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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"are specified" or "have been specified" would be grammatically correct?
Which one is correct?
The conditions of deformation and calculation of the soil – pipeline system are specified?
Or:
The conditions of deformation and calculation of the soil – pipeline system ...
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Use of "May I be" for exclamation
In the language I speak when we see someone getting a lot and we don’t get that much, to speak to God in a sweet way, we say a sentence whose literal meaning in English is:
May I be sacrificed for ...
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Reduction regarding repetitive information?
I wrote a sentence:
Historical records show that Vietnam was a large cultural community that formed around the first half of the first millennium BC and flourished in the middle of that same ...
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How to analyze the structure "as by ..."
In the fourth book of New Concept English, there is sentence like this:
It is almost always due to some very special circumstances that traces of land animals survive, as by falling into inaccessible ...
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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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Help to understand and explain "be those" in a sentence
Using rooftops creatively allows us to tackle many of the challenges faced by cities today – be those environmental, social, technological, or cultural. source
Here how could I understand the ...
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There exists water. is "there" a dummy subject?
"There exists water"
Is "there" a dummy subject or is it just inversion and is "water" a grammatical subject?
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Can I add an object to the preposition in "sites that are more challenging to extract resources from"? What about removing "from" entirely?
I hate the sites that are more challenging to extract resources from their inside. (I made this sentence.)
I know people would normally say the following version:
I hate the sites that are more ...
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In "Does it matter how large the selection is that you bookmark? ", how to understand the part "that you bookmark"?
There is a sentence:
Does it matter how large the selection is that you bookmark?
I know it refers to how large the selection is, but I can't understand why that you bookmark can be added after is.
...
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such lots of OR so lots of
which is the correct structure and why?
I found it while I was reading Cambridge Grammar in use intermediate on page no. 204
it says 'such' should precede 'a lot of'. so can we use 'such' before 'lots ...
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without approval for more US military assistance from Congress in the coming weeks
Ukrainian cities will be vulnerable to Russian missile attacks this winter without approval for more US military assistance from Congress in the coming weeks, White House officials have warned.
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there are a lot of people from them on the committee
Local businesses are well represented on the committee (= there are a lot of people from them on the committee).
Source: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/represent?q=...
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Use of "had" in a sentence
The earliest copyist engraver who had worked after Mantegna's pen
drawing had simply copied the lines that Mantegna made with his pen.
Mantegna made his drawing before it was copied. Then why is ...
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Usage of "his + Ving"?
I'm completely fine with both these sentences:
I am sure of my brother's passing the exam.
I am sure of my brother passing the exam.
So I suppose it's OK to use "his + Ving" or "him + ...
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Is "on a spring midnight" correct?
I think I have seen people use "on a summer night", but I don't know whether "on a spring midnight" is correct or not. I hope I can find the answer here
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"subject and the verb be omission" in a subordinate clause
I've learned that after subordinate conjunctions such as "when" or " while", a subject and a verb "be" in a subordinate clause can be omitted when the subject matches the ...
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Why do commit title sentences start with an infinitive without to?
I am a developer and I am not native English speaker. When I see commits I can't understand why titles for them start with infinitive without to. For example from Spring commits
Add missing runtime ...
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"With X equals 3" vs. "With X equal to 3"
I found several teachers using the first structure, i.e. "with X equals 3", while some others using the second one, and all of them are native English speakers. Here're some examples of the ...
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Do you need the determiner "the" for a name of place?
This is something weird.
Example:
I go to the city.
Yesterday, I went to New York City.
You can see from the examples that when the city has a name, it doesn't use the word "the."
But is ...
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Identifying the sentence structure of a complex sentence
I was given an excerpt from an essay about how we understand a "good life."
For context, the author was talking about how ancient Greek theorists would not distinguish between ethical and ...
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correct usage with transitional words
a) She made many poor choices, for example, drinking too much alcohol.
Is this sentence grammatically accurate?
It makes sense but as a rule of thumb if the transitional word 'for example' is removed,...
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Preposition phrase after a conjunction
In a dictionary, I find a sentence I can’t understand
I tried to persuade him, but with little or no effect.
In this case, I don’t know what a preposition phrase does function in the sentence.
And I ...
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Combining clauses with different linking verbs by conjunction and leaving out the subject
A TOEFL book claims that I'm not allowed to write like this, for example the conjunction "and" :
I still have leftovers on the table and am cooking it later.
Why is it incorrect? Does that ...
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"Government-issued" vs. "issued by the government"
I have a sentence improvement question :
For a week last month, the team's 20 players were stranded because the government-issued passport is not up to international standards.
I am confused ...
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What kind of structure is: "... that it is seen as a medium much more so than is broadcast."?
I can't see where "that it is seen as a medium much more so than is broadcast" is connected in the sentence below.
However, it is precisely because, in an everyday sense, the Internet is seen as a ...
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'One such+noun' vs 'such a/an + noun'
What's difference in meaning and usage of 'such a/an + noun' and 'One such + noun'?. For example:-
I have never seen such an example of government turning its back on illegal activity.”
Never before ...
