RE: Sentence structure?

Subject: RE: Sentence structure?
From: "Brigitte Johnston" <bjohnston -at- humantech -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 10:16:10 -0400


Man, the English language sure is complicated, isn't it? I too often
rationlize "Because it just sounds right!"

Thanks, and thanks to everyone else who has (already!) responded. If
anyone's interested in the more detailed explanations I got from a few
other members on the list, let me know. It sounds like the best way to
approach this is to take those sentences apart further, get rid of
unnecessary portions, and rearrange them. I'm usually pretty good at
that, but these particular sentence types throw me every time!

Brigitte Johnston

-----Original Message-----
From: shankAtIndiaDotcom [mailto:ss_rajanala -at- yahoo -dot- com]
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2004 9:51 AM
To: Brigitte Johnston; TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Sentence structure?



I don't know if these are the terms you are
looking for: infinitives and gerunds; and
prepositional phrases.

To and toward are prepositions

> 1. "Analysis is the key to ensure that you are
> focusing your company's
> investment on the most important concern."

The 'to' here is actually 'in order to'; thus
written, it becomes really awkward. It is used as
if it were an infinitive 'to ensure'.

Or, if you write it as: To ensure ..., anyalysis
the key.

To, however, is a preposition here, and To
ensuring... is a prep phrase - more appropriate;
but playing it by the ear, it is a toss up
between ensure and ensuring in this example.

> 2. "Identifying the presence, type, and level
> of risk currently
> existing in the workplace is an essential step
> to reduce risks in the
> workplace."

Here, toward is called for because of the 'step'
and it is unmistakably a preposition, and it has
to be a followed by a noun (gerund - the ing
form).

Does that make sense? That's grammar as I learned
quite some while ago.

=====
Thanks and regards,
Sankara S Rajanala
-----------------------------
"Just because you're not paranoid, it doesn't
mean they're not all out to get you."

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ROBOHELP X5: Featuring Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author
support, PDF and XML support and much more!
TRY IT TODAY at http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrl

WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT: New! Document review system for Word and FrameMaker
authors. Automatic browser-based drafts with unlimited reviewers. Full
online discussions -- no Web server needed! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.



Previous by Author: Sentence structure?
Next by Author: Good for a chuckle on Friday...
Previous by Thread: Re: Sentence structure?
Next by Thread: Re: Sentence structure?


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads