Questions tagged [sentence-structure]
A complete sentence contains at least a subject and a verb, with all of the words being used in the sentence arranged in such a way that they express a complete thought.
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Which of the 2 sentences below is grammatically correct?
It was with great disappointment that Robin learnt that his cousin would not be coming.
It was with great disappointment when Robin learnt that his cousin would not be coming.
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What is difference between predicate and complement in a sentence structure
How many elements of predicate. And what is difference between predicate and complement in parts of a sentence or a sentence structure.
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Do both these structures create the same meaning: ".... would not have been able to do ...." VS ".... couldn't have done...."
The following sentence is from a text about a new genetic testing method which reveals whether a tumor is cancerous or not, without having to apply chemotherapy. BBC - Genetic testing spared baby ...
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Do these have the same meaning: "...finding out what his life has been like." VS "...finding out how his life has been."
"She spends time with him finding out what his life has been like."
The question structure "What something is like" seems to have the same meaning with "how something is?"...
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What is the sentence structure in PPT bullet points?
My teacher told me that, when writing slides for ppt presentation, I am not supposed to use a complete sentence structure like: "In this chapter the author also outlines the organization of the ...
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Is this a weird structure or correct English? "Thank you to and Thank you you for watching me."
At the end of a video on English language exam by a native speaker, he says:
"Thank you to and Thank you you for watching me. I will see you in the next video." IELTS video closing (see: 14:...
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Do you know who VS Who do you know
Who do you know who would wear a hat like that？
This sentence appears in my textbook. When I saw it, I started to wondering, effectively, if there is any difference in meaning between it and the ...
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complex sentence-structure
'Those look less, like a new, self-sacrificing focus on institutional security, than plain bad decision-making.'
It is very difficult for me to understand. I get the part of 'Those look less than ...
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Any difference between: "Did you know anybody else that old?" AND "Did you know anybody else as old?"
Somebody asks a very old lady "How old are you"? And she says:
"I am 101. Did you know anybody else that old?" Old lady (see:00:49-00:53)
I sometimes hear that another structure ...
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Contextual meaning of the text
"I'm very glad... That was a grand day we all had—and a fine game, too."
"One o' the best days aht I ever 'ad in me life. Wish it was then and not nah—straight, I do. I'm off to Frawnce ...
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Scare/beat The hell out of
A simple search on internet gives you the meaning of this idiom.
But I am having a hard time understanding the structure of this idiom.
When we say 'the movie scared the hell out of me', we generally ...
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Word order of "code blue"
I have a random question about word-order that I have trouble looking up.
Why is it correct to say:
"the band Heart," "the movie 'Up!'," "code blue," "evasive ...
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How should I understand the following passage?
I'm so confused about the following passage.
How should I take this part 'have availed and wrought for humanity in other creeds'?
Is Divine Presences a subject of 'have availed and wrought'?
Please, ...
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Do the provided sentences exhibit a reduced adjective clause structure?
Perseus then flew to the realm of Atlas whose chief pride was his garden
"filled with golden fruit".
Those in favor of a milder approach to the drug problem point to the poor results
"...
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We can't use "here" for a city or country when it is in a picture from above. So, how do we ask someone to guess?
Imagine, you have got postcards of various places (countries, cities, towns etc) and you are now showing your friend those postcards, which have such pictures taken from above. So, when you are ...
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walk unimpeded vs walk unimpededly
Recently I saw a sentence about protest from kuer
The original sentence is as follows:
This week, the protesters in Sao Paulo were allowed to walk unimpeded
and there were no police on the streets.
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Function of a prepositional phrase
One of the things that fascinates us most about cats is the popular belief that they have nine lives.
( From New Concept English, book two)
I want to know if "about cats" works in the ...
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Why are articles sometimes NOT used before common nouns?
Take a sentence like:
'Excellent lady that she was, Lady Gigabytes invited us over for dinner.'
Or:
'Lady Gigabytes (excellent lady that she was) invited us over for dinner.'
What both these sentences ...
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What is the difference between "I think ........." VS "I just think .........."?
This is from an interview with a celebrity where she is asked many questions in a short period of time. At some point, in between two questions, the reporter says to her:
"You were valedictorian ...
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Is [a vocative][1] used as a subject in a sentence?
Is a vocative used as a subject in a sentence? If not, what is it used for? (By the way, what is the linguistic term that corresponds to the classification of the components in a sentence into subject,...
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Would these be idiomatic to ask how responsible someone is: "How much of the blame is on him?" OR "How much of it is because of him?"
This is from the BBC Tomato shortage
"Tomato shortage: How far is Brexit to blame?"
At first I could not quite decide what exactly the question is focusing on. I thought people have not yet ...
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secure at least 1 m from the floor?
I want to make a instruction for vertical ladder installation (Securing a ladder to a wall firmly with screws or something) Information I want to put in the sentence is:
Secure one spot (less than 0....
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How have we the impertinence to
How have we the impertinence to make these wild creatures forego their nature for ours, which at best they can but imitate?
Does Virginia Woolf mean “How can we be so impertinent to make..”? Or “How ...
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Are they the same in meaning: "This is September now" AND "It is September now"
This is from a native speaker gardener's youtube video where he tells about his roses Roses (see:5:50-5:53)
"This is September now and a lot of my roses are still blooming."
The structure &...
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Are they all the same in meaning: "How far up something" OR "How far above something" OR "How far up above something"
How Far Up Above The Earth's Surface Do You Need To Go Before The Gravitational Acceleration Is 1/5 Of What You Feel On The Earth's?
