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Lucas21c Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Constituent parts of a sentence

Could you tell me what function the underlined part performs in each following sentence? Is it an object or an adverbial phrase?

1. He tried [ speaking in English ].
2. He tried [ to speak in English ].
  

Top answer

lucas21c 1. He tried [ speaking in English ]. "Speaking in English" is a gerund phrase, acting as an object.

— Teechr

  • lucas21c 1.
  • He tried [ speaking in English ].
  • "Speaking in English" is a gerund phrase, acting as an object.
  • lucas21c 2.
  • He tried [ to speak in English ].
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10 Answers
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lucas21c1. He tried [ speaking in English ].
"Speaking in English" is a gerund phrase, acting as an object.
lucas21c2. He tried [ to speak in English ].
"To speak in English" is an infinitive phrase, acting as an object.
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Is it not possible that #2 is interpreted as "He tried in order to speak in English?" That is to say, it means "She tried so that she could have more chances to speak in English."
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Try to do means attempt to do, make a effort to do. Try to speak in English.
Try doing means do something as an experiment or test, for instance She is American and can´t understand what you are saying. Try speaking in English.
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Actually, I know that. The reason why I posted this is just to confirm whether it can be read in another way. Could you tell me about it?
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lucas21cActually, I know that. The reason why I posted this is just to confirm whether it can be read in another way. Could you tell me about it?
I'm not altogether sure, lucas21c. Let's see what teachers say.
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@lucas21c: I'm also not sure what you mean.
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lucas21cIs it not possible that #2 is interpreted as "He tried in order to speak in English?" That is to say, it means "She tried so that she could have more chances to speak in English."
No,
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lucas21cCould you tell me what function the underlined part performs in each following sentence? Is it an object or an adverbial phrase?1. He tried [ speaking in English ].2. He tried [ to speak in English ].
They are neither: the bracketed elements in your examples are catenative complements. The verb "try" is a catenative verb that can take eit
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BillJThe meaning of "tried" in both your examples is "endeavour".
I don't agree that it means 'endeavour' in He tried speaking in English.

The meaning in that sentence is

[TRANSITIVE] to do something in http://www.macmillandictionary
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fivejedjon BillJThe meaning of "tried" in both your examples is "endeavour".I don't agree that it means 'endeavour' in He tried speaking in English.The meaning in that sentence is[TRANSITIVE] to do something in order to find out what happens , or to find out whether something is good , appropriate , effective , etc.He tried seven different colors before finding the right
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