New answers tagged gerunds
4
votes
'What a good parent should do is spending time with their children' is wrong
With sentences of this structure: "What someone [verb] is [non-finite complement clause]", the form of [verb] determines the form of the verb in the complement clause.
It will always be a ...
- 121k
-1
votes
He didn't need asking twice - what's this grammar?
It's correct, but it's so much more a British English thing, that to my Canadian ears, it's not even natural. I easily understand what it means, but because the other way is so much more natural, what ...
- 48.8k
0
votes
He didn't need asking twice - what's this grammar?
[Paddington didn't need asking twice] and soon afterwards they all set
off.
Yes, it's kind of idiom ("enthusiastically accepted"). The bracketed gerund-participial (ing) clause has the same ...
- 15.8k
2
votes
Accepted
He didn't need asking twice - what's this grammar?
The verb need with the meaning of require can be followed by a gerund:
The car needs washing. (same as needs to be washed or is in need of washing)
The dog needs feeding. (same as needs to be fed or ...
- 41.1k
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