0
Catull Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

Adjective + active participle?

I just read a chapter about active participles and after having thought that I understood most of it, I can't make any sense of some sentences, which I found on the internet:

"I am very happy being born rich"

Is this sentence the equivalent to "I am very happy because I was born rich?" or "I am very happy, while being born rich"? The latter sentence doesn't make much sense though...

"I am happy speaking english"

"I am happy talking to you"

What do these sentences try to say?

Like: "I am happy while I am speaking english?" "I am happy while talking to you?" or "because I am speaking/talking"?

My merely existant english language feeling tells me, that the first one is less idiomatic than the second despite of the same word/grammar structure: "I am (adjectiv) + active participle". I reckon all these examples try to intermingle two sentences into one. However, I would use a different word order for each of them:

"I am very happy because I was born rich"

"I am happy when I am speaking english" or "...when speaking english"

"I feel happy while talking to you" (strangely "feel happy talking to you" sounds also right to my ears...)


Thank you in advance!

  

Top answer

"Happy with the situation of talking to you" would be a decent alternative.

  • "Happy with the situation of talking to you" would be a decent alternative.
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

3 Answers
0

"Happy with the situation of talking to you" would be a decent alternative.

0
Catull"I am very happy being born rich."
Is this sentence the equivalent to "I am very happy because I was born rich?"

Yes, or closer to the original ... happy because of being born rich. Or more subtly, Since I was born rich, I have more freedom to be happy (than others do).

CJ

0
Catull"I am very happy because I was born rich"

"Happy with the situation of my having been born rich", or simply "happy to be rich."

Related Questions