Gerund phrase or

Question

It's about learning how to think creatively about those facts, and if you are really good sharing those ideas with other people.I heard the above sentence. I'm sure it's fine. But how can we have an if clause followed by a gerund phrase? Do we treat it as an adverbial clause modifying the verb aspect of the gerund phrase 'sharing those ideas...'?Or is the if clause actually modifying a main clause that has been reduced (it's about sharing those...)?Thanks

Avangi · Accepted Answer

It's about if you are really good. (What's it about?)

It's about whether or not you smoke.

Yours is not an "if" clause in the traditional sense.

English 1b3 · Answer

Hi, Avangi

I think you have misinterpreted the sentence. The if clause is parenthetical. It's about sharing...is the main part.

Ivanhr · Answer

Hi English

It's a very awkward sentence at best and you'll do yourself a big favor scraping it.

English 1b3 · Answer

Hi

It's not mine. And I actually thought there was little wrong with it. But I heard it spoken, so the intonations may have made it less ambiguous.

Ivanhr · Answer

I suppose "if" means "whether" in that sentence and the comma seems redundant too.

Avangi · Answer

I think you have misinterpreted the sentence. Hey, nobody's perfect. - But, could it be you?
(Sharing modifies good - not the other way around.

It's a very awkward sentence at best and you'll do yourself a big favor scraping it.

It sounds perfectly natural to me, albeit a trifle awkward. (They're not mutually exclusive.)
Scraping/scrapping(beats me.)

It's about learning how to think creatively about those facts, and if you are really good sharing those ideas with other people.

I think I can see your error: It's about learning . . , and (if you are really good) about sharing . . .
(This is the misinterpretation.)

Your interpretation implies that you may be allowed to share the ideas with others only if you are good.

The correct interpretation is:
It's about X, and [about] if / whether you are really good AT sharing those ideas etc.

Just because the bold section is audibly stressed, we're not obliged to take it as parenthetical.

BTW, I think the comma after "X" is essential for clarity.

English 1b3 · Answer

AvangiBut, could it be you?

Go to 3.30 on this video. This will clear it up:

Avangi · Answer

No change.

Ivanhr · Answer

Hi Avangi

What's wrong with "scrapping it"?

I thought that "scrap" means "to discard as worthless" (I misspelled the word in one of my previous posts)

Avangi · Answer

Ivanhr What's wrong with "scrapping it"?

With looking at it, or with doing it?

Absolutely nothing.
(I'm the world's worst speller. As a machinist, I sometimes corrected errors by scraping them - "scraping in bearings." ) Just a feeble joke.

One of my earlier pet peeves on the site was how we offer substitutes when posters ask specific questions about specific structures. But some of us end up hoist by our own petard.
Hmmm, I guess that's the wrong metaphor. Let's say, "turnabout is fair play."

Anyway, I think the subject sentence is fine, but English thinks I'm misinterpreting it.

Gerund phrase or

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions