Questions tagged [sentence-patterns]
Questions relating to the pattern of words in a sentence.
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Website that identifies different sentence types [migrated]
I am trying to find a website that I used a while ago that identified different sentence types. You paste the text into the text box and then through a selection of buttons on the right, you could ...
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What part of speech is the word 'liking' in the idiom "to one's liking"?
"He has got a house to his liking." In this sentence, what part of speech is liking? Is it a gerund or participle?
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"There are fish of every hue." For different kinds of fish, should fish be in plural form here?
In the Caribbean waters, there are fish of every hue.
Since one is talking about different kinds of fish, should fish be in marked plural form (fishes) here?
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Is this a complex sentence with a relative clause?
I have a sentence here:
“I don’t understand why you like birds.”
Upon analyzing the sentence structure, there is what appears to be a relative clause:
“why you like birds”
Is this then a complex ...
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Is this a complex sentence with a dependent clause, or a simple sentence with an introductory clause?
so I came across this sentence:
Before the invention of the printing press, books were very expensive.
I know that “books were very expensive” is the independent clause, but what about “before the ...
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Rearrange the sentence in a specific order [closed]
Sentence: Developers from 10+ countries are using our service.
I want to rearrange this sentence so that it starts with "10+ countries". But keep the meaning of the sentence the same.
I ...
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"Too great of a [risk]" OR "Too great a [risk]"? [duplicate]
First, I want to emphasize that my question is general.
I want your answer regarding all of the cases in the following sentence stractures:
[Adjective] + of + [Noun] (For example: It is too great of ...
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Hitchhiker's Guide opening sentence analysis according to Verspoor and Sauter [duplicate]
Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of
the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded
yellow sun.
(Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams)
Does anyone ...
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I'm getting confused between two of these sentences [closed]
What’s about this support ticket?
This was the question we used inside a product. But some users suggested the below version of the same sentence.
What’s this support ticket about?
Now I'm getting ...
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"He was overcome by a sudden surge of fear" or "A sudden surge of fear overcame him" - Which is more correct?
"He was overcome by a sudden surge of fear" or "A sudden surge of fear overcame him" - Which is more correct?
Is the latter one not idiomatic?
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Object + subject + verb pattern [closed]
I have problems with the following pattern Object + subject + verb + preposition. For example, the simple sentence,
Things I’ve been struggling with.
The idea is that I'm not sure if that pattern is ...
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Improving readability and comprehensibility of sentences in which a relative clause separates the subject and predicate
I want to bring more readability and structure in my sentences. I often write sentences in the following format / structure:
To incorporate A which can be seen as B with something of C (c.f.
Sect. X) ...
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How can I build impersonal sentences like this one from Spanish
I don't know how to build in English impersonal sentences like this one from Spanish:
Es feliz quien quiere serlo.
I've thought of this one:
He's happy who wants to be it.
But I don't like it ...
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Can I use a comma after an apology?
I apologize, you can return the item to the store.
Is the sentence structure correct or did I need to use a period instead?
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Indefinite article + noun + that + be + adj [closed]
" On top of their fees, the famous have the potential to earn huge amounts of money from promoting luxury brands. A type of wealth that is possible because celebrities are often seen as role ...
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"It is!" I squealed at the same time she cried, "It's not!" - Is this sentence correct? [closed]
Is this sentence apt? -
"It is!" I squealed at the same time she cried, "It's not!"
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Does this sentence sound weird and unnatural? If so, what do you think is a better/correct sentence structure? [closed]
It seems this would be the last time we will talk about this.
I don't get the auxiliary verbs (would, will) used in the sentence above. Isn't it better to say, "It seems this would be the last ...
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Is "that"a conjunction or other grammatical function in the emphatic structure"It is .... that ..."?
For example, in the following sentence
It is Mary that brought me this book.
Does "that" serve as a conjunction or pronoun or any other grammatical function? And Why?
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Sentence formation [duplicate]
Why in many sentences do we use verbs before pronouns such as we write in a question?
For example:
Neither did I try nor did I want to.
She told me that I can improve my grades, and boy was she right....
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Is this a valid usage of "forget about" - "X can't afford three meals a day, forget about sanitary living conditions" [duplicate]
I was trying to cobble together a sentence expressing the idea above, that:
something doesn't do X, and so, definitely doesn't do Y (which is harder than X).
I grew up using ", forget about&...
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Another word for "From the very beginning" [closed]
How the rephrase "From the very beginning" in a sentence in a more direct way?
For example, the sentence is
From the very beginning of the notion normed linear spaces, a considerable effort ...
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Opposite of "the last one"
Let's say there is a group of people that takes turns in carrying out a certain task.
This task can be done by other people outside the group, and members of the group can repeat the same task over ...
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What would we call this literary device? [duplicate]
To best describe it, when the same word or family of words is used twice in the same sentence to provide an ironic meaning. For instance, "raiding English from the English, stealing poetry from ...
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With + noun+noun? Does this structure work? [duplicate]
"With cats and dogs the most popular companion animals around the world, it’s no surprise that they are often compared to one another in the great cats vs dogs debate."
Please help me ...
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Placement of infinitive [closed]
How do you expect a debate on the green new deal between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to go?
