Possibly didn’t make the subject clear enough. I don’t know if that can be changed? To me, structures of this type should follow what you normally use after the main verb. For instance: All I want is to stay here What I like is coffee All I want to do is (to) dance (I guess … Read more
Extracted from an English cloze test: …..these virtual selves exist in the same online spaces that many people use every day. And this is a new and unfamiliar phenomenon that some people might find___________ — previously dead people were not present in this way. trouble troubled troubling be troubled to trouble The answer is 3 … Read more
I’m having some confusion here as I’ve been tasked with checking that some texts fit a style guide for work, and it requires that two adjectives directly preceding a noun be hyphenated, e.g. ‘well-dressed woman’. That example is straightforward enough for me, but I have no clue how far it extends. I’m seeing a lot … Read more
I am struggling to understand the syntactic relevance of the distinction between complement and modifier in theories such as the one presented in the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language by Huddleston and Pullum (henceforth CaGel). Specifically, I’d like to know (i) Is there a concise, precise definition of each of these functions, saying exactly … Read more
When I learnt grammar in school, I was taught that there are optional and obligatory adverbials. Trying to understand grammar in the form presented by Huddleston and Pullum (e.g. the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language and A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar), I’m wondering how to deal with “obligatory adverbials” such as the following: … Read more
This question is specifically for those who are familiar with the 2002 edition of The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language by Huddleston and Pullum. The book has this passage at page 272: Strictly speaking, an intransitive preposition may have a complement other than an object NP – e.g. owing in owing to the rain … Read more
It occurs me that in such sentences as He is far from happy. However, just as the critics are not of one mind in their criticism, so they are far from united on what to do. the preposition from is followed by adjectives. Since prepositions by definition are placed before nouns/noun phrases, I wonder if … Read more
New York Times article about restuarant employees blocking patrons from leaving the building: One of the arresting officers, Anthony Sengco, wrote in his criminal complaint that he observed Dr. Pemberton, Mr. Baptiste and Mr. Debnam blocking the exit to the restaurant and that the men had stated to him that they were trying to prevent … Read more
CaGEL on page 216 cite the following: “Kim gave the key to Pat” An NP indirectly related to the verb through the preposition is referred as an oblique. The phrase “to Pat” is a non-core compliment of the verb give, but the NP Pat is an oblique. In a double object construction where both the … Read more
In a sentence like "The man had trouble finding shoes to fit," how might "had trouble finding shoes to fit" be analyzed? Is this like a direct object ("trouble") and object complement (the gerundive "finding shoes to fit")? Furthermore, would the infinitive "to fit" be a complement to "finding"? Thank you for any thoughts on … Read more
