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Bhikkhu1991 Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

What types of phrases?

0Sentence A. One way of lowering fuel consumption is using public transport.02br
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00Sentence B. One way of lowering fuel consumption is by using public transport.02br
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00Hello,02br
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00What are the types of phrases that followed the linking verbs 'is' in the two sentences above?02br
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00Thank you.02br
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00With best wishes.0-
  

Top answer

0Grammatical terminology is not my strongest suit, but let me take a stab. 02br 02br 00A) "using public transport" is a noun phrase. 02br 02br 00B) I'd guess that "by using public transport" is an adverbial phrase.

— Mr Wordy

  • 0Grammatical terminology is not my strongest suit, but let me take a stab.
  • 02br 02br 00A) "using public transport" is a noun phrase.
  • 02br 02br 00B) I'd guess that "by using public transport" is an adverbial phrase.
  • This a common form of wording, and the meaning is perfectly obvious, but the more I look at it, the more I wonder if this sentence is strictly grammatically correct.
  • "by using public transport" seems to be just "hanging in mid-air" and not directly qualifying anything else in the sentence.
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2 Answers
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0Grammatical terminology is not my strongest suit, but let me take a stab. 02br
02br
00A) "using public transport" is a noun phrase. So, you could equally well say "Using public transport is one way of lowering fuel consumption".02br
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00B) I'd guess that "by using public transport" is an adverbial phrase. This a common form of wording, and the meaning
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Both of the phrases are Gerund phrases. Gerund phrases are used as nouns in the sentence. In the first one, the phrase is the subject complement. In the second one, the phrase is the object of the prepositional phrase "by using public transport."
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