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You Asked Me This Question / Re: An infinitive next to an adjective.
« on: July 18, 2012, 07:51:53 AM »
I think I will get to understand this slowly with time, as learning is an ongoing, step-by-step process.
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107
You Asked Me This Question / Re: An infinitive next to an adjective.
« on: July 15, 2012, 02:46:46 PM »
Even after you've made some corrections on your specifications, it still doesn't register in my brain that 'am pleased' in ''I am pleased to talk to you'' is a verb phrase. Indeed, my stance that 'pleased' isn't a verb but an adjective is also supported by your answer to the question I posted in the Forum Tuesday headed ''an auxillary or a linking verb.''
Additionally, I deem 'to talk to you' not qualifying to be a prepositial phrase in all respects. This is because a conventional prepositional phrase is formed by a preposition and a noun put together, and I don't think 'talk' is acting as a noun in the phrase 'to talk to you.' The sole genuine prepositional phrase in 'to talk to you' is, of course, 'to you,' which, in the sentence, acts as an adverbial modifier for the verb talk.
So I must say confusion, rather than clearness, has kept on piling on my mind.
Additionally, I deem 'to talk to you' not qualifying to be a prepositial phrase in all respects. This is because a conventional prepositional phrase is formed by a preposition and a noun put together, and I don't think 'talk' is acting as a noun in the phrase 'to talk to you.' The sole genuine prepositional phrase in 'to talk to you' is, of course, 'to you,' which, in the sentence, acts as an adverbial modifier for the verb talk.
So I must say confusion, rather than clearness, has kept on piling on my mind.
108
You Asked Me This Question / Re: An infinitive next to an adjective.
« on: July 15, 2012, 12:57:18 PM »
I'm afrad but, for two major reasons, I've some misgivings concerning your explanation in response to my question.
First, I am relatively opposed to your argument that the phrase to 'talk to you' in my sentence ''I am pleased to talk to you'' is an adverbial modifier, not an infinitive phrase. Unless you set out to teach me that infinitives are no longer formed by the combination of 'verbs' and a particle 'to,' I don't see how can I see it as not an infinitive the phrase 'to talk to you' in that sentence. About it, you also argue that 'pleased' isn't an adjective but an intransitive verb. Do we really in grammar have intransitive verbs in passive forms?
Second, I observe the sentence ''It's nice to talk to you,'' you've given as a legitimate example of constructions having infinitives next to adjectives, itself not qualifying to be so. To my mind, it's a sentence that uses an infinitive phrase as an appositive of the pronoun 'it.' Here is how I would change the position of the infinitive phrase without wrecking the original meaning of the construction: ''It, to talk to you, is nice,'' which has the appositive interrupting the flow of the sentence and ''To talk to you is nice,'' which do away with the pronoun 'it.'
Finally,whether the observations I've given above hold water or not, I would also like to follow up my original question with the seemingly well-founded example of the construction that has an infinitive following an adjective. The sentence is ''He was hesitant to allow his child going swimming,'' and I now hope this one is very much consistent with my question.
First, I am relatively opposed to your argument that the phrase to 'talk to you' in my sentence ''I am pleased to talk to you'' is an adverbial modifier, not an infinitive phrase. Unless you set out to teach me that infinitives are no longer formed by the combination of 'verbs' and a particle 'to,' I don't see how can I see it as not an infinitive the phrase 'to talk to you' in that sentence. About it, you also argue that 'pleased' isn't an adjective but an intransitive verb. Do we really in grammar have intransitive verbs in passive forms?
Second, I observe the sentence ''It's nice to talk to you,'' you've given as a legitimate example of constructions having infinitives next to adjectives, itself not qualifying to be so. To my mind, it's a sentence that uses an infinitive phrase as an appositive of the pronoun 'it.' Here is how I would change the position of the infinitive phrase without wrecking the original meaning of the construction: ''It, to talk to you, is nice,'' which has the appositive interrupting the flow of the sentence and ''To talk to you is nice,'' which do away with the pronoun 'it.'
Finally,whether the observations I've given above hold water or not, I would also like to follow up my original question with the seemingly well-founded example of the construction that has an infinitive following an adjective. The sentence is ''He was hesitant to allow his child going swimming,'' and I now hope this one is very much consistent with my question.
