Messages

1

You Asked Me This Question / Subject Verb Agreement

« on: July 28, 2015, 12:52:17 AM »

"Falling oil prices have hurt the economies of Gulf countries."

or

"Falling oil prices has hurt the economies of Gulf countries."

I see both the have/has usages common on the internet. Which is the correct one?

Thanks.

2

You Asked Me This Question / Participles and Gerunds

« on: June 27, 2012, 01:46:22 PM »

Do participles and gerunds modify adverbs of the main clause? Also, please explain the nuances of such structures.

3

You Asked Me This Question / absolute phrases

« on: June 10, 2012, 04:22:17 AM »

This is with regard to one of your earlier posts on appositives where you said the following sentence is incorrect as "being" is out of syntax.  

“The old man sat in the sofa, his face being serious.”

Link: http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/opinion/columnist1/7984-when-a-modifying-phrase-must-drop-its-verb-to-work-properly

But, to me, it looks like a participial construction and the sentence looks OK, just simply because if you recast the sentence, it looks far better like here:

"His face being serious, the old man sat in the sofa."

 

4

You Asked Me This Question / verbs

« on: June 09, 2012, 12:06:29 PM »

I frequently come across sentences with "is to/are to" construction such as the one given below. I prefer not using those structures as I don't have much clue about them, instead opting to use "will" structures. Can you please explain in detail the usefulness of  "is to/are to" structures and when to use them?

Example:

"Four leading banks are to receive a $23 billion capital injection to replenish their reserves"