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Anonymous Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
Gerund or not gerund?
My student said, The thing I do first is drinking coffee? She thinks her sentence is correct. Please help me. Thanks.
Top answer
The thing I do first is to drink coffee. "is + verb-ing" makes present continuous tense. eg.
- The thing I do first is to drink coffee.
- "is + verb-ing" makes present continuous tense.
- eg.
- He is drinking coffee.
- Let's look at your sentence.
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2 Answers
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The thing I do first is to drink coffee.
"is + verb-ing" makes present continuous tense.
eg.
He is drinking coffee.
Let's look at your sentence. It has a relative clause. The subject is "thing."
The thing [that I do first] is drinking coffee.
It doesn't make any sense to say "The thing is drinking coffee" because things don't drink coffee.
"is + verb-ing" makes present continuous tense.
eg.
He is drinking coffee.
Let's look at your sentence. It has a relative clause. The subject is "thing."
The thing [that I do first] is drinking coffee.
It doesn't make any sense to say "The thing is drinking coffee" because things don't drink coffee.
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AnonymousThe thing I do first is drinkMore idiomatically, What I do first is (to) drink coffee.ingcoffee.
what = the thing that
The verb after is or was in these constructions* should be the infinitive (with or without "to") unless the form of do is doing
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