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Participle: Why there are no 'is' after 1. 'it' and 2. 'as'?



 
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Participle: Why there are no 'is' after 1. 'it' and 2. 'as'? #1 (permalink) Sun Jan 28, 2007 3:31 am   Participle: Why there are no 'is' after 1. 'it' and 2. 'as'?
 

1.Many people consider it necessary to adopt such test.

2.Some regard the test as being unnecessary.

I don't really understand why there are no "is" after 1."it" and 2."as"?

Can anyone help me?Thank you.
Castro
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Joined: 23 Sep 2006
Posts: 6
Location: Hong Kong

Participle: Why there are no 'is' after 1. 'it' and 2. 'as'? #2 (permalink) Sun Jan 28, 2007 12:55 pm   Participle: Why there are no 'is' after 1. 'it' and 2. 'as'?
 

What you're seeing in your first sentence is called a "small clause". In syntax, this term is used to describe a type of clause that has a noun phrase (NP) as a subject, and then any other type of phrase, such as a verb phrase (VP), a prepositional phrase (PP), an adjective phrase (AP), etc., as a complement. It has no position for an auxiliary verb, or for the verb to be (am, is, are, etc.), so there is no verb tense, and often no verb.

Examples:

Full sentence: John is president of the club.
As a small clause: They elected John president of the club.
They elected NP[John] NP[president of the club]

Full sentence: The test is unnecessary.
As a small clause: They consider the test unnecessary.
They elected NP[the test] AP[unnecessary]

It is necessary to adopt such a test.
Many people consider NP[it] AP[necessary to adopt such a test].

In your sentence number 2, the word being is a gerund taking the place of the word is after the preposition as. You have the idiom to regard [noun] as [noun phrase or adjective phrase]:

Some people regard him as NP[the best person for the job].

Some regard the test as NP[being unnecessary].
The noun in this sentence is the gerund "being".

Notice that you can say the same thing using just the adjective "unnecessary":

Some regard the test as AP[unnecessary].
Jamie (K)
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Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA

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Participle: Why there are no 'is' after 1. 'it' and 2. 'as'? #3 (permalink) Sun Jan 28, 2007 14:05 pm   Participle: Why there are no 'is' after 1. 'it' and 2. 'as'?
 

I got it now.Thank you very much. :D
Castro
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Joined: 23 Sep 2006
Posts: 6
Location: Hong Kong

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