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Angliholic Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Live to be 100 years old
The Chinese variety, a strong plant that can grow to be 2.75 meters high, can live to be 100 years old and survives cold winters.
Hi,
Are both the bolded "to be" in the above optional? Thanks.
Hi,
Are both the bolded "to be" in the above optional? Thanks.
Top answer
75 meters high, can live to be 100 years old and survives cold winters. Hi, a re both the bolded "to be" in the above optional? Thanks.
- 75 meters high, can live to be 100 years old and survives cold winters.
- Hi, a re both the bolded "to be" in the above optional?
- Thanks.
- 1) What you wrote is not a sentence; it has no main verb.
- The easiest way to make it grammatical is to replace the first comma with the verb 'is'.
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8 Answers
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AngliholicThe Chinese variety, a strong plant that can grow to be 2.75 meters high, can live to be 100 years old and survives cold winters. Hi, are both the bolded "to be" in the above optional? Thanks.1) What you wrote is not a sentence; it has no main verb. The easiest way to make it grammatical is to replace the first comma wit
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These sentences are fine:
The Chinese variety can live to be 100 years old and survive cold winters.
The Chinese variety can live 100 years and survive cold winters.
(I took out the optional appositive noun phrase between the commas to make the sentence structure clearer.)
Here is a variation on the noun phrase: (...a strong plant that can grow
The Chinese variety can live to be 100 years old and survive cold winters.
The Chinese variety can live 100 years and survive cold winters.
(I took out the optional appositive noun phrase between the commas to make the sentence structure clearer.)
Here is a variation on the noun phrase: (...a strong plant that can grow
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"The Chinese variety, a strong plant that can grow to be 2.75 meters high, can live to be 100 years old and survives cold winters."
Yes, you could look at that as a complete sentence if you give the underlined part a different status than the two italicized parts.
You could also look at it the way it struck me, as being only one long noun phrase.
Yes, you could look at that as a complete sentence if you give the underlined part a different status than the two italicized parts.
You could also look at it the way it struck me, as being only one long noun phrase.
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Yes, the effect of commas and conjunctions is quite dramatic on the parsing of some sentences. I tend to give a writer the benefit of the doubt. It is interesting to look at some variations. These are less ambiguous:
a) clearly a fragment as opposed to a complete sentence.
The Chinese variety, a strong plant that can grow to be 2.75 meters high, live to be 100 y
a) clearly a fragment as opposed to a complete sentence.
The Chinese variety, a strong plant that can grow to be 2.75 meters high, live to be 100 y
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I think it should be mentioned that in the US you can't use metric measurements. That's considered extremely offensive. You'd have to say "...can grow to be 9 feet high."
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Hi,
That's considered extremely offensive.
Really? Are you sure?
Not just unusual or even odd?
Clive
That's considered extremely offensive.
Really? Are you sure?
Not just unusual or even odd?
Clive
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AnonymousI think it should be mentioned that in the US you can't use metric measurements. That's considered extremely offensive. You'd have to say "...can grow to be 9 feet high."Well I live in the US, and am not offended in the least.
Metric units are much more logical and easy to use than our old English system of inches, feet, yards, and miles.
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