Jose Carillo's English Forum
Joe Carillo's Desk => You Asked Me This Question => Topic started by: Mwita Chacha on April 14, 2013, 04:20:50 PM
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Can the sentence ''He failed to be seen by his teacher, cheating in the exam hall'' said to be correct? One may argue people fail to achieve something only after they've ever attempted to accomplish it. It's a fact that in the great interest of any cheating examinee is to NOT be spotted by the invigilator.
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No, the sentence “He failed to be seen by his teacher, cheating in the exam hall” is not only grammatically incorrect but is a very badly constructed sentence. Its syntax is awfully jumbled, and there’s really no point in attempting to parse it. A better approach is simply to rewrite it for logic and clarity: “The teacher didn’t see him cheating during the exam” or “He managed to cheat during the exam without being discovered by the teacher.”
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First, you haven't answered my question.
Second, you've failed to explain why that sentence is grammatically incorrect.
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If you look more closely, the first sentence of my posting answered your first question. As to the grammatical correctness of that sentence you presented, you had already answered your own question about it. In any case, I explained that its syntax is awfully jumbled and that there was no point in attempting to parse it. In short, it's not really worth your while and mine to further dissect that messy construction.
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The problem, which strikes me as unusual, is that you've focussed on the sentence instead of the question I asked: Is it precise for verb ''to-fail'' to be followed by a passive infinitive? Having said that, I'm still adamant the sentence ''He failed to be seen by his teacher, cheating in the exam room'' has both its grammar and syntax undeniably correct. It's one that uses a participial phrase to modify the subject, and anyone raising questions over its perfectness must be not familiar with how verbals are positioned.