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#2 (permalink) Wed May 07, 2008 8:25 am Misuse of the participial phrase |
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| May I ask, Molly, who has given a hundred pounds? |
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Haihao I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 2471 Location: Japan
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#3 (permalink) Wed May 07, 2008 8:42 am Misuse of the participial phrase |
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| Haihao wrote: |
| May I ask, Molly, who has given a hundred pounds? |
The farm owner? |
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Molly I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008 Posts: 4017
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#4 (permalink) Wed May 07, 2008 8:51 am Misuse of the participial phrase |
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| If so, the misuse should be of the subject 'My farm', which is also considered as the subject of the participial phrase. |
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Haihao I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 2471 Location: Japan
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#5 (permalink) Wed May 07, 2008 9:01 am Misuse of the participial phrase |
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| Haihao wrote: |
| If so, the misuse should be of the subject 'My farm', which is also considered as the subject of the participial phrase. |
How could anyone think that the farm had given 100 pounds? |
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Molly I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008 Posts: 4017
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#6 (permalink) Wed May 07, 2008 9:19 am Misuse of the participial phrase |
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| That's where the "misuse" is, Molly. |
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Haihao I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 2471 Location: Japan
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#7 (permalink) Wed May 07, 2008 10:29 am Misuse of the participial phrase |
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| Haihao wrote: |
| That's where the "misuse" is, Molly. |
I don't understand. Can you please be more direct? |
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Molly I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008 Posts: 4017
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#8 (permalink) Wed May 07, 2008 18:44 pm Misuse of the participial phrase |
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Your sentence has what is known as a 'dangling participle', Molly. http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/d.html . _________________ "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8316 Location: USA
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#9 (permalink) Wed May 07, 2008 18:52 pm Misuse of the participial phrase |
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| Unfortunatunatelly,in my native language people sometimes make the same mistake (because we have participles as well), and to me it always sounded weird and I could not and still cannot understand how it is possible for a native Russian speaker to make such mistake. |
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Lost_Soul I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 15 Sep 2006 Posts: 1861 Location: South Park, Colorado, USA
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#10 (permalink) Wed May 07, 2008 18:55 pm Misuse of the participial phrase |
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| lost_soul wrote: |
| Unfortunatunatelly, |
Now, that was a mouthhhhfullllllll! :lol:
PS What happened to your 'signature', Alex? _________________ "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8316 Location: USA
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#11 (permalink) Wed May 07, 2008 20:15 pm Misuse of the participial phrase |
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Ah, right. Thanks. |
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Molly I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008 Posts: 4017
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#12 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 0:10 am Misuse of the participial phrase |
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Baskervill and Sewell, who also quote Goldsmith, and pose a similar question (see here), provide this explanation:
"The trouble is, in the sentences first quoted, that the main subject of the sentence is not the same word that would be the subject of the participle, if this were expanded into a verb."
(I find that separation of "is" and "that" disconcerting.)
MrP |
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MrPedantic I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 13 Oct 2006 Posts: 1326 Location: Southern England
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#13 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 5:37 am Misuse of the participial phrase |
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| Yankee wrote: |
| lost_soul wrote: |
| Unfortunatunatelly, |
Now, that was a mouthhhhfullllllll! :lol:
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Dam it ! I knew from the onset there was something wrong with that word - it seemed unusually long to me :)
| Yankee wrote: |
PS What happened to your 'signature', Alex? |
I don't know. In my profile it says "always attach my signature", but in some cases it is not attached. And on top of that I cannot see the "include my signature" check box at the bottom of the textbox where I type my posts. I cant quite put my finger on what's wrong... :?
Maybe, Torsten can shed some light on the matter...
By the way, does the phrase "have class" mean "to be a pillar of society, to behave in society" ? |
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Lost_Soul I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 15 Sep 2006 Posts: 1861 Location: South Park, Colorado, USA
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#14 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 6:10 am Misuse of the participial phrase |
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Hi Alex
I got a nice little gift from one of my ESL groups, and I liked it, so I decided to make up a new avatar that looked like it. It's a play on words (as I'm sure you already understand). See definitions 3c and 5 here. :D . . By the way, I can see your 'signature' in your last post. . _________________ "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8316 Location: USA
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#15 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 6:38 am Misuse of the participial phrase |
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| Quote: |
| Baskervill and Sewell, who also quote Goldsmith, and pose a similar question (see here), provide this explanation: |
I've seen there, but didn't understand it.
| Quote: |
| (I find that separation of "is" and "that" disconcerting.) |
Yes, I was going to post that one in a new thread. Hmm...
How about here?
I find, when drunk, that I'm not able to walk straight. I find that, when drunk, I'm not able to walk straight. I find that when drunk I'm not able to walk straight. |
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Molly I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008 Posts: 4017
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| Finding mistakes: If an ambulance isn't coming soon, the passenger who has many | Finding mistake: She entered politics in 1989, and went on becoming a minister... |