All Questions
Tagged with complement or complements
184 questions
2
votes
4
answers
405
views
Is the usage of "if" correct here?
The only way to know you've done the job is if I go in with you.
I guess the sentence describes that only if I go in with you, I can know that you've done the job or not. But is the sentence correct? ...
15
votes
3
answers
6k
views
"What it does is {VERB / to VERB / VERBing} ..."?
For these expressions
What a paper shredder does is tearing the paper/tear the paper in small pieces which can be easily disposed.
What he wants to do is to become/become a ballplayer.
Which of ...
2
votes
1
answer
89
views
What does "with both classmates and teachers" modify? How to parse this sentence?
We worry about our friendship with both classmates and teachers.
Is the phrase with both classmates and teachers a complement of "our friendship" or a modifier?
3
votes
2
answers
133
views
How to Discern an Asyndetic Coordinate Subject Complement?
". . .to let fall is absolute indifference, absolute contempt;"
I think this got maybe discerned an asyndetic coordinate subject complement. May something like He was a moody man, his temper was ...
0
votes
1
answer
750
views
Complements in grammar, may they seem like objects?
He seemed hasty.
Is hasty a complement, perhaps a verb complement, to seemed? There is no noun in the object position. May hasty be understood as an object here, to get a complete sentence?
3
votes
2
answers
383
views
Should "come to know" be used with "about"?
Can it be used like "that's how I came to know about them"? E.g., being introduced to the work of artists.
0
votes
1
answer
161
views
How many complements are in "I blame him for the failure of the report"?
Complement means required by the head. How many internal complements are required in the below sentence?
I blame him for the failure of the report.
and is it possible to say "I failed the report"?
3
votes
1
answer
122
views
How many complements are in "I ask you to clean the room"?
How many complements are needed in the below sentence?
"I ask you to clean the room."
This sentence above has one complement or two complements?
12
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Bare infinitive vs to-infinitive
I found these sentences in my book:
He did nothing but cry.
He had no choice but to obey.
Example #1 uses a bare infinitive ("cry"), but example #2 uses a to-infinitive ("to obey&...
2
votes
2
answers
629
views
Does "what makes him good" mean that he asks why?
How to respond to this situation?
A friend asks you what makes him good at speaking a foreign language.
I want to ask about the meaning of "what makes him good"
does it mean that
He's good at ...
2
votes
1
answer
831
views
.. topics that I should ( be looking / look ) into more deeply
This time is also the perfect opportunity for me to think over my final project and consider topics that I should ( be looking / look ) into more deeply.
Which one is more common ? could you tell me ...
2
votes
2
answers
138
views
Where is the object of 'has' in: The nation has among the highest inflation rates?
The president of Venezuela announced last week that he and other government officials should take pay cuts as part of budget reductions. The Reuters news service says the reductions are meant to ...
1
vote
1
answer
47
views
how to say something cannot be that way
This text was written by coffee1054 in this question:
You might feel that it is impossible for resistance be strictly equal to
zero: maybe it leads to some contradiction with Ohm's law.
In the ...
2
votes
0
answers
960
views
"Subjective complement and objective complement" [closed]
What is the difference between "subjective complement" and "objective complement"?
How can I recognize them in the sentences?
Is there any special rule for them?
Do they use after special verbs? If ...
4
votes
3
answers
181
views
Confusing word order of "more a lowering of some positions..."
Consider:
“It was a risk-off shift in the last three days,” Benno Galliker, a
trader at Luzerner Kantonalbank AG in Lucerne, Switzerland, said.
“It’s probably more a lowering of some positions ...
42
votes
10
answers
19k
views
Plural of "that's my boy"
Is there a plural of this phrase that preserves the sprachgefühl?
The obvious "those are my boys" somehow doesn't feel right.
1
vote
1
answer
721
views
Help me parse this sentence
Do you know what he is pretending that the broom is?
The that-clause within the what-clause is confusing me. Is this a grammatical sentence?
1
vote
1
answer
792
views
How to interpret this what-clause?
The last time I saw her was red. The sky was like soup, boiling and
stirring. In some places, it was burned. There were black crumbs, and
pepper, streaked across the redness.
Earlier, kids ...
2
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Are there solutions to know which verbs are followed by the infinitive or the gerund? [duplicate]
I can know some patterns like these.
I enjoy cooking.
He wants to swim.
But for other verbs like admit, allow, agree, appear and so on. It seems that I have to remember which verbs are followed by ...
0
votes
1
answer
216
views
What does this happy mean?
There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had ...
0
votes
2
answers
182
views
The professor is said to have been a genius when young
The professor is said ___ a genius when young.
1) that he was
2) to have been
This is a question from a English forum. OP asks he thinks both seems correct, but why is the answer 2) (maybe ...
0
votes
1
answer
97
views
How do I understand these multiple complements?
“And we believe that the best situation for all parties involved would be for us to have custody of Zoe, to raise her in a warm and stable family situation, to provide her with the kind of upbringing ...
1
vote
1
answer
66
views
complements of 'typical of'
"It's typical of men to annex a global trend and turn it into a male
device to reject women to make themselves feel clever and us feel
stupid." (Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones's Diary)
It seems ...
1
vote
1
answer
258
views
Are these predicative complements or adverbials?
As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their
families.
"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell
him she was a witch 'til after they ...
2
votes
1
answer
70
views
Can nouns license their complements to be followed?
The spying row between Australia and Indonesia shows no sign of easing, and overnight a powerful minister within the Indonesian government said talks about any future cooperation on asylum seekers ...
1
vote
1
answer
96
views
structure: I stood guard
“I need you with me,” she said. “Don’t go away again.”
But I hadn’t gone away! I had been abducted!
I could feel the sleep pressing down on her.
“I need you with me,” she said. “I’m so afraid. I’m so ...
0
votes
1
answer
80
views
Is this 'of anything' a complement or adverbial?
Simon thereupon went to his father and said:
“You are rich, batiushika [little father], but you have given nothing to me. Give me one-third of what you possess as my share, and I will transfer it ...
0
votes
1
answer
572
views
Is this a complementizer what?
He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow.
"You all right, Harry? Yer ...
2
votes
1
answer
80
views
Two semantic interpretaions for 'I've ever seen'
The slim thighs I’ve ever seen. (1) The slimmest thighs I’ve ever
seen. (2)
Grammatically, the first highlighted part might be called relative clause modifying the previous noun phrase, and the ...
2
votes
1
answer
153
views
Is this prepositional phrase a resultative complement?
At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbor wall. Hagrid
folded up his newspaper, and they clambered up the stone steps onto
the street. (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)
Judging ...
1
vote
1
answer
81
views
Are these two that-clauses complements for the same verb?
To believe that there’s order and I have a place in it, is just
too scary, that if I’m not here doing what I’m supposed to do,
nothing else will be right. (Kathy Holwadel)
There are two that-...
0
votes
1
answer
78
views
Are these two phrases predicative complements?
“I was born a son of a bitch and I’m going to die a son of a
bitch.” (One Hundred Years of Solitude, tr. by Gregory Rabassa)
It seems like ‘was born’ and ‘am going to die’ are Catenative Verb; both ...
1
vote
1
answer
69
views
Why isn't there any complement for 'do'?
Malfoy now turned to Hagrid.
"I'm not going in that forest, he said, and Harry was pleased to hear the note of panic in his voice.
"Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts," said Hagrid ...
4
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Should I remove "to" in this sentence
They went to jogging this morning.
They went jogging this morning.
Should I remove "to" in this sentence,If yes than why.