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Nithila Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
Could you tell me what is the grammer patter for this sentence?
Two states -- Alabama and Mississippi -- said they would not secede alone. But they said they would join others that made this decision. Two more states -- Louisiana and Georgia -- said they would not secede unless the north acted against them. And one state -- North Carolina -- said it had not yet decided what to do.
No southern governor, except William Gist of South Carolina, seemed willing to lead the South out of the Union.
seemed + willing
Verb + ing.
Here colored part sentence's grammatical pattern is Verb + ing. is not it? if it is not then what would the grammatical pattern?
No southern governor, except William Gist of South Carolina, seemed willing to lead the South out of the Union.
seemed + willing
Verb + ing.
Here colored part sentence's grammatical pattern is Verb + ing. is not it? if it is not then what would the grammatical pattern?
Top answer
"seemed" is the past tense of the verb "to seem". "willing" is an adjective here. )
- "seemed" is the past tense of the verb "to seem".
- "willing" is an adjective here.
- )
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6 Answers
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"seemed" is the past tense of the verb "to seem".
"willing" is an adjective here. (In other contexts it can be the present participle of the verb "to will".)
"willing" is an adjective here. (In other contexts it can be the present participle of the verb "to will".)
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I would add that the present participle of the verb to will is exceedingly rare, so that willing is almost exclusively an adjective.
?For days I have been willing it to be true.
to will might even be considered a non-progressive verb.
seemed willing is like seemed large, seemed happy, seemed ready, etc.
CJ
?For days I have been willing it to be true.
to will might even be considered a non-progressive verb.
seemed willing is like seemed large, seemed happy, seemed ready, etc.
CJ
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CalifJimthe present participle of the verb to will is exceedingly rare
The usage that came to my mind was "I'm willing them on" / "She's willing him on" etc. This is a reasonably common form of words in my part of the world.
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In my opinion, "seem" here is a link verb. So "seemed" is the past tense of "seem",it's like "was" to "is" or "am".
After the link verb,there can be verb+ing form following.And you can also consider verb+ing as a adjective.
The sentense can be changed to:
No southern governor, except William Gist of South Carolina, was willing to lead the South out of the Union.
After the link verb,there can be verb+ing form following.And you can also consider verb+ing as a adjective.
The sentense can be changed to:
No southern governor, except William Gist of South Carolina, was willing to lead the South out of the Union.
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Mr Wordy"I'm willing them on"Are we grammatically deprived in California?
I don't believe 00
CalifJimI don't believe I've ever heard this one!Well, I think there may be some differences here -- I was a bit puzzled actually by your question mark against For days I have been willing it to be true. To me, this sentence is OK. Kind of literary, and perhaps not something I'd say in everyday conversation, but sound nonetheless.
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