109
You Asked Me This Question / An infinitive next to an adjective.
« on: July 15, 2012, 12:45:57 AM »
Sorry if you find me pestering because of my frequent posting of questions. My question today is what is the job the infinitive 'to talk' doing in the sentence ''I'm pleased to talk to you'' All I know about infinitives is that they are verbals (or non-finite verbs) and in constructions can serve as adjectives, adverbs, or nouns. Perhaps you might agree with me that 'to talk' in the sentence I've given does not serve any purpose close to an adjective or an adverb or a noun. So what is the grammar job achieved by an infinitive when it's placed next to an adjective?
110
You Asked Me This Question / Re: Two thats in a sentence.
« on: July 12, 2012, 08:39:13 PM »
I don't understand why I did forget doing the way you've suggested. Anyway, thank you for the reply, which is brief yet to the point.
111
You Asked Me This Question / Two thats in a sentence.
« on: July 12, 2012, 07:35:55 PM »
How can I avoid placing two thats--one 'that' being a demonstrative pronoun and the other relative--in the same sentence? This is an example of the situation I'm talking about: ''That is the car that was stolen from Angel's back yard last week.'' I'm worried that the sentence sounds boringly repetitive; at the same time, I'm afraid of risking breaching a grammar rule, or at least an American English standard grammar rule, if I decide to replace the second 'that' with 'which.'
114
Use and Misuse / Re: Commas and semi-colons
« on: July 10, 2012, 08:11:27 AM »
Comma is cleary called for before conjuction 'but' in an example sentence that clarifies rule 2, is it not?
115
Use and Misuse / Re: The Progressive Tenses
« on: July 07, 2012, 02:24:16 PM »
Then tenses in English language must be really confusing.
116
You Asked Me This Question / A linking or an auxillary verb?
« on: July 06, 2012, 08:17:39 PM »
In the sentence ''The machine was damaged'' and other similarly constructed sentences, what is the type of service offered by 'was?' Is it acting as a linking verb connecting the noun 'machine' to its corresponding subject complement, in this case the participle predicative adjective 'damaged?' Or is it acting as a primary auxillary verb, which, in the given sentence, combines with the lexical verb 'damaged' to form the verb phrase 'was damaged?' I come across such constructions in many pieces of writing, and I invariably end up totally confused when I attempt to dissect them. Indeed, I have decided to use 'was' in my sentence as representative, but other verb forms of to be--am, is, are and were--pose virtually related addling.
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You Asked Me This Question / Re: Omission of 'that' affects sentence status?
« on: July 04, 2012, 11:05:56 PM »
I thank you for the answer! But have you said that 'that' is a subordinating conjuction? That 'that' is not only a relative pronoun, but also a subordinating conjuction is something really new to me.
118
You Asked Me This Question / Omission of 'that' affects sentence status?
« on: July 03, 2012, 02:09:03 PM »
Does a complex sentence lose its status when converted to its elliptical form? Specifically, does the sentence ''He said that he loved her'' change from being a complex sentence to being a simple sentence when ellipted to ''He said he loved her?''
119
You Asked Me This Question / Re: Choice of lexicon matters?
« on: June 29, 2012, 02:33:12 PM »
I'm glad that you've told me my country's English standard is that approved by Britain; I admit I wasn't aware of the fact. Indeed, living in a country whose president's speech itself can be found to have such words as 'recognize' and 'organise' in the same paragraph, I find it almost impossible to tell which form of English standard we're observing. Instinctually, though, I find myself so preferring American English standard to British--perhaps because most of the books we use for classwork come from America. I think I should rationally resolve to stick to the American English standard and eschew the British English for good.
120
Badly Written, Badly Spoken / Re: 'That'
« on: June 29, 2012, 01:56:10 PM »
Thank you! But I have a feeling that by always not leaving out 'that' in such constructions, we become more on safe side. As an illustration, I don't think the following two sentences mean same thing: 'President Obama said yesterday he would visit Afghanistan' and 'President Obama said yesterday that he would visit Afghanistan.'