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 Wed May 07, 2008 9:25 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
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| Wed May 07, 2008 9:42 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
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| Wed May 07, 2008 9:51 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
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| Wed May 07, 2008 10:01 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
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| Wed May 07, 2008 10:19 am Misuse of the participial phrase |
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| That's where the "misuse" is, Molly. |
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Haihao
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| Wed May 07, 2008 11:29 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
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| Wed May 07, 2008 19:44 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
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Yankee
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| Wed May 07, 2008 19:52 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
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| Wed May 07, 2008 19:55 pm Misuse of the participial phrase |
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| lost_soul wrote: | | Unfortunatunatelly, |
Now, that was a mouthhhhfullllllll! 
PS
What happened to your 'signature', Alex?
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Yankee
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| Wed May 07, 2008 21:15 pm Misuse of the participial phrase |
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Ah, right. Thanks. |
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Molly
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| Thu May 08, 2008 1:10 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
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lost_soul
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| Thu May 08, 2008 7:10 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. 
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By the way, I can see your 'signature' in your last post.
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Yankee
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| Thu May 08, 2008 7:38 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
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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... |
