Grammar help please

Question

Hi There,Can you check for me if some of these sentences are grammatical please?I can hear it is raining. Grammatical.I can hear it raining. Grammatical.I can hear raining. Is this grammatical?How possible if I can use your bike? Is this grammatical?How possible I can use your bike? (Possible act as noun)  Is this grammatical?How is possible if I can use your bike. (Possible act as verb)  Is this grammatical?Many thanks.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

John AkiI can hear (that) it is raining.

OK.

John AkiI can hear it raining.

OK. (catenative)

John AkiI can hear raining.

This is OK, but the noun form 'rain' might be a little more likely:

I can hear rain.

Sentences like this are like I can hear your voice or I can hear the music.

John AkiHow possible if I can use your bike? ...
How possible I can use your bike? (Possible acting as a noun)...
How is possible if I can use your bike. (Possible acting as a verb) ...

None of these are grammatical.

'possible' is an adjective It never acts as a noun. It never acts as a verb.

All of your examples can be reduced to a very ordinary question in English:

Can I use your bike?

If you want to incorporate 'possible' into your sentence you can say this:

Is it possible for me to use your bike?

But that's a completely different grammatical structure, and it's not as idiomatic as the shorter question.

CJ

Grammar help please

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions