I would like to ask if the following sentences are grammatically correct and whether the constructions are similar:
There was some fine skiing there.
There was some shooting in the streets.
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3Both are grammatical. Both use There-Insertion with nouns derived with the -ing nominalization from active intransitive verbs (ski, shoot) as subject, appearing after the verb because There-Insertion. They're not gerunds; they can take determiners and adjectives, and they can't take a direct object: *There was some shooting people in the streets. Gerunds are verbs; these are nouns.– John LawlerCommented May 5, 2014 at 15:26
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@JohnLawler, please put answers in the answer box and not as comments. Comment-answers break the purpose of the "Unanswered" page. Thank you.– joseph_morrisCommented May 9, 2014 at 1:19
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I am not responsible for the purpose of the 'Unanswered' page.– John LawlerCommented May 9, 2014 at 2:32
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You wrote an answer in a box that said "Use comments to ask for more information or suggest improvements. Avoid answering questions in comments." With equal ease, you could have written it in the box below it that says "Your Answer", and it would make the site easier to use for others. Geez.– joseph_morrisCommented May 9, 2014 at 17:51
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1 Answer
To cut a long story short - yes. They are both grammatically correct and the construction of their individual sentences are similar to each other.