The group of words that make up the question "How far up above ...
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"Oh, cough on me, why don't you?": Does this sentence mean the person is angry or is making a suggestion to do it more?
This is from an interview with a celebrity at her home when she is actually spending time with family. 73 questions with Kim (see:1:46-1:55)
At one point, where she is with her children and talking to ...
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What kind of grammar (structure) is used in this sentence? "only to be brought low themselves"
I saw the following sentence:
Throughout literature we find recurring tales of forthright people who are outspoken in
condemning illegal practices only to be brought low themselves when they, or ...
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Why is the sequence of the quoted line like that?
I was reading Maugham and came across this:
I had not yet learnt how contradictory is human nature; I did not know how much pose there is in the sincere, how much baseness in the noble, nor how much ...
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"Areas to investigate could be x, y, z": do areas "be" or do they "include"?
Because of the plurality of areas, it sounds a bit odd to my ears to say "Areas to investigate in the future could be data quality issues or system compatibility". To me, the "be" ...
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Connecting two sentences
What's this I hear about you getting married?
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/this_1
"What is this?" and "I hear about you getting married" ...
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Preposition "of" used after noun/pronoun in the middle of a sentence
Would the use of the preposition "of" in the middle of the following sentence (I imagine I'm using the passive voice for emphasis) be acceptable?
That's the only way you know X (of) because ...
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How should I understand this sentence with the structure: 'not only, but...'?
In this following context, according to the structurue 'not only, but (also)', should the subject 'kamma' in preceding part, be the same subject as mentioned one, in following part too?
I think ...
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Which verb does this 'that-clause' serve as the object of?
This is from a news article :
Huffman now takes issue with the third-party apps that are building a
business on top of his own. “I didn’t know — and this is my fault —
the extent that they were ...
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Which I'm interested in vs. in which I'm interested
I recently stumbled across the following sentence:
"Saving the planet is the topic in which I am interested the most."
From my feel for language this sentence sounds good, but I would ...
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What kind of structure is this BBC sentence: "But what of all this business about it being America?
This is from a BBC video Tiny piece of US (see:1:50-1:55)
"But what of all this business about it being America?"
This sentence structure sounds confusing to me. I have thought that it may ...
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Complex sentence and Compound sentence
I was standing on the sidewalk but I was too ashamed to walk in.
I was standing on the sidewalk but too ashamed to walk in.
So the first one is obviously a compound sentence, but what about the ...
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Should 'be' be put before "totally unaware" in this quote?
This is from a news article :
Odds are, you will walk by one totally unseen and totally unaware
that that snake was there,' Simms told us. 'However, because they are
so well camouflaged, and they are ...
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Using the word down at the end of a sentence
How did the prosecutor track this suspect down?
How did the prosecutor track this suspect?
Is there any difference in meaning in the above two sentences?
How does adding the word down make a ...
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how to understand complex sentence using as?
He doesn’t sound nearly as eager to make small talk with this guy as he was with me.
How to parse and understand the above sentence?
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"I don't like it when it is rainy." VS "I don't like it raining."
I hear this structure quite often:
"I don't like it when it is rainy."
But, I find it too wordy and somewhat difficult for us non-native speakers. So, instead, I wonder if can simply say:
&...
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What roles do these parts play in the following sentences?
What roles/elements/components (e.g. subject, ...) of a sentence do the parts in bold play in the following sentences? I am asking about the terminology of the components of a sentence.
I was ...
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How to identify the subject of every verb in a sentece?
I was watching a movie and I listened to the next phrase:
This is the key that was in the necklace that unlocks the box my birth certificate was in
The verb: “That unlocks the box…” refers only to ...
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'He lay unconscious." What is "unconscious"?
I just cannot seem to comprehend this question, but it has been bothering me all evening.
In the sentence "He lay unconscious," what is "unconscious"?
It cannot be an adjective, it ...
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to give some chance reader
I am reading Maugham,
Heaven knows what pains the author has been at, what bitter experiences he has endured and what heartache suffered, to give some chance reader a few hours' relaxation or to ...
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How to know what form of the non-finite verb to be used in a sentence?
In this sentence:
He is the second person ___ this morning.
A. falling
B. to fall
C. fallen
D. fell
The answer is B.
I do understand the past tense fell is not a non-finite verb. But I am confused why ...
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why it use "-ed" instead of "-ing" in this adverbial clause
Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football debates always seem to scathe a few
players in the new, with last Monday’s discussions centred around
Newcastle forward Dwight Gayle.
in the clause "with last ...
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What's the syntax of "It's everything you've ever heard it is"? [closed]
Source: "Boardwalk Empire" Season 01 Episode 07 00:29:19
Mary Dittrich (the girlfriend of the photographer Robert Dittrich): Relax. It's not like he saw us together.
Angela Darmody (the ...
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Not even .. could cope with .. VS Even ... could not cope with
There is a sentence where the not is put ahead:
Not even a 20-year-old could cope with the chairman’s jam-packed schedule.
Why not express it as:
Even a 20-year-old couldn't cope with the chairman’...
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Is it correct to say "Bob was at home watching TV. Mike was at the shopping center. After playing there for 30 minutes, Mike went/came to Bob"?
The previous sentence often sets the central location and we use "go" if the movement is away from the central location and "come" the movement is towards the central location.
Say,...
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had seemed to adapt/seemed to have adapted
are these two sentences both correct? Is it idiomatic to express the exactly same idea in two ways? In my opinion it doesn't matter whether I choose to use either past perfect + simple infinitve or ...
