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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
Help with Gerunds is Needed
I was discussing the following sentence with my English teacher:
Perhaps most difficult of all is estimating distance and speed when you are passing a car going in the same direction.
She says that 'estimating' is not a gerund but is part of the verb 'is estimating,' and she says that 'most difficult' is the subject instead. (Being an adjective, how can 'difficult' be the subject? If it were the subject, then would it not make the sentence say that this 'difficultness' is performing the action of estimating instead of being the action of estimating?)
Surely the sentence could be rearranged thusly:
Estimating distance and speed when you are passing a car going in the same direction is perhaps most difficult of all.
In this case 'estimating' would surely be a gerund that is the subject of the sentence.
Clarification would be greatly appreciated.
Perhaps most difficult of all is estimating distance and speed when you are passing a car going in the same direction.
She says that 'estimating' is not a gerund but is part of the verb 'is estimating,' and she says that 'most difficult' is the subject instead. (Being an adjective, how can 'difficult' be the subject? If it were the subject, then would it not make the sentence say that this 'difficultness' is performing the action of estimating instead of being the action of estimating?)
Surely the sentence could be rearranged thusly:
Estimating distance and speed when you are passing a car going in the same direction is perhaps most difficult of all.
In this case 'estimating' would surely be a gerund that is the subject of the sentence.
Clarification would be greatly appreciated.
Top answer
Anonymous Being an adjective, how can 'difficult' be the subject? It can't. Anonymous She says that 'estimating' is not a gerund but is part of the verb 'is estimating,' and she says that 'most difficult' is the subject instead.
- Anonymous Being an adjective, how can 'difficult' be the subject?
- It can't.
- Anonymous She says that 'estimating' is not a gerund but is part of the verb 'is estimating,' and she says that 'most difficult' is the subject instead.
- She's an idiot.
- CJ
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1 Answers
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AnonymousBeing an adjective, how can 'difficult' be the subject?It can't.
AnonymousShe says that 'estimating' is not a gerund but is part of the verb 'is estimating,' and she says that 'most difficult' is the subject instead.She's an idiot.
CJ
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