
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using a verb after the word help
I was reading a book about programming language and saw this sentence :
ASP.NET Core and Entity Framework Core will retain the word
Core to help differentiate from older legacy versions of those ...
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Is 'cry' a catenative complement in this example?
In the provided example (below), is 'cry' considered a catenative complement?
He made him cry.
'Him' is the object of 'made,' so 'cry' must be a complement. I know that a verb cannot function as an ...
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No intention to do something
Don't say that someone ‘has no intention to do’ something, but
'...of doing something'.
https://www.wordreference.com/EnglishUsage/intention
Why is it so? (Not) to intend to do something is ...
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Why "rising" is used in "From here we can watch the ___________ of the sun"
From here we can watch the ________ of the sun
Options given are A.rise / B.rising / C.risen / D.rose
The given answer is rising.
Why is this gerund given as the answer?
I checked the catenative ...
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Try and/to do something [duplicate]
Page 54 of A Practical English Grammar reads
We often use and... instead of to after try / be sure. This is
informal. I'll try and phone you tomorrow morning.
However, in page 299, it reads
To talk ...
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"I have to watch my friend playing/play chess."
I was just making a joke about something and I said: "I have to watch my friend playing chess." is that correct or should I have used "play" instead of "playing"
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Parsing the sentences "Let's {go/go and/go to} try it."
Let's go try it.
I know the above sentence is quite correct grammatically because I have heard it spoken on numerous occasions.
Could anyone please parse it for me?
Also, what's the problem with ...
user126190
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How to parse this sentence "I heard him drop his keys."
"I heard him drop his keys"
I = subject
heard = verb
"him drop his keys." = direct object.
But how can I understand 'drop his keys'?
"I heard him singing in the shower."
Here, "singing in the ...
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Is it correct to write these two gerunds in succession?
I'm speaking about this precise sentence:
I would like to contact you because I work for a firm in which we are considering defining a text editor for all our Android apps:
Is there any rule to ...
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Verb + [adverb clause] + - ing
When we use "verb + - ing" forms, Is it possible to put adverbial phrases between "verb" and "- ing" ? I saw that example down below and it made me think. I suppose "come + -selling" means that the ...
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"to be considered " vs "should be considered"
Consider the following sentence.
We are happy to recommended that his son to be considered for the
post.
This is grammatically incorrect(why?). The notes I am reading says that the correct ...
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more than one verbs in a sentence
The teacher has to try to remember to remind him to make his friends be interested in different subjects.
I wrote this sentence but I am not sure if this follows the grammar rules.(the sentence may ...
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Are these infinitive and gerund clauses?
Are these infinitive and gerund clauses?
He agreed to give him the ball - Here in this sentence, the infinitive clause is "to give him the ball" which is the object of the verb "agreed"? Am I right? ...
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Direct object of the verb "want"
John wants Jim to write a letter to the mayor
According to Cambridge, the verb "want" can take the pattern of obj+to-infinitive as a complement, so that means "Jim" here is the direct object of the ...
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expect or expect "to" in this sentence?
I expect question and debate those ideas which interest me.
Is it expect "to" or just "expect"?
Thanks.
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Grew To Involve
I have a question about the abstract pattern "[verb1] to [verb2]" here:
The slaying of Hugo Pinell, 71, triggered a riot Wednesday that grew to involve about 70 inmates at a maximum security ...
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Can I say "people share their ideas"?
"TED is where brilliant people go to hear other brilliant people share their ideas."
The above is an excerpt from the book Talk Like TED. Is the modifier 'share their ideas' correctly connected to ...
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"This will help us ensure" or "This will help us TO ensure": use of TO with infinitival clauses [duplicate]
Could you please tell me which sentence correctly uses "to"? I am always a little confused when using "to" in a sentence.
Here, if it is a verb then "to" is required.
This will help us to ensure ...
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How to identify whether an infinitive phrase functions as a direct object or an object complement?
How to identify whether an infinitive phrase functions as a direct object or an object complement?
For example, in the sentence:
"Everyone wanted Carol to be the captain of the team.
(cited from ...
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Why is it "to start laughing" and not "to start to laugh"?
Why do we use:
to start laughing
instead of,
to start to laugh
And what is the construction verb + (verb + ing) called?
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construction of 'went ranting on'
"You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a –– a wizard?"
"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a ...
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Is this a predicative adjunct?
Harry swung at it with the bat to stop it from breaking his nose, and
sent it zigzagging away into the air. (Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone)
‘Zigzagging’ seems to be a predicative adjunct ...
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