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Newguest Posted 16 years ago
Vocabulary

Aided by his knowing

Hi

He had canvassed the archives looking for one item in particular. After an hours-long search, but aided by his knowing the week span he was looking for, he found it.

I cannot figure out the bolded part. What does it say?
  

Top answer

"Knowing the week span he was looking for" is a gerund phrase. Gerunds are verbal nouns often identified by the "-ing" ending, which in this case is "knowing". A much more common word would be "knowledge", which would make the sentence say "knowledge of the week span [that] he was looking for".

— Lakshwadeep

  • "Knowing the week span he was looking for" is a gerund phrase.
  • Gerunds are verbal nouns often identified by the "-ing" ending, which in this case is "knowing".
  • A much more common word would be "knowledge", which would make the sentence say "knowledge of the week span [that] he was looking for".
  • So, the man's knowledge of the approximate dates of his search term helped him search through the archives faster.
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6 Answers
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"Knowing the week span he was looking for" is a gerund phrase. Gerunds are verbal nouns often identified by the "-ing" ending, which in this case is "knowing". A much more common word would be "knowledge", which would make the sentence say "knowledge of the week span [that] he was looking for". So, the man's knowledge of the approximate dates of his search term helped him search through the arch
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Hi

So it means that after many hours of his search during which he actually knew which week to look for, he found it.
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Hi

I have one more question. I wrote "which week to look for". But maybe it would be more precise to say: which dates within the given week to look for ...

I suppose it doesn't say he knew which week to look for, but which days within the given week to look for, but maybe it's one and the same
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"which week to look for" would be okay because the week includes all the days within the week. Another way to say it: "he knew which week to look in."
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