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Sentence structure of "Two X do not a Y make"
Two cuts do not an EV price war make.
Source: Electric vehicles defy price war after Ford and Tesla discounts
The likely meaning is "Two cuts do not make an EV price war." But I've never ...
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How to ask about the subject and objects in the following sentence?
I made up a sentence: "She feeds the shark fishes."
How to ask about the subject, the 1st object and the 2nd object?
Maybe:
Who feeds the shark fishes?
Who does she feed fishes?
What does ...
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What is the grammatical function of "circumstances as they are" in this sentence?
I find this sentence in an online article strange and even jarring for several reasons.
With limited provisions, he awaits reinforcements, but circumstances as they are, is believed lost to the ...
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at a rate unparalleled ( question about the position of the adjective)
I got stuck with this sentence 'This is also a period of enormous physical change and adolescents experience changes in their physical development at a rate unparalleled since infancy.'.
I am confused ...
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Dogs are different colors
(1) Dogs are different colors.
(2) The dog is the color yellow.
(3) Dogs are of different colors.
I don't know why (1) is possible (possibly because my native language is Japanese). (1) looks as ...
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position of adverbial phrase in sentence
Using of placement of adverb, manner, place, and time in sentence. I am a bit confused speaking to place them in sentence.
While speaking with my boss:
I went to Ram's home, I connected my ...
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Comparing two things in one sentence
We have three shapes in my study. We called them trees. The class of Tree 1 is larger than the class of tree 2 and tree 3. Also, the shape of tree 1 contains the shapes of both tree 2 and tree 3. I ...
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What would you write as the object of this sentence?
Learning to respect others is important.
Is the object: "to respect others" or "to respect"?
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I received a phone call from [closed]
I received a phone call from the school but the call got disconnected so I want call back to ask who call me, also I think the HR department but I don’t know how to make the sentence
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A question about performatives
Some verbs used as performatives with the present simple in affirmative sentences have a similar meaning with either the present simple or the present continuous in negative sentences. Source
What is ...
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What structure/grammar point is this?
"Several disturbing dreams had given me a restless night, though I could only remember them vaguely. In one dream I recall shouting at someone and being involved in a fight. There was also ...
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What does this sentence on BBC means: ""All baa myself: Is this Britain's loneliest sheep?"
All baa myself: Is this Britain's loneliest sheep? BBC - Britain's loneliest sheep
What does "All baa myself" mean? I couldn't quite understand it.
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Comma before correlative conjunction not only ... but also
I'm doing an ACT practice problem, and I'm confused.
In the sentence "Thousands of visitors from around the world travel to Siena during the summer, not only to witness the exciting race but also ...
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Is the word "here" unnecessary in this sentence: "Hi, Bob the Canadian here"?
The following is the first sentence from a native speaker's video on Youtube about leaning English. He says:
"Hi, Bob the Canadian here, let's learn English at the grocery store."
He is ...
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This sentence pattern is subject-verb, or subject-linking verb-subject structure?
He is running.
This sentence pattern is subject-verb, or subject-linking verb-subject structure?
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Difference between: "This is as fast as it goes." VS "This is the fastest it can go."
An old lady who is riding on an stairlift to climb upstairs in her home says:
"This is as fast as it goes."
I think, she thinks the stairlift is very slow and it should go faster, but this ...
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Why does this sentence have the word "...again...": "The world's largest Eagle, stellar sea eagle, a third as big again as a golden
"The world's largest Eagle, stellar sea eagle, a third as big again as a golden." BBC-SEA EAGLE (see:1:53-1:58)
I got confused by this sentence. As far as I understand, the sentence means &...
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Here how does the word ''where'' play as its role?
in this following sentence, what does the word ''where'' mean?
How should I take the word ''where''?
''How is it ever possible to speak of the annihilation of a self, or soul, or ego, where no such ...
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interpretation of this sentence [closed]
In this humorous conversation :
A: Cows kill more people than sharks.
B: I'm surprised cows kill any sharks at all.
Is interpreting A's sentence the way B did really natural?
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Proper sentence structuring: "They would even throw him under the bus if it means that they could make more money."
How do I say this thought properly?
They would even throw him under the bus if it means that they could make more money.
Can anyone help me to find the right words for this?
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Where is the main verb of "the glossy skyscrapers that house hedge funds and investment banks look too polished?"
Hollywood has long been seduced by the world of high finance. All that money! All that power! The glossy skyscrapers that house hedge funds and investment banks look too polished to contain American ...
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Anything other than
What the phrase "can be anything other than" in the given sentence means i.e. how can it be interpreted in any sentence or how it affects on any sentence or what is the overal meaning of the sentence? ...
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Can adverbs act as subject complements?
Example:
He is here.
Or
She is there.
I have been taught that subject complements are adjectives, nouns, pronouns or phrases of them, but in the above example the adverb 'here' is describing the ...
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What do it refer to in the long with structure?
In the article "Exploring the sea-floor" from "science survey" written by T.F.Gaskell:
Since the sea covers the greater part of the earth's surface,it is quite reasonable to ...
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