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 #2 (permalink) Sun Sep 16, 2007 4:22 am A tough sentence: 'What Sharif does have going for him is...' |
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I read this in Time.com:
What Sharif does have going for him is a groundswell of public support. Unofficial polls conducted by government agencies show that even before his deportation, Sharif's numbers were climbing. Many of the groups that demonstrated across the country this summer when Musharraf tried to sack the Supreme Court justice have thrown their support behind Sharif.
——I do not understand the structure of this sentence.
BTW: Some error occured in another post of the same title with this one, please delete it, thanks. |
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 Iwanna
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 15 Sep 2007
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| #3 (permalink) Mon Sep 17, 2007 1:17 am A tough sentence: 'What Sharif does have going for him is...‘ |
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&ot
| Iwanna wrote: |
I read this in Time.com:
What Sharif does have going for him is a groundswell of public support. Unofficial polls conducted by government agencies show that even before his deportation, Sharif's numbers were climbing. Many of the groups that demonstrated across the country this summer when Musharraf tried to sack the Supreme Court justice have thrown their support behind Sharif. |
I think there's a dual problem here. One is sending information to the back of the sentence to emphasize it, and the other problem is an idiom.
The idiom: someone has something going for him
This means that the person has an advantage:
"Joe does well in sales, because he has his looks going for him." This means he is good looking and that his appearance helps him in his sales profession.
;Frankie may be ugly, but he has intelligence going for him." He is not good-looking, but he has the advantage of high intelligence.
Now sending the important information to the back:
"I have a peanut in my hand," can be changed to
"What I have in my hand is a peanut."
This is done to stress the word peanut, just as in Slavic languages you just put the word at the end of the sentence.
In the sentence in Time, the basic structure is:
"Sharif has a groundswell of support going for him."
It means increasing support from ordinary people is his advantage.
They wanted to emphasize "a groundswell of support", so they created a structure like my peanut sentence above:
"What Sharif has going for him is a groundswell of support."
Maybe I've made it even more confusing, but I hope not. |
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Jamie (K)
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| #4 (permalink) Mon Sep 17, 2007 2:43 am A tough sentence: 'What Sharif does have going for him is...' |
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What Sharif does not have going for him (=That which is not helping Sharif) is a noun clause acting as the subject of the sentence.
Is = main verb.
A groundwell of public support (= a significant sign of approbation by the Pakistani people) is the complement.
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Mister Micawber
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| #5 (permalink) Mon Sep 17, 2007 6:55 am A tough sentence: 'What Sharif does have going for him is...' |
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Hi, Mister Micawber
You missed the whole point :) Iwanna wrote "What Sharif does have going", i.e. the sense is opposite :lol: |
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Lost_Soul
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| #6 (permalink) Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:38 am A tough sentence: 'What Sharif does have going for him is...' |
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But the structure is the same. I missed no point; frankly, I care very little about Pakistani politics.
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Mister Micawber
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| #7 (permalink) Mon Sep 17, 2007 13:13 pm A tough sentence: 'What Sharif does have going for him is...' |
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| But the predicate 'does have going for him' does not seem to accord with the normative grammar. I guess there are probably some mistakes in this sentence, but what are they? I cannot figure out what the correct forms should be. |
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Iwanna
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 15 Sep 2007
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| #8 (permalink) Mon Sep 17, 2007 13:26 pm A tough sentence: 'What Sharif does have going for him is...' |
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| Iwanna wrote: |
| But the predicate 'does have going for him' does not seem to accord with the normative grammar. I guess there are probably some mistakes in this sentence, but what are they? I cannot figure out what the correct forms should be. |
In fact, it is OK to say "He does have that going for him". You know, using "does" amplifies or intensifies the meaning expressed by the main verb ("have" in this case). You can make do without "does", i.e. you can say "He has that going for him", but it would not sound that dramatic :) |
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Lost_Soul
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 15 Sep 2006
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Location: South Park, Colorado, USA
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| #9 (permalink) Mon Sep 17, 2007 13:30 pm A tough sentence: 'What Sharif does have going for him is...‘ |
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| Jamie (K) wrote: |
&ot
I think there's a dual problem here. One is sending information to the back of the sentence to emphasize it, and the other problem is an idiom.
The idiom: someone has something going for him
This means that the person has an advantage:
"Joe does well in sales, because he has his looks going for him." This means he is good looking and that his appearance helps him in his sales profession.
;Frankie may be ugly, but he has intelligence going for him." He is not good-looking, but he has the advantage of high intelligence.
Now sending the important information to the back:
"I have a peanut in my hand," can be changed to
"What I have in my hand is a peanut."
This is done to stress the word peanut, just as in Slavic languages you just put the word at the end of the sentence.
In the sentence in Time, the basic structure is:
"Sharif has a groundswell of support going for him."
It means increasing support from ordinary people is his advantage.
They wanted to emphasize "a groundswell of support", so they created a structure like my peanut sentence above:
"What Sharif has going for him is a groundswell of support."
Maybe I've made it even more confusing, but I hope not. |
I've just fetched above message from Jamie (K) 's response to this question,and it seems a good answer.
many thinks |
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Iwanna
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 15 Sep 2007
Posts: 112
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| #10 (permalink) Mon Sep 17, 2007 14:10 pm A tough sentence: 'What Sharif does have going for him is...' |
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In addition, here are a few more examples of 'do' used for emphasis:
do |
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Conchita
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| Words: 'high' and 'catch' | Several words which confuse me (wake; awake) |
