pluralis vs. singularis
Arne H. Wilstrup
nothing in the plural. I have, however, observed a sentence in which the -s
doesn't seem to exist, so I should very much like to know why.
Here is the sentence:
"...the process through which a child or other novice acquires the
knowledge, orientations, and practices that enable him or her to participate
effectively and appropriately in the social life of a particular community."
Why no -s after the word "enable". As I see it 'enable' refers to 'the
process..." and "through which..." just explains the process and is not the
main subject - process is (I think) - what do I miss here?
Leslie Danks
"Process" is the subject of the verb "acquires". The subject of "enable"
is "the knowledge, orientations and practices", which is, of course,
plural.
--
Les (BrE)
Arne H. Wilstrup
"Leslie Danks" <leslie...@aon.at> skrev i meddelelsen
news:4b3bc713$0$1551$91ce...@newsreader04.highway.telekom.at...
Thank you!
Athel Cornish-Bowden
You"ve misidentified the subject of "enable", which is "that". This is
plural because its antecedent is "the knowledge, orientations, and
practices". The subject is not "the process"; if it were "the
knowledge, orientations, and practices" would be dangling in the middle
of the sentence with no function. In any case, your "sentence" is not
a sentence because it has no main verb. Probably one is hidden in the
opening ellipsis.
--
athel
Arne H. Wilstrup
"Athel Cornish-Bowden" <acor...@ibsm.cnrs-mrs.fr> skrev i meddelelsen
news:7q1vlb...@mid.individual.net...
I used a quotation mark to indicate that it was only the "missing" -s I was
talking about, not the whole discussion in the text. I thought that it
would not have made the understanding better. However, since you imply this
(At least this is what I think) I shall give you the whole sentence below:
"Garret and Baquedano-Lopez(2002) defined socialization as "the process
through which a child or other novice acquires the knowledge, orientations,
and practices that enable him or her to participate effectively and
appropriately in the social life of a particular community" (p.339) and
stated