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Angelika Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
The word "left"
A student I tutor wrote the following:
"I will keep myself as active as possible and challenge many things for another six months left."
I told the student that she should either delete the "left" or add a relative clause like "that I still have left." I couldn't figure out though why "left" cannot be used at the end of the sentence here, when it can be used sentence-final in "I have another six months left."
I asked a university professor and she came up with the following:
1. "I will live here for another six months." prepositional phrase
2. "I have another six months (that are) left." reduced relative clause
3. "I will be active for another six months."
4. "*I will be active for another six months left." postmodified noun
5. "I will be active for the six months (that are) left."
My problem has to do with sentences 2 and 4. Why is 2. grammatical when 4. isn't? In oder for 4. to be grammatical, I need to add a definite article to the postmodified noun but that doesn't seem to hold for 2. We thought that maybe it has something to do with the verbs (have vs. be active) but we simply couldn't figure out what was going on here.
Any ideas??
Thanks,
Angelika.
"I will keep myself as active as possible and challenge many things for another six months left."
I told the student that she should either delete the "left" or add a relative clause like "that I still have left." I couldn't figure out though why "left" cannot be used at the end of the sentence here, when it can be used sentence-final in "I have another six months left."
I asked a university professor and she came up with the following:
1. "I will live here for another six months." prepositional phrase
2. "I have another six months (that are) left." reduced relative clause
3. "I will be active for another six months."
4. "*I will be active for another six months left." postmodified noun
5. "I will be active for the six months (that are) left."
My problem has to do with sentences 2 and 4. Why is 2. grammatical when 4. isn't? In oder for 4. to be grammatical, I need to add a definite article to the postmodified noun but that doesn't seem to hold for 2. We thought that maybe it has something to do with the verbs (have vs. be active) but we simply couldn't figure out what was going on here.
Any ideas??Thanks,
Angelika.
Top answer
You need to add 'the' to #4 because 'left' defines the 6-month period of activity. It is 'another' which is the anomaly. ' In #2, the period itself is being defined within the sentence, so 'another' still works.
- You need to add 'the' to #4 because 'left' defines the 6-month period of activity.
- It is 'another' which is the anomaly.
- ' In #2, the period itself is being defined within the sentence, so 'another' still works.
- Look at the sequence: 'I have another six months left.
- The six months left will be spent working on my thesis'.
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1 Answers
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You need to add 'the' to #4 because 'left' defines the 6-month period of activity. It is 'another' which is the anomaly. Try:
'I will be active for the other six months left.'
In #2, the period itself is being defined within the sentence, so 'another' still works. Look at the sequence: 'I have another six months left. The six months left will be spent working on my
'I will be active for the other six months left.'
In #2, the period itself is being defined within the sentence, so 'another' still works. Look at the sequence: 'I have another six months left. The six months left will be spent working on my
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