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Use and Misuse / A heated grammar dispute over the linking verb “is” in a sentence
« on: December 02, 2012, 12:08:24 AM »
My officemate and I had a grammar dispute over this sentence that I used as a remark in my report: "John Sorilla, brother of the subject, is the co-maker of the principal borrower." Now, my officemate insisted that I must remove the linking verb "is" because, according to her, it made my sentence awkward to read. I was not in accord with her in that suggestion, so I begged for a clear explanation as to why she believed it made my sentence awkward in construction. Apparently, she was unable to explain her claim, so I justified mine.
I told her that pulling the linking verb "is" out in that sentence would not make it any less awkward, if not grammatically incorrect. I said that the linking verb "is" is very important in that construction because it connected the subject "John Sorilla" to the complement "the co-maker of the principal borrower". I further explained that the sentence falls under one of the seven sentence patterns in English--S LV C--and that removing the linking verb "is" would make the sentence downright ungrammatical. Assuming that it added to her confusion, I went even further to explain that the noun phrase "brother of the subject", which was separated by a pair of comma, is an appositive phrase that explains or renames the subject
Is my assessment of the situation correct? I just want to know your opinion because even though I was able to explain my side sufficiently, I did not win that heated debate. To my surprise, my other officemate sided with her and i was forced in the end to edit my sentence.
More power to you and to this forum!
I told her that pulling the linking verb "is" out in that sentence would not make it any less awkward, if not grammatically incorrect. I said that the linking verb "is" is very important in that construction because it connected the subject "John Sorilla" to the complement "the co-maker of the principal borrower". I further explained that the sentence falls under one of the seven sentence patterns in English--S LV C--and that removing the linking verb "is" would make the sentence downright ungrammatical. Assuming that it added to her confusion, I went even further to explain that the noun phrase "brother of the subject", which was separated by a pair of comma, is an appositive phrase that explains or renames the subject
Is my assessment of the situation correct? I just want to know your opinion because even though I was able to explain my side sufficiently, I did not win that heated debate. To my surprise, my other officemate sided with her and i was forced in the end to edit my sentence.
More power to you and to this forum!