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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Order of words

I'm getting a little confused with the order of words.

Are these correct?

The plane landed earlier in London. (By earlier, they mean earlier in the day).

The plane landed in London earlier.

We hope you find beneficial this guidebook.

We hope you find this guidebook beneficial.
  

Top answer

The plane landed earlier in London. OK The plane landed in London earlier. ) We hope you find beneficial this guidebook.

— CalifJim

  • The plane landed earlier in London.
  • OK The plane landed in London earlier.
  • ) We hope you find beneficial this guidebook.
  • NO We hope you find this guidebook beneficial.
  • OK In shortening "find that this guidebook is beneficial", it makes no sense to change the order of words and put "beneficial" before "this guidebook".
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10 Answers
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The plane landed earlier in London. OK
The plane landed in London earlier. OK (This one shows the common order 'place before time'.)
We hope you find beneficial this guidebook. NO
We hope you find this guidebook beneficial. OK

In shortening "find that this guidebook is beneficial", it makes no sense to change the order of words and put "beneficial" before "this guidebook".
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Thank you. This is part of a longer sentence, which is why I moved "beneficial". The full sentence is "We hope that you find beneficial this guidebook, which was given to attendees of last week's summit."
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AnonymousThis is part of a longer sentence
That makes no difference. "find" is a catenative verb that takes a noun phrase and a predicate, in that order. Your longer sentence is awkward because of this. You'll need some different way of saying it. I'd recommend splitting it into two sentences, though you could take out the catenative "find" structure and re
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Thanks for replying. Sorry I didn't give you the full sentence to begin with. How do you know that "find" is catentative? I have searched online but can't see "find" in any of the lists of catentative verbs I've found. To be truthful, my knowledge of catenative verbs is limited. I've never been so confused.

How about this? "We trust that you will benefit from reading this guidebook, a co
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AnonymousHow about this? "We trust that you will benefit from reading this guidebook, a copy of which was given to attendees of last week's summit."
Much better.
AnonymousI have searched online but can't see "find" in any of the lists of catentative verbs I've found.
Actually, it is a catenative verb, but as I think about it
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Thank you. It would be good to know how to identify a catenative verb and also verbs that take object complements. What about replacing "find" with "deem" - would that work? It would also be good know how one can determine whether or not the verb-adjective-object in certain sentences is acceptable.
I'm guessing there is no easy way explaining that.
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AnonymousWhat about replacing "find" with "deem" - would that work?
No.
AnonymousIt would also be good know how one can determine whether or not the verb-adjective-object in certain sentences is acceptable.I'm guessing there is no easy way explaining that.
You're guessing right. Here's a link that might interest you.
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Thank you for the link, CJ. If I did want to replace "find", I would have to replace it with an intransitive verb, wouldn't I? (because intransitive verbs don't require an object? Have I understood that correctly?
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Anonymousintransitive verbs don't require an object
Intransitive verbs forbid an object.

"find" is transitive.

CJ
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Thank you. I know that "find" is transitive. That is why I'm wondering if I did not find an "intransitive" word to make my sentence correct.
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