0
Park sang joon Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
They had God knew how many casualties over there
Clay glanced across the street and saw that a second black-and-white unit had pulled up behind the first. No need to use Power Suit Woman's cell phone after all. He could just walk across the street and talk to them . . . except he wasn't sure that he dared to cross over here to look at one unconscious girl when they had God knew how many casualties over there?
<From "CELL" by Stephen King>
I can't figure out the structure of the underlined clause and what is the object of "had."
So, I'd like to hear from you about those.
Thank you in advance for your help.
<From "CELL" by Stephen King>
I can't figure out the structure of the underlined clause and what is the object of "had."
So, I'd like to hear from you about those.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Top answer
"*** knew how many casualties" is now described as a noun phrase (NP). It would be the object of "had" in the traditional grammar that I and my contemporaries learnt as children, if the concept of NP had been known then..
- "*** knew how many casualties" is now described as a noun phrase (NP).
- It would be the object of "had" in the traditional grammar that I and my contemporaries learnt as children, if the concept of NP had been known then..
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
2 Answers
0
"*** knew how many casualties" is now described as a noun phrase (NP). It would be the object of "had" in the traditional grammar that I and my contemporaries learnt as children, if the concept of NP had been known then..
00
A simpler example is this.
eg Tom has *** knows how many problems.
The basic idea is this.
Tom has problems. He has so many problems that only *** knows how many.
Clive
eg Tom has *** knows how many problems.
The basic idea is this.
Tom has problems. He has so many problems that only *** knows how many.
Clive
0
Related Questions