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Usenet Posted 23 years ago
Usage

About the usage of the prepositional phrase

1.) Can you tell the difference between "or something" and " andstuff"? it seems that they are quite similar when they are using in spoken English. Can you give me any example to distinguish their differences?
2.)Hartford continues to lose its industrial base, an economiccatastrophe in the making (that is) characterized by an income base primarily dependent on companies engaged in paper shuffling.

In this example, Is the word, "dependent" is an adjective ? If yes, why can we construct the prepositional phrase from the example, "by an income??" without inserting "being" before the adjective?"dependent". Can you give more examples to explain this question?
3.)In one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, fought atSharpsburg, Maryland, on September 17, 1862, four times as many Americans were killed as would later be killed on the beaches of Normandy during D-day.
In this example, why can we put "Americans were killed" in between "as"? For me, I think this sentence is wrong because no finite-verb and subject but an adjective and an adverb can be put in between "as". Am I right? If I am wrong, please correct me and give me some guide lines how I can construct such kinds of sentences.
  

Top answer

On 25 Aug 2003 08:44:26 -0700, Ron (Email Removed) wrote, in part: [nq:1]Can you tell the difference between "or something" and " and stuff"? it seems that they are quite similar when they are using in spoken English. [/nq] The differences the difference between "and" and "or".

  • On 25 Aug 2003 08:44:26 -0700, Ron (Email Removed) wrote, in part: [nq:1]Can you tell the difference between "or something" and " and stuff"?
  • it seems that they are quite similar when they are using in spoken English.
  • [/nq] The differences the difference between "and" and "or".
  • If I ate a hamburger, french fries with ketchup (BrE: tomato ketchup, I think), and soda, I might say I ate a burger and stuff.
  • If I ate a hotdog, I might say I ate a burger or something.
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7 Answers
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On 25 Aug 2003 08:44:26 -0700, Ron (Email Removed) wrote, in part:
[nq:1]Can you tell the difference between "or something" and " and stuff"? it seems that they are quite similar when they are using in spoken English. Can you give me any example to distinguish their differences?[/nq]
The differences the difference between "and" and "or". If I ate a hamburger, french fries with ketchup (BrE
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[nq:2]four times as many Americans were killed as would later ... guide lines how I can construct such kinds of sentences.[/nq]
No, it's perfectly normal to put a clause between "as" and "as".
[nq:1]How else would you say it? [/nq]
I agree that no change is necessary. Some writers might use "were later to be killed" instead of "would later be killed", but it's a personal choice.
Bu
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Dear Mike,
Really thanks for your help!! Can you give me more examples and rules to construct that kinds of sentence? Can I put a phrase between "as" and "as"? If yes, how to make it correctly?
Moreover, I'd appreciate it if you could anwser the question 2. I'm really keen on finding out the answer.
Thanks a lot!!!
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[nq:1] No, it's perfectly normal to put a clause between "as" and "as".[/nq]
[nq:2]How else would you say it? [/nq]
[nq:1]I agree that no change is necessary. Some writers might use "were later to be killed" instead of "would later ... rather than just on that one day. If I meant just that day, I'd usually say "on" instead of "during".[/nq]
Am I the only one who thinks it should be ame
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[nq:1]Am I the only one who thinks it should be amended to "four times as many Americans were killed than would later be killed on the beaches of Normandy during D-day"? Apparently so.[/nq]
Yes.
Would you say "I've got four times as many marbles than you"?

.

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
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[nq:2]Am I the only one who thinks it should be ... D-day"? Apparently so.[/nq]
[nq:1]Yes. Would you say "I've got four times as many marbles than you"?[/nq]
Never. And in fact I wouldn't, on reflection, change the quoted passage. But I'd never consciously noticed before how "four times more" works differently from "four times as many" in that respect. Subconsciously, I sense the differe
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[nq:1]Moreover, I'd appreciate it if you could anwser the question 2. I'm really keen on finding out the answer.[/nq]
..2.)Hartford continues to lose its industrial base, an economic ..catastrophe in the making (that is) characterized by an income base ..primarily dependent on companies engaged in paper shuffling.

..In this example, Is the word, "dependent" is an adjective ?

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