24
votes
Accepted
Can I use "me" as the subject of the sentence?
In Sentence 1, the subject is Attending X (not me), and the verb is gave (not attending).
Your first sentence is an example of a sentence with a gerund phrase as a subject. Wikipedia gives these ...
J.R.♦
- 108k
8
votes
Accepted
"no + gerund" or "not + gerund"
Consider the following:
There was no scaling that steep cliff.
Going around the mountain was the sane choice, not scaling that steep
cliff.
The first means that the cliff was impossible to ...
- 119k
6
votes
Accepted
What tense is this? 'Despite their already having paid the money...'
despite is a preposition meaning not prevented by. A preposition normally attaches a noun to a sentence, for example:
He completed the marathon, despite his age.
already having paid the money is a ...
- 56.2k
6
votes
Can I use "me" as the subject of the sentence?
The title is misleading since "me" is not the subject in your first example.
Attending X gave me a sense of appreciation for Y.
By attending X, I acquired an appreciation for Y.
In [1] ...
- 13.1k
5
votes
"no + gerund" or "not + gerund"
In modern English grammar, verb + ing is catogarized into three classes:
Gerundial Noun
Gerund-Participle
Participle Adjective
So whether no or not will come immediately before a verb + ing will ...
- 10.7k
4
votes
"I'm not surprised at him/his having difficulties with the exam"
There is no rule: both are correct and both are used. The object form is more common in speech than the possessive determiner.
As Professor Lawler elsewhere notes:
It's one variant, and falutes ...
- 7,664
4
votes
Gerund as a noun 'having/taking a shower'
No. Your underlying sentence I wake up and then I have a shower consists of two independent clauses. You may delete the repeated subject, but the second clause requires a finite verb.
Note also that ...
- 173k
3
votes
Accepted
"decision being made" What piece of grammar is it?
Both of them are examples of the passive voice, the present continuous tense, and a reduced relative clause.
The passive voice is created by using to be and the past participle of the verb. The verb ...
- 34.9k
3
votes
"logical subject" of verbals
I don't like him using swear words.
In the above sentence the verb like has an object that is a gerund phrase
"him using swear words".
The gerund phrase contains a full sentence "He uses swear words"...
- 8,400
3
votes
Accepted
Importance and usage of being in relative clause
Being is essential here. This is not a relative clause but a 'gerund' clause--that is to say, a clause acting as a 'noun' and headed by a verb in the -ing form. The clause "larger ... number" must act ...
- 173k
2
votes
Having a problem with "having"
Yes, having a mentor when they were younger is a noun clause, but not a noun phrase. The difference is that a noun clause is an entire clause acting as a noun in the main clause and a noun phrase is a ...
- 5,054
2
votes
Except + gerund or infitive
Except may take an infinitival clause in this case, because what is “excepted” is a complement of the verb do, and do can in this case be ‘recategorized’ as an auxiliary taking an infinitive ...
- 173k
2
votes
Wish you never + gerund or verb?
There are semantic and syntactic differences between the things we wish and the things we hope.
When we address wishes to another person we usually employ wish as a "ditransitive" verb: that is, the ...
- 173k
2
votes
Accepted
"Using troughs in this way to identify particular bonds is covered on a separate page" - or "The use of.."?
As TRomano said earlier, the first sentence is colloquial; it works only in informal or spoken English. As such, it is sort of out of place in a chemistry book, but the author may have been trying to ...
- 964
2
votes
Is it grammatical to use "[verb]-ing an [object] by an [subject]"?
stoning of an innocent young woman for adultery by a group of radical religious hypocrites.
it is a gerund phrase as object of the preposition "about".
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/phrases....
- 193
2
votes
Can a predicative clause be simplified to a gerund structure since both of them could be used as a predicative?
This is an excellent question—which, alas, has no very clear answer.
You are probably aware that different verbs ‘license’ different sorts of clausal complements: bare infinitive clauses, to ...
- 173k
2
votes
What tense is this? 'Despite their already having paid the money...'
Despite their already having paid the money, there was an additional tax.
-ing words are not verbs, but either participles (if modifiers) or gerunds (if nouns).
To wrap your head around the form of ...
- 35.8k
2
votes
Accepted
Why did the author use "remembering" instead of "remember" in "principles that I think are key to remembering"
to in this case is simply taken as a preposition.
In light of this use, you can replace what is next (together with the gerund) with a noun.
Now I'm starting with three basic principles that I ...
- 3,839
2
votes
Accepted
What is "new people" in this sentence?
As StoneyB mentioned in his comment, "new people" is the direct object of the gerund "meeting." People would be the object, and new would be an adjective that describes the type of people being met. ...
- 1,103
2
votes
Accepted
“His swimming is brilliant”
His swimming is brilliant.
Although the word swimming is a gerund, it's best to call its grammatical use here a noun or gerund noun.
That makes everything easier. Just like you can say: "My car is ...
- 35.4k
2
votes
Accepted
Verb + [adverb clause] + - ing
I could give you a straightforward answer, but I'm guessing you - and anyone else who finds this question later - would prefer to really understand the answer. So, this is going to take a bit of ...
- 22.3k
2
votes
Accepted
Is the auxiliary verb "have" declared implicitly in this sentence?
The sentence is ungrammatical, it should be
After having accused the Congress of working in favour of Pakistan, it appears to have resurrected the issue of "citizenship".
- 7,423
2
votes
Accepted
Is 'watching him' a gerund clause in this example?
He saw James watching him.
Yes, it's a catenative construction.
"See" is a catenative verb and "watching him" is a subordinate gerund-participial clause functioning as its ...
- 13.1k
2
votes
Is this Gerund Phrases correct?
Her (constantly) cleaning the house every day is not necessary.
The expression "her cleaning the house every day" is a non-finite clause with a personal pronoun as subject.
Non-finite ...
- 13.1k
1
vote
"The boys who wore " vs "The boys wearing"
(1) The boys who wore red shirts were Manchester U fans.
(2) The boys wearing red shirts were Manchester U fans
Both are fine. The difference is a grammatical one: In (1) "boys" is modified by ...
- 13.1k
1
vote
"no + gerund" or "not + gerund"
Gerunds are nouns. Participles are modifiers. Both are th base verb + ing.
No modifies nouns (it's an adjective/determiner) and not modifies verbs or other participles (it's an adverb).
Modifiers ...
- 35.8k
1
vote
Two kinds of the subject
It's all a matter of what kind of English we're talking about here.
The first sentence is a possessive gerund. In formal English, I believe Him knowing is incorrect; it would be His knowing instead. ...
- 7,594
1
vote
Two kinds of the subject
The first sentence is correct, and has the same meaning as the second one, but it is awkward. The one suggested by AlanCarmack (without "him") would be the preferable phrasing.
See also other ...
1
vote
The use of the construction "one's +gerund +..." as subject
My being neat and quiet seems something they appreciate.
This is a correct sentence.
The complement (subject) of this sentence is a clause (Gerund-Participle clause) - "my being neat and clean". ...
- 10.7k
1
vote
The use of the construction "one's +gerund +..." as subject
If a gerund has a determiner in front of it (possessive pronouns and articles are determiners), or an object pronoun in front it, it does not change the rules where gerunds are used.
Walking to the ...
- 35.8k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible