0

In the textbook An Introduction to Language (10th Ed.) by Fromkin, Rodman and Hyams, the authors used the sentence

What he did was climb a tree

on page 7 to illustrate the difference between a sentence and nonsentence. The authors claim that the quoted sentence is grammatically correct, but I disagree. The problem I feel like is the word "climb". The quoted sentence has the basic structure of "subject + linking verb + predicative expression". Therefore what comes after the linking verb "was" can either be a gerund ("climbing the tree") or a clause ("that he climbed a tree"), but not another verb. Also, it doesn't make any sense to interpret "climb" as a noun because I don't think the verb "was" can be followed by two predicative expressions.

So my question is: is the quoted sentence grammatically correct, or am I right in claiming that the verb "climb" is used incorrectly?

Improve this question
5
  • 2
    He did climb a tree. Seems legit. Test it yourself
    – SrJoven
    Commented Jan 21, 2015 at 20:11
  • Both "what he did was climb" and "what he did was to climb" are perfectly grammatical, though the former is preferred over the latter. See “All you have to do is read” vs. “All you have to do is to read” and the related questions linked from there.
    – RegDwigнt
    Commented Jan 21, 2015 at 20:19
  • @John Lawler refers to this construction in the What is the meaning of the italicized do in this sentence thread: This 'do' is the 'Act do', which is a pro-verb for any active verb but not for any stative verb (What he did was fix the switch, but *What he did was smell like violets.)
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jan 21, 2015 at 23:57
  • @RegDwigнt: This is not an exact duplicate. The syntax of the sentence in this question is not the same as in "All you have to do is read" etc. In "All you have to do is read", "do" is in the infinitive form, which may be part of the reason why the following verb is in the infinitive (see John Lawler's answer here: english.stackexchange.com/a/115663/77227). In the sentence asked about in this question, "What he did was climb a tree," the verb "did" is in the past-tense form.
    – herisson
    Commented Aug 16, 2017 at 17:28
  • This might make "what he did was climbed" grammatical for some speakers; see english.stackexchange.com/a/406099/77227 and english.stackexchange.com/a/351041/77227 for comparable situations where other forms than an infinitive can be used in cleft sentences.
    – herisson
    Commented Aug 16, 2017 at 17:29

0

Reset to default

Browse other questions tagged .