Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[a952953]

what is correct grammatically?

My textbook shows two sentences. but I don't understand.

1. You shold try to keep the discussion running smoothly.

2. He tried to keep the discussion focused on th subject.

I think that two sentences above are structurally same. But No.1

uses running, No.2 uses focused. It is very confusing to me. If I

use run in No. 1 sentence, is it wrong grammatically? Why?

[Anuradha Chepur]

The first sentence means you should let the discussion go on smoothly, without any interruptions, disturbance, breaks, etc.

The second sentence means he focussed on the subject without deviating.