26
votes
"Stopped talking" and "stopped to talk"
Infinitives of purpose
We can use an infinitive of purpose at the end of a clause to explain WHY we do something or did something:
I came to London to learn English.
I went to the shops to buy some ...
20
votes
Accepted
"A myth come true." Is the base form of "come" legitimate?
"A myth come true" is a noun phrase, not a complete sentence.
You are correct in that if it were a complete sentence, the verb would have to be correctly conjugated for the subject. In this ...
- 41.1k
16
votes
Why was 'Having seen that it is about to rain...' not the correct answer?
had better
I suspect that you were caught out by the word “had”. After all, “had” is the past tense of “to have” (“I had a dog”), and it’s also used as a helper to signify the past perfect (“I had ...
- 1,019
11
votes
Accepted
Having involved and Having been involved
"having involved in ..." here is definitely wrong. Involve is always transitive so needs an object. The " ...in trading etc." doesn't provide an object. you need to simply add &...
- 2,750
9
votes
Complex object with "see" usage
"I saw her cross the street" describes the event as a complete action from start to finish, while "I saw her crossing the street" describes the action as something that was in progress when you ...
- 772
8
votes
Why is there no "be" in the continuous clause?
Stark's bodyguard spearheading the thing
This is not a sentence, because it doesn't contain a verb. It's a fragment and a noun phrase. It doesn't stand alone here: it's presented as a sort of ...
- 12.3k
7
votes
"Stopped talking" and "stopped to talk"
Stopped talking
Ali was talking, but then stopped talking and did something else.
Stopped to talk
Ali was doing something (like walking), but then he stopped that something and started talking.
...
- 1,485
7
votes
Does "People should be concerned about…" contain the passive voice?
I would tend to agree.
Past participles in English can be promoted to adjectives. And this can result in sentences that can be parsed in several different ways.
To distinguish you can ask "could ...
- 231k
6
votes
drunk and drunken
We have the adjective drunk which means "inebriated, physically and mentally showing the effects of having consumed too much alcohol".
It is used as a predicate complement:
That man is very drunk. ...
- 137k
6
votes
A question related to participles
✘ We starting early, arrived at noon.
No, you can't say that unless you turn starting early into nonessential information by putting it between parenthetical commas. Otherwise, if it's essential ...
- 36.4k
6
votes
Accepted
Why is there no "be" in the continuous clause?
The "ing" form has other uses: participles and gerunds.
This is a participle phrase, headed by the participle "spearheading" and functioning to modify the noun "bodyguard&...
- 231k
6
votes
A reading man/a man reading
When you put a verb before the noun it acts as an adjective.
In example 1, you are describing the man as "a reading man".
In example 2, you saw a man and 'reading' is the action he is ...
- 111k
6
votes
Possessive pronouns before gerunds
[1] I do not like [his working late].
[2] I do not like [him working late].
As with most sentences, there may be some emphasis, but it is not a distinguishing feature of either one.
Both clauses mean ...
- 17.3k
5
votes
Is "can be got/gotten?" correct?
These two Ngrams might help: can be gotten and can be got.
The former has been steadily decreasing in usage since 1917 (with a slight rise and peak in 1945 and 1975), but the latter has dropped from ...
- 3,798
5
votes
Accepted
Thanks to the newly (purchasing/ purchased) printer,
"purchased" is correct. It refers to an action that has been completed - The printer has been/was purchased.
The continuous tense can't be used in this context - "a purchasing printer" is the one ...
- 25.1k
5
votes
Accepted
Dangling participle?
I'm afraid your prior assumption is incorrect. These are not "dangling participles". These are just ordinary participles.
Many participles, like those in (1-4), are formed from reducing relative ...
- 2,840
5
votes
Having involved and Having been involved
Having involved all those people in the scandal, he was now looking to exonerate himself. [transitive]
Having been involved in the scandal himself, he was now looking for redemption.
To involve ...
- 49k
4
votes
Accepted
Comma with Participle Clause
If the participle clause relates to the last item in the main clause, no comma is required. In the following sentence, for example, the participle clause applies to "dog".
He watched the dog ...
- 61.4k
4
votes
The user is logged in vs The user is logged-in
As stangdon says, the hyphenated form is an adjective usually placed before the noun:
Logged-in users have privileges based on their assigned role.
Otherwise, as in your first sentence, don't ...
- 88.5k
4
votes
'Being' a gerund 'being' a participle
*[1] I being angry is not a good thing.
[2] My being angry is not a good thing.
[3] Me being angry is not a good thing.
No: "being" is a 'gerund-participle' verb in all three examples, but ...
- 17.3k
4
votes
Accepted
What does the participle phrase describe in this sentence?
It will be understood to apply to the window was slightly open, since it's just after that phrase and the furniture having been moved won't let in a draft.
Just by the way, I would use the furniture ...
- 43.2k
4
votes
Accepted
Resist < inclusion vs being included>
There is nothing inappropriate about sometimes using a noun instead of a verb.
After much discussion, we decided to... (sounds better than 'discussing it for a long time').
He was arrested for the ...
- 61.4k
4
votes
Why was 'Having seen that it is about to rain...' not the correct answer?
This is an idiomatic use of "see", and doesn't really mean "behold" or "look at with your eyes". It means more "be aware" or "know".
Seeing as it's ...
- 231k
3
votes
When is a participle put before a noun, and when after?
From http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/adjectives/what-is-a-participial-adjective.html (sic)
When a participle is used as an adjective it can be considered to be an adjective and in ...
- 31
3
votes
Questions about the phrase "being broke"
The batter filled Tom's mouth, and prevented him from crying; but, on
feeling the hot water, he kicked and struggled so much in the pot that
his mother thought that the pudding was bewitched, and, ...
- 4,685
3
votes
Accepted
Participles with conjunction
As soon as watching the news, I immediately called him.
This sentence is incorrect grammatically. Why? Because the expression as soon as cannot take a non-finite clause ("watching the news").
It can ...
- 36.6k
3
votes
Any difference between “shouldn’t have done something” and "shouldn’t have to do something”?
Yes. It's the same construction as I shouldn't have answered this vs I shouldn't have to answer this. The latter is a complaint and indicative that not only did I not answer but that I will not answer ...
- 196
3
votes
Is this -ing form a gerund or a participle?
In this case "enlightening" is a simple adjective derived from "enlighten", i.e. "something that enlightens". So it's a participle that modifies "education".
A gerund is a noun derived from a verb, ...
- 88.5k
3
votes
Accepted
"With" usage in adverbial
with can be used that way, it is grammatical. We could use the word now to express the same idea:
He falls asleep, (with) the task having been finished.
He falls asleep, (with) the task now ...
- 137k
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