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Anonymous Posted 20 years ago
Grammar
subject of passive voice phrase becoming subject of activevoice.Isthis ok ?
Both Jack and Jill were brought up speaking one language but wrote their novels in another language.
The above sentence is grammatically correct. But the subject for underlined form is Jack and Jill..
And this subject is taking action in part one of sentence (Both Jack and Jill were brought up speaking one language) and
is performing action in second part of sentence (underline sentence)..
Is this ok ? For some reason sentences like this don't sound ok to my ears.. Would appreciate if some one can
explain a bit. Thank you ..
If I modify the sentence as below, who wrote the novels ?
Both Jack and Jill were brought up speaking one language by their parents but wrote their novels in another language.
The above sentence is grammatically correct. But the subject for underlined form is Jack and Jill..
And this subject is taking action in part one of sentence (Both Jack and Jill were brought up speaking one language) and
is performing action in second part of sentence (underline sentence)..
Is this ok ? For some reason sentences like this don't sound ok to my ears.. Would appreciate if some one can
explain a bit. Thank you ..
If I modify the sentence as below, who wrote the novels ?
Both Jack and Jill were brought up speaking one language by their parents but wrote their novels in another language.
Top answer
Even in the modified sentence, it is still "Jack and Jill" who wrote the novels. The sentence given actually contains a hidden subject, thus - "Both Jack and Jill were brought up speaking one language, but (Jack and Jill) wrote their novels in another language". Sharad, is Hindi your nativ tongue?
- Even in the modified sentence, it is still "Jack and Jill" who wrote the novels.
- The sentence given actually contains a hidden subject, thus - "Both Jack and Jill were brought up speaking one language, but (Jack and Jill) wrote their novels in another language".
- Sharad, is Hindi your nativ tongue?
- If so, I can explain in Hindi if you want.
- My Hindi may not be all that great, but I think it will help you understand things better.
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8 Answers
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Even in the modified sentence, it is still "Jack and Jill" who wrote the novels.
The sentence given actually contains a hidden subject, thus -
"Both Jack and Jill were brought up speaking one language, but (Jack and Jill) wrote their novels in another language".
Sharad, is Hindi your nativ tongue? If so, I can explain in Hindi if you want. My Hindi may not be all that
The sentence given actually contains a hidden subject, thus -
"Both Jack and Jill were brought up speaking one language, but (Jack and Jill) wrote their novels in another language".
Sharad, is Hindi your nativ tongue? If so, I can explain in Hindi if you want. My Hindi may not be all that
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I'm not sure but maybe to insert a comma after 'parents' can fix it.
Both Jack and Jill were brought up speaking one language by their parents, but ( they) wrote their novels in another language.
Both Jack and Jill were brought up speaking one language by their parents, but ( they) wrote their novels in another language.
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Yes, it's still Jack & Jill who wrote the novels. If you have a sentence with two independant clauses, and omit the subject in the second one, it's automatically the subject of the first one that's inferred.
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Thank you all..
But can any one confirm that "they" in second sentence is also referring to "Jack and Jill" ??
Pronoun always refers to nearest antecedent and so in this case it's referring to "parents",correct ?
If so, the second sentence is wrong and need to be constructed in a way to mean - Jack and Jill wrote the novels and not the parents..
But can any one confirm that "they" in second sentence is also referring to "Jack and Jill" ??
Pronoun always refers to nearest antecedent and so in this case it's referring to "parents",correct ?
If so, the second sentence is wrong and need to be constructed in a way to mean - Jack and Jill wrote the novels and not the parents..
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I'm quite sure that "they" here refers to Jack and Jill, not their parents. I've never heard of the rule that "they" refers to the nearest antecedent, though
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You would have to use "who", then, but the sentence sounds a bit weird.
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Thank you.. What's they referring to in the following case ?
Both Jack and Jill were brought up speaking one language by their parents but they wrote their novels in another language.
Both Jack and Jill were brought up speaking one language by their parents but they wrote their novels in another language.
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