Or
How do you expect a debate on the green new deal to go between Marjorie Taylor ...
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Singular vs. plural when the subject has multiple objects in it
This is a question about deciding singular vs. plural verb where the subject contains multiple objects in it. Let me set the context first.
I have a mathematical problem where I need to find a ...
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A question about sentence typology
Is the categorization of sentences into simple, compound, and complex established firmly by the rules of the English grammar or is this compartmentalization merely a simplistic way of looking at the ...
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List of adjectives: order and conjunction
Which one of these is the right way to write a list of adjectives?
I have a tool that can be described with three adjectives: small, lean, and minimalist. How do I talk about it?
Nano is a _____, ...
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Why is this sentence grammatically incorrect?
I have been practicing sample tests for an English Olympiad and came across such a question:
Decide if the sentence is correct or incorrect.
After you make your payment, the products will be sent to ...
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Anastrophe or the normal grammar?
I found the following sentence on someone’s webpage which was written about some Japanese traditional things.
I can’t get it why the sentence starts with’A lot has to do with’.... Is that an ...
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Are those sentences with 'solution to' correct?
One solution to solving unemployment problems is help from governments.
One solution to solve unemployment problems is help from governments.
Thank you very much for your time and answers.
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What's the syntactic explanation in "Mistakes are likely to happen":
I'm confused about this sentence construction:
Mistakes are likely to happen.
I’ve thought of three possible explanations; are any of them
correct?
Where likely is an adjective act...
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"Note that, because English orthography, there are two verbs tear, pronounced differently, one transitive......"
While reading an answer by John Lawler, I got puzzled by a sentence with unfamiliar phrasing. I for the life of me can't understand the meaning of that sentence. I read it about 30 times. Here is the ...
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"In which shift are you today? or In which shift you are today?" which is correct? [closed]
Out of these two sentence which is the right one are we supposed to say are you or you are when asking for a specific timeline that someone is present.
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Can this sentence work without 'that'? If yes, why? [duplicate]
And given (that) the Nord wasn't a thing when the 8-series was launched, we could see the OnePlus 9 phones get pricier than that.
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Is there any fixed rule as to when we should use the structure "the + noun + of + name" instead of "name + noun"?
Is it "the jungle of Amazon" or "the Amazon jungle"? "the university of Oxford" or "the Oxford university"?
Sometimes both structures seem fine (to me) (e.g. I'...
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Is this a valid sentence structure, and what is it called?
I have been writing short stories for the last few months, and have a bad habit of overusing certain sentence structures. Now I think I overuse a particular remedy to the original problem. Oh dear. ...
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Do I need the comma after the opening adjective?
The sentence is:
There, it continues to attract visitors.
vs
There it continues to attract visitors.
I saw the second example on the grammar section of a standardized test and I thought they made ...
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What is the grammatical function of this 'action' in this sentence?
I read a sentence from the economist
Fed also propped up the corporate-bond market, action it had shied away from during the financial crisis a decade earlier.
Although I know the meaning of the ...
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Extra info at the start of a sentence
Can someone tell me what the bolded parts are called in the following?
Starting in April, Bob decided to drink 2 liters of water a day.
During the pandemic, Joe got bored.
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Is this just an error or am I missing something?
I ran across the following passage on a package of tea: "As the farmers all our teas come with a Tea Passport guaranteeing quality and sustainability from bush to cup". I don't see how this ...
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"Unfit___, but even less" or "but even more"
This sentence
He considered himself unfit for the job, but even more for that task.
does not sound right because unfit has a negative meaning. I tried the other way:
He considered himself unfit for ...
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What are the differences between the following? [duplicate]
What are the differences between:
I did this for the first time in Tibet.
I did this in Tibet for the first time.
Which one should I use if I have done 'this' before, but it is my first time doing '...
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Why can you use relative clauses with implicit complementisers or relative pronouns?
Why are these correct?
The work I am doing is easy.
The house he lives at.
The book I am writing is about different realms.
The man I was helping thanked me.
The ant I was blocking the road of.
...
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What type of sentence is a sentence that seems to have no independent clause? [duplicate]
I have been given this line from Ian Frazier's “Hidden City”:
Bent window blinds; tragic, drooping, bright-green shower curtain; dark hallway opening onto two bare bedrooms.
I am supposed to ...
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What kind of elliptical construction would the following interpretation fall into and what are some similar examples?
Here is the sentence construction:
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of
God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being
built up.
I want to ...
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Time in the morning for breakfast/time for breakfast in the morning?
Can anyone help me out here?
Which is right and more standard among the following?:
I don't have time in the morning for breakfast
**OR**
I don't have time for breakfast in the morning
...
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Are all three of these sentences equally fine?
Are these all the same?
The more we earn, the less careful we become about money.
The more we earn, we become less careful about money.
The more we earn, the less careful we are about money.
I am ...
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Which sentence is correct and why? with 'to' or without 'to'
All I can do is to tell her not to go out during the weekend.
All I can do is tell her not to go out during the weekend.
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A complex sentence from Leonardo Dicaprio's Speech
The following are sentences from Leonardo Dicaprio's speech 'Climate change is not hysteria - it's a fact'.
As an actor I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters often solving fictitious ...
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