What are these words called? (Guest:Fred)

Question

Please can you help me to label the part of speech for each of the words in the following sentence  "They made their way slowly across the deserted square"

Tam · Accepted Answer

I hope the descriptions below are what you need. You can find all these in a dictionary.

They = Pronoun
made = verb- past simple
their = possesive adjective
way = noun
slowly = adverb
across = adverb
the = definite article
deserted = adjective
square = noun

Fred · Answer

A great help - thanks Tam!

I have three more elements of language which, if you could find the time, any information would be of enormous help..., once again many thanks..

(i) What is the difference in meaning between the following sentences?

(ii) Could you please identify the grammatical structure (in speech brackets) in each sentence?

(a) She "had" her house "painted". (past perfect / past simple) ?
(b) She "had painted" her house. (past perfect simple) ?

(a) He stopped "to smoke" a cigarette. ('to'-infinitive showing purpose) ?
(b) He stopped "smoking" cigarettes. (continuous action) ?

(a) You "must see" him. ?
(b) You "must have seen" him. ?

Pemmican · Answer

(i) What is the difference in meaning between the following sentences?

(a) She "had" her house "painted". (past perfect / past simple) ?
(b) She "had painted" her house. (past perfect simple) ?

(a) means that her house had been painted, so it's a passive construction. Another person (not she herself) had painted the house, while (b) means she had painted her house herself.
The same like "She had her hair cut" - The barber cut her hair, while "She had cut her hair" would mean she cut it herself.

(a) He stopped "to smoke" a cigarette. ('to'-infinitive showing purpose) ?
(b) He stopped "smoking" cigarettes. (continuous action) ?

I'd say, there's no difference at all, bacause after "stop" you can use either infinitive or gerund:
He stopped to smoke cigarettes means the same as He stopped smoking cigarettes.

(a) You "must see" him. ?
(b) You "must have seen" him. ?

(a) expresses that you have to see this person because someone wants you to - it is like an order/favour that someone asks you to fulfill. It's not taken into account if you want to see this person or not.

(b) rather implies a "not to be missed" meaning, i.e. you should go seeing him, because if you don't see him, you will certainly miss something. This is more like an advice given to you to keep you from missing someone special.

Moijelesuis · Answer

the second pair of sentences does indeed have a difference.

a) he stopped (in order) to smoke a cigarette ... means the reason for which he stopped was to be able to smoke (maybe he cannot walk and smoke at the same time!)

b) he stopped smoking cigarettes probably means that he ceased to smoke them himself, he quit the nasty habit altogether. (there is a slight ambiguity in the second sentence, though quite unlikely... it could mean that there were some cigarettes still smoldering/smoking by themselves and that he put an end to it by extinguishing them once and for all ... but again, this is an unwieldy and unlikely interpretation)

Pemmican · Answer

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that meaning...

"a cigarette" was singular in the 1st sentence, while in the 2nd one it was plural: "cigarettes"

He stopped smoking cigarettes would be the same as He stopped to smoke cigarettes
and
He stopped smoking a cigarette would also be the same as He stopped to smoke a cigarette.

When "cigarettes" are used in their plural, then it expresses the ending of a usual habit, while in the other case it would mean stopping an action in order to start another one.

In the very first line I could have written "I forgot mentioning" instead of "I forgot to mention" as well.

Kitkattail · Answer

No no, Pemmican, it's not the plural. When we say "stopped to + [verb]" in English, we mean, as moijelesuis mentioned, that the purpose of stopping was to [verb]. If I stopped to buy a doughnut, that means that I stopped going somewhere in order to buy a doughnut. If I stopped to take a break, it means that I was working but stopped in order to take a break.
If I "stopped + [present participle]," it means that I ceased to do the thing I was doing before. So if I stopped taking a break, it means that I was taking a break and am no longer doing so. If I stopped eating, it means I was eating before but have now ceased eating. BUT, if I "stopped to eat," it means that I stopped doing whatever I was doing in order to eat.

Also, in the last thing, (b) means something along the lines of "you cannot have avoided seeing him." As in, it seems likely to me right now that you saw him in the past.
Does that make sense?

Anonymous · Answer

Interesting. No verb?

What are these words called? (Guest:Fred)

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