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Onizo Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Finish the brushing

A: finsh brushing your teeth.
B: I am very sleepy.
A: you've got to finish (the) brushing.

I guess you can say without the, but in this context, is using the equally natural?
  

Top answer

" In this case, I chose "tidying" as the noun instead of something like "re-arrangement". I needed "the" before the noun in order to identify the particular instance of "tidying" (of my father's house). It is a formal style of speaking or writing.

— Michael Chambers Teaching English

  • " In this case, I chose "tidying" as the noun instead of something like "re-arrangement".
  • I needed "the" before the noun in order to identify the particular instance of "tidying" (of my father's house).
  • It is a formal style of speaking or writing.
  • g.
  • "of my father's house") to avoid repetition.
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8 Answers
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Consider this example:

"I will continue with the tidying of my father's house."

In this case, I chose "tidying" as the noun instead of something like "re-arrangement". I needed "the" before the noun in order to identify the particular instance of "tidying" (of my father's house). It is a formal style of speaking or writing.

If the place where I was tidying had previo
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Thank you.

Then, if A started with "finish the brushing your teeth", it would have been natural formally, is that what you are saying?
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You would need "of" - the brushing of your teeth. It would be correct but definitely not natural for the context! If I said that to my wife, she would give me a funny look! Brits are sometimes considered formal by Americans so I'm pretty sure it would be the same in the USA.

It's much more important to use verb + gerund / infinitive patterns correctly for both formal and informal situ
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Thank you.

um, unfortunally I haven't grasped your talk yet, so if you can please check which is correct, that would be a good help.
followings are excerpts from the web

1. Go over your
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1. a. is correct and what I recommend as the ordinary option.
b. is correct and is the more formal version I recommended for formal writing. This is the option in the text, however, "of the dog's coat" is implied from the context in the previous sentence.
c. Wrong. "of" is required

2. This is wrongly worded. Either "finish brushing and cutting the trees etc" or "finish the brushi
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onizo-
A: Finish brushing your teeth.
B: I am very sleepy.
A: You've got to finish brushing.
"start", "continue", "keep", and "finish" are a few verbs that are followed directly by the -ing form. (Th
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Michael Chambers Teaching English1. a. is correct and what I recommend as the ordinary option.b. is correct and is the more formal version I recommended for formal writing. This is the option in the text, however, "of the dog's coat" is implied from the context in the previous sentence.c. Wrong. "of" is required2. This is wrongly worded. Either "finish brushing and cuttin
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It's Ok to use it, but like I said, it's very formal and also odd to switch from "finish brushing" to "finish the brushing (of my teeth)" in the same conversation, and without having stated "of my teeth" before. It would never be a big deal, but it's just a little unnatural. I would concentrate on using well verb + gerund / infinitive constructions, especially in speech and for informal topics.
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