Comparatives (asap :P)

james.brannan · Post by **james.brannan** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 8:17 pm

hi, can someone have a look at this for me?

in "which t shirt is nicer" is "which t shirt" all the subject?
if so, if i say "which is nicer" is "which" the subject?

so... subject+be+comp?

if i say "which t shırt do you prefer?" what is "you"?

the t shırt is the subject?

so... subject+do+?+verb?

I guess in "i prefer the red one"

its... subject+verb+object?

thx for you help

JuanTwoThree · Post by **JuanTwoThree** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 10:48 pm

In "Which t shirt is nicer? " is "Which t shirt" all the subject? Yes.

If so, if I say "Which is nicer" is "which" the subject? Yes

If I say "Which t shırt do you prefer?" what is "you"?

The t shırt is the subject? No, "you" is the subject

I guess in "I prefer the red one" its... subject+verb+object. Yup

JuanTwoThree · Post by **JuanTwoThree** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 11:04 pm

Having said that, be careful with SVO with "be" because the two are, by the very nature of "be", confused. So you have tricky stuff like :

My birthday is tomorrow/Tomorrow is my birthday/It's my birthday tomorrow/It's tomorrow my birthday.

or

"Your name is what? which make deciding S and O with "be" very difficult. S and O may not be adequate terms in the case of "be".

james.brannan · Post by **james.brannan** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 11:04 pm

ok, thx

but why does the subject change from "which tshırt" to "you"?

JuanTwoThree · Post by **JuanTwoThree** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 11:11 pm

Because "do" is how to make questions without relying on just intonation:

You prefer which T-shirt? subject : you

Which T-shirt do you prefer? ditto

james.brannan · Post by **james.brannan** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 8:05 am

kk, kinda making sense now

if I say "what kind of musıc do you like" am I the subject then, and the kind of musıc the object?

thx again for your help juan

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 2:36 pm

Yes, 'you' is the subject of like, and music is the direct object.

What is confusing you is that sometimes we have the subject at the beginning of the sentence and sometimes the object.

The reason for this is that the 'wh' question must always come at the begiining, whether subject or object.

JuanTwoThree · Post by **JuanTwoThree** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 2:47 pm

"if I say "what kind of musıc do you like" am I the subject then, and the kind of musıc the object? "

Well "I" has nothing to do with it . "you" is the subject of "What kind of music do you like?" You can imagine the "liking" travelling like electricity from the subject (you) through the verb (do+like) to the object (what kom)

James, this is not a put-down. Nobody was born knowing this stuff so everybody has to start somewhere (and it isn't't easy for people who have never studied their own or another language from a grammatical point of view) but that somewhere is not here.

Our new teachers who need this sort of stuff quickly are directed to Usborne Publishing's "Improve your grammar" ISBN: 074604240X.
It's a quick fix and I'm sure Amazon has it.

You need some very basic concepts and another way would be to start learning a foreign language in a traditional way. German is useful because you need to sort out things like S and O early on. Latin too.