Nancy,
The progressive paraphrase just doesn't mean the same thing as the simple
verb, whether the verb is a linking one or not. And it doesn't mean the
same thing as the sentence in question, which is more relevant. The
garden's trait of smelling lovely today is a temporary condition. Not so
with the poor dog (or other animal) John's student was describing. He was
stuck with that white streak. I think that the progressive may indeed be
used with linking verbs, but that the meaning is different than when it is
used with active verbs. My impression is that Eduard's reasoning shows
signs of the kind of stretching of interpretation that many a non-native
English speaking student of mine often manifests.
I am all for paraphrase in the analysis as Eduard has tried so valiantly to
do. However, it is very important that the paraphraser be careful not to
change the interpretation of the pieces, or at least to be aware of the
differences that occur as they are assembled together. Otherwise the
analysis make the whole much greater than the pieces that the sentence is
divided into and the analysis is useless.
Bruce
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nancy Tuten" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 12:26 PM
Subject: Re: What Is This?
> Earlier today, when I first responded to John's post, I suggested that the
> verb was "is running," but Bruce said that reordering the sentence would
> prove me wrong.
>
> Bruce, what is wrong with the way Eduard has reordered the sentence below
> (and Linda in another post)?
>
> Obviously, "running" isn't active in the sense in which it is used in
John's
> student's sentence. Is it, instead, a linking verb, much the way
"smelling"
> would be in the sentence "My garden is smelling lovely today"?
>
> Of course, we would be more likely to write "My garden smells lovely
today"
> or "A patch of white hair runs from the back of his skull . . . " But if
we
> wrote "is smelling" or "is running," are we dealing with a different
> construction completely?
>
> Nancy
>
> Nancy L. Tuten, PhD
> Professor of English
> Director of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Program
> Columbia College
> Columbia, South Carolina
> [log in to unmask]
> 803-786-3706
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Eduard C. Hanganu
> Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 10:33 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: What Is This?
>
> Hi, John:
>
> I believe that that we might be able to make sense of this syntactic
> structure, which seems to be a complex sentence, if we reordered the
> words:
>
> "A patch of white hair that opens up into his lips is running from
> the back of his scull down to his front."
>
> It appears now clear that the main sentence is:
>
> "A patch of white hair is running from the back of his scull down to
> his front."
>
> The subject is *a patch of white hair*, and the predicate *is running
> from the back of his scull down to his front.*
>
> The verb of the main clause, *is running,* is in the Progressive
> Present Tense.
>
> There are two verb complements in the sentence, both prepositional
> phrases. The first prepositional phrase, *from the back of his
> scull,* is an adverbial of place. The second, *down to his front*,is
> also an adverbial of place.
>
> The main clause, "A patch of white hair is running from the back of
> his scull down to his front," is interrupted in the middle by a
> restrictive relative clause, *that opens up into his lips.*
>
> Let me summarize, now:
>
> A patch of white hair [subject] that opens up into his lips
> [restrictive relative clause ]is running [Verb in the Present
> Progressive Tense] from the back of his scull [Prepositional Phrase -
> Adverbial of Place] down to his front [ Prepositional Phrase -
> Adverbial of Place].
>
> The comma seems to separate the two parts of the compound verb, that
> is, it separates *is* from *running* and should probably be left out,
> unless you consider "Running from the back of his skull down to the
> front" an introductory verbal phrase in the initial syntactic
> structure. In such a case, I would leave it there.
>
>
> Eduard
>
>
>
> On Sun, 12 Mar 2006, John Crow wrote...
>
> >A student wrote the following sentence in an essay:
> >
> >Running from the back of his skull down to the front, is a patch of
> white
> >hair that opens up into his lips.
> >The comma doesn't belong there, but I'm not sure why. Is
> the "Running"
> >phrase a gerund? If so, then I understand why the comma is wrong:
> it
> >separates the subject from the verb However, the phrase doesn't
> behave like
> >a gerund. Compare:
> >
> >Running around the lake is a part of my daily routine. --> It is a
> part of
> >my daily routine. --> A part of my daily routine is running around
> the
> >lake.
> >
> >In this sentence, the "Running" phrase behaves like a true noun
> phrase in a
> >linking verb sentence. My student's "Running" phrase doesn't behave
> like an
> >NP. It feels participial, modifying "patch". If so, then the comma
> would
> >be correct. But it's not.
> >
> >Any ideas out there?
> >
> >John
> >
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> >
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>
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