Questions tagged [syntax]
This tag is for questions regarding the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in the English language.
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Understanding omission of prepositions
Sometimes making complex sentences it is difficult to understand what part of the sentence the word or group of words belongs to.
For an example:
And its court for the trial of impeachments and ...
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What part of the sentence is this called [closed]
Can you explain whether the following that I'm going to write in the body section is considered the subject or not? If not, what is it considered?
My favourite place
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What nomenclature would contemporary descriptive grammar use to describe an "afterthought" lacking an explicit verb at the end of a sentence?
Jack has a lot of money—more than he needs.
How would contemporary descriptive grammar analyze more than he needs there?
Would "more than he needs" be analyzed as a supplemental noun phrase?...
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"Best"—adverb or adjective (in the sentence)
The medicine is best taken after meals.
I think it's an adverb modifying verb, but it can be an adjective after the copula.
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What does "for" mean in the second-to-last verse of the last stanza of Eric Bogle's "The Green Fields of France"?
The song "The Green Fields of France", written by Eric Bogle, ends with:
For young Willie McBride, it* all happened again,
and again and again and again and again.
*war, the song is about ...
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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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How is it grammatical to say "for the time being"? Shouldn't we say "for the being time"? "Being" is an adjective, and adjectives go before the noun
How is it grammatical to say "for the time being"? Shouldn't we say "for the being time"? "Being" is an adjective (a participle of the verb "to be", and ...
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How does the phrase "to fall sway to [something]" work synctactically?
I was reading an article and came across that phrase referring to a writer who "fell sway to influences." I understood what it was saying (give way to, fall prey to, etc.), especially after ...
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Is the use of the conjunction " While" at the beginning of this sentence correct? While hearing the bad news, l told everybody in the village
Is it correct to use the conjunction "While" at the beginning of the following sentence?
While hearing the bad news, l told everybody in the village.
I think "While" is not correct,...
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What is a English noun without determiner?
I read a sentence today:
The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) uses a retransmission timer to ensure data delivery in the absence of any feedback from the remote data receiver.
I saw in the ... of ...
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Syntactic similarity as a requirement for an admissible coordination
On page 229 in A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar, I found myself new to the rule that requires both coordinates to be relativised if the first one is
[14] They attended the dinner but they ...
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'...give us it.' [Can a pronoun as a direct object be placed at the very end of a sentence?]
Can a pronoun as a direct object be placed at the very end of a sentence? As in
'...she was saying herself. Emails obtained. Just through honesty? Thrown(?through) and being given out? Because we have ...
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Are ‘up’ and ‘down’ prepositions or adverbs in "walk up" and "fall down"?
What's the function of "up" and "down" in mentioned examples?
We walked up the hill to the house.
Be careful, don't fall down the stair.
Preposition or adverb?
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Why, in one simple sentence, there are two verbs?
Jerry kicked the door open.
1st verb-kick
2nd verb-open
Why there are two verbs?
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Is "I heard old war drums beat." from the Eric Bogle's song "Welcome Home" grammatical?
In the Eric Bogle's anti-war song "Welcome Home" (about the Vietnam War) there is a line "I heard old war drums beat.". Is it grammatical or is it licentia poetica? I think I ...
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Is the sentence " We are more or less the same age." Syntactically correct?
We are more or less the same age.
We are more or less of same age.
Which one is correct, and a how a Noun describe someone,( I can't say They are blackness, I am humbleness etc.but how I can say like ...
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How to analyze the structure of this sentence?
I heard this sentence from a speech:
The number of people and even the percentage of the population both living in extreme poverty has really gone down over the past two centuries.
(Yalecourses, &...
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With vs without Preposition rule?
The documents is sixteenth century.=The documents is from the sixteenth century.
Why are both the sentences are same?? What is the syntax rule applied here?
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Be verb+Noun(Used as an adjective)
I spotted it in a junk shop in Bridport, a roll-top desk. The man said it was early nineteenth century, and oak.
I have a doubt regarding any grammar rules as to this "be+Noun"(using as ...
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What does "humans do" in this sentence refers to?
I have a question.
It's wrong for scientists to presume the environment other species
sense in the same way humans do.
What does "humans do" refer to? Is it "humans sense" or &...
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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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Is this dialogue idiomatic: - How do you often cook potatoes? - Often I just bake them
Is this dialogue idiomatic:
-- How do you often cook potatoes?
-- Often I just bake them.
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Why are they grammatical, "those things a thought," "those a thought"?
OK, this is the way in which some things are unities - by being continuous or a whole. Other things, however, get to be unities by dint of the fact that the account of them is a single account. This ...
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What is the The grammatical subject in the given sentences? [closed]
One comfort that she had under the Ordeal by General was more sustaining to her, and made her more grateful than to a less devoted and affectionate spirit, not habituated to her struggles and ...
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Take oneself by the collar
Others can see the difficulty, but the boy must take himself by the collar and make himself cultivate a poise and calm that smothers the fidgets.
What does "take oneself by the collar" mean?...
