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Jake Cheek Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Linking Verb Followed by Gerund
Today in English class we were working on direct and indirect objects. Things were going smoothly until we hit a certain question which sparked an argument. Here it is:
6. The children were playing.
The directions on the worksheet told us to underline the direct object once and the indirect object twice. Not all the sentences have both. My answer to the question was that there aren't any direct or indirect objects. Another student, along with our teacher, insisted that "playing" was the direct object.
After school, I looked online for an answer, but I'm not sure if the answer I found applies to this situation. For example, this website has the example of "Seeing is believing." It says that "believing" would be a subject complement in this case. However, in this sentence, the subject (seeing) isn't doing the action. In the problem from the worksheet, the children are actually playing. So what part of speech is "playing"?
6. The children were playing.
The directions on the worksheet told us to underline the direct object once and the indirect object twice. Not all the sentences have both. My answer to the question was that there aren't any direct or indirect objects. Another student, along with our teacher, insisted that "playing" was the direct object.
After school, I looked online for an answer, but I'm not sure if the answer I found applies to this situation. For example, this website has the example of "Seeing is believing." It says that "believing" would be a subject complement in this case. However, in this sentence, the subject (seeing) isn't doing the action. In the problem from the worksheet, the children are actually playing. So what part of speech is "playing"?
Top answer
Hi, 6. The children were playing. 'Playing' is not a gerund here.
- Hi, 6.
- The children were playing.
- 'Playing' is not a gerund here.
- 'Were playing' is Past Continuous tense (which uses was/were + Present Participle).
- If you haven't learned Past Continuous tense yet, have a look here.
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2 Answers
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Hi,
6. The children were playing.
'Playing' is not a gerund here.
'Were playing' is Past Continuous tense (which uses was/were + Present Participle).
If you haven't learned Past Continuous tense y
6. The children were playing.
'Playing' is not a gerund here.
'Were playing' is Past Continuous tense (which uses was/were + Present Participle).
If you haven't learned Past Continuous tense y
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If you expand this sentence, you can add a direct object.
6. The children were playing video games.
The verb is "were playing" in both sentences. it is the past progressive form of the verb. You are correct that "play" is an action that the children were engaged in, and it is a verb, not a noun.
In your sentence it is used without an object. If you look at the d
6. The children were playing video games.
The verb is "were playing" in both sentences. it is the past progressive form of the verb. You are correct that "play" is an action that the children were engaged in, and it is a verb, not a noun.
In your sentence it is used without an object. If you look at the d
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