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Jooney Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Infinitival clause
Hi,
Her popularity soared for the next decade. Her second album, “Whitney,” in 1987, became the first album by a woman to enter the Billboard charts at No. 1, and it included four No. 1 singles.
Q1) The presence of the infinitival clause was made possible by the word "first", which was mentioned right befor that. Correct?
Q2) The time of the infinitival clause is the past. Right?
Her second album became the first album by a woman that entered the Billboard charts at No.1.
Q3) Is the above paraphrase grammatically correct? Does it carry the same meaning?
Q4) If the answer is yes to Q3, what is the motivation for using the infinitival clause over the relative clause?
I'd appreciate your help.
Her popularity soared for the next decade. Her second album, “Whitney,” in 1987, became the first album by a woman to enter the Billboard charts at No. 1, and it included four No. 1 singles.
Q1) The presence of the infinitival clause was made possible by the word "first", which was mentioned right befor that. Correct?
Q2) The time of the infinitival clause is the past. Right?
Her second album became the first album by a woman that entered the Billboard charts at No.1.
Q3) Is the above paraphrase grammatically correct? Does it carry the same meaning?
Q4) If the answer is yes to Q3, what is the motivation for using the infinitival clause over the relative clause?
I'd appreciate your help.
Top answer
1-- Well, yes and no. I can make such a sentence without such a modifier: He was not a man to hedge his bets . 2-- An infinitival clause, like a participial one, by definition has no time: It became, is becoming, will become the first to enter the charts .
- 1-- Well, yes and no.
- I can make such a sentence without such a modifier: He was not a man to hedge his bets .
- 2-- An infinitival clause, like a participial one, by definition has no time: It became, is becoming, will become the first to enter the charts .
- Time is set elsewhere in the utterance.
- 3-- The meaning is the same but the structure rings a little oddly.
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4 Answers
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1-- Well, yes and no. I can make such a sentence without such a modifier: He was not a man to hedge his bets.
2-- An infinitival clause, like a participial one, by definition has no time: It became, is becoming, will become the first to enter the charts. Time is set elsewhere in the utterance.
3-- The meaning is the same but the structure rings a little oddly.
4-- It i
2-- An infinitival clause, like a participial one, by definition has no time: It became, is becoming, will become the first to enter the charts. Time is set elsewhere in the utterance.
3-- The meaning is the same but the structure rings a little oddly.
4-- It i
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jooneyHer second album became the first album by a woman that entered the Billboard charts at No.1.Q3) Is the above paraphrase grammatically correct? Does it carry the same meaning?Your paraphrase makes it seem that the woman entered the charts. It's the album that entered the charts, so a better paraphrase might be
Her second album became the fi
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Thank you very much for your help, CJ.
p.s. I made a late reply to your anwer in my last post on the past progressive this
p.s. I made a late reply to your anwer in my last post on the past progressive this
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