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I'm a fan of yours vs I'm your fan [duplicate]
I'm a fan of yours vs I'm your fan
Two friends meet at a bar.
One says to the other who is a local musician with quite a few fans.
I've never told you this but I'm actually your fan.
How does it ...
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Parsing "Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length" [closed]
This is the title of a Robert Frost poem:
Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.
I am having difficulties in understanding the correct interpretation.
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I am having difficulties in understanding the sentence, (Parse this sentence please.) [closed]
Nothing worth having comes easy...
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Are these changes in this sentence syntactically acceptable?
Consider this example:
I will pick you up at 11 in the morning.
A simple sentence with a transitive phrasal verb 'pick up'.
Now my question is: Can we say
I will pick up you at 11 in the morning?
...
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How should I understand this usage of "for"
This latter fact could not simply be a conjunctive fact, combining a finite number of facts about the whiteness of each individual swan. For even if a is white, and b is white, and c is white, and so ...
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Meaning of the bolded texts
The vision is in effect a statement of strategic intent that serves to focus the energies of the organisation management towards the setting and achievement of specific goals and objectives. Its ...
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Is this a complex or a compound sentence?
I learned there are 4 classifications of sentences. Simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences. I was thinking, what type is this sentence:
Can we become friends if you don't mind?"...
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The placement of the "a" in: Those times are commonly considered a much more refined and intellectual period as opposed to
"Those times are commonly considered a much more refined period as opposed to..."
(1)The above "a" should be moved before "period", right?
(2) Similarly to: "This is ...
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"Something was bound to happen. More soon did."
This question is raised on the basis of a bad parsing of an otherwise unproblematic sentence, it seems.
From a New York Times article:
“We don’t live in a utopia,” he said in a 2002 interview with ...
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What would be the meaning of "You give me the awful impression […] of someone who hasn't read any of the arguments against your position ever."?
As a non native speaker I am facing trouble understanding one of the famous quotes from Christopher Hitchens,
"You give me the awful impression, I hate to have to say it, of someone who hasn't ...
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Syntax: What's the correct order?
I'm about 4-5 hours trying to figure out this subject, ahaha.
First of all, I want to give you a little context:
I was talking to a native friend, and the following sentence came up:
Brazilians are ...
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Syntax: a little more romance
I'm not sure if "more" in this sentence role as a determiner or an adverb.
What you need is a little more romance. [1]
Is it qualifying "is" or "romance"?
I perceive ...
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How is "They are flying planes" ambiguous?
I need to explain how the sentence They are flying planes is ambiguous. I understand that one possible meaning could be "they are controlling planes" but I'm not sure about other possible ...
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Hand in: At the most / the most
I came across the following sentence:
Hand this in at the most convenient time for you.
I would like to know why the sentence could not be rewritten like this:
Hand this in the most convenient time ...
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"he it was bought the diving dress"
I find this sentence confusing. Its syntax is mysterious to me. Could you help me figure it out? Wells's short story Jimmy Goggles the God
He got hold of the Sanderses and their brig; they were ...
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"Fellers", what does it mean in this sentence?
In what sense is "fellers" used here and what is the subject to the predicate "was wanting"? The subject is Jennie, but she doesn't have a wife. Wells's short story The Purple ...
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What's the syntax of this Bradbury sentence?
I don't understand the syntax of this sentence. Please help me figure it out. I begin to feel confused at "but what". It's from "There Will Come Soft Rains", a short story by Ray ...
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What does "for" mean in this sentence?
Clearly Glass is no longer accurate when he says "there is no structure at all -the structure defines itself from moment to moment", for it is precisely the expectation that something ...
user138449
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Printed note vs Note which has been printed (What's the difference?)
Footnote:
A printed note at the foot of a page in a book.
Can I rewrite it this way?
A note which has been printed at the foot of a page in a book.
Do both the sentence mean the same, even after ...
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'On' vs 'by', Which preposition should I use in the sentence?
I purchased it on/by open account from creditor.(Sense-through the means of)
Which preposition is suitable here? Why?plz explain..
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Can somebody diagram this sentence for me please?
No parking is allowed here.
No parking is a noun phrase (determiner + gerund), but I'm not quite sure for "is allowed here". Is "here" a determiner? Thanks in advance.
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negative sentence form - they have many friends
What the negative form of the offer - They have many friends. Will be?:
They have no friends.
They have not many friends.
which one is correct and why?
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"Thinking little at all about nothing in particular"
If the bold part is removed, the sentence is ok. But as it is, it sounds weird. Could you help me fugure out the syntax of it? What is "little"? What does "at all" have to do with ...
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''it seems it was only yesterday'' vs ''it seems like only yesterday''
What's the difference entre : ex.1 : It’s been over a year since we met, but it seems it was only yesterday.
ex.2: It’s been over a year since we met, but it seems like only yesterday.
Does the verb &...
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What is the syntactic function of "a lot more" in this sentence?
I think we’re going to see a lot more of her.
As far as I know, "a lot" is a quantifier, as is "more".
I would like to know which function one or the other represents - In ...
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