Jose Carillo's English Forum

English Grammar and Usage Problems => Use and Misuse => Topic started by: jhinx22 on May 02, 2014, 09:14:33 AM

Title: on going, ongoing, going on
Post by: jhinx22 on May 02, 2014, 09:14:33 AM
Hello, Sir! Which of the following sentences is grammatically correct?:

1. Enrollment is now on going.
2. Enrollment is now going on.
3. Enrollment is now ongoing.
Title: Re: on going, ongoing, going on
Post by: Joe Carillo on May 03, 2014, 09:36:53 PM
Sentence 1, “Enrollment is now on going,” is grammatically incorrect but both Sentence 2, “Enrollment is now going on,” and Sentence 3, “Enrollment is now ongoing,” are grammatically correct.

Sentence 1 suffers from bad syntax and bad semantics because the word order of the phrase “on going” is inverted, making the sentence nonsensical.

Sentence 2 correctly uses the present tense progressive form of the intransitive verb phrase “go on” that means “continue,” while Sentence 3 correctly uses the one-word “ongoing” as an adjective that means “continuing” or “being actually in process.”
Title: Re: on going, ongoing, going on
Post by: jhinx22 on May 05, 2014, 09:51:15 AM
Thank you, Sir!
Title: Re: on going, ongoing, going on
Post by: jhinx22 on May 05, 2014, 09:53:37 AM
Most of the schools here use "on going" instead of the correct form "ongoing". Many thanks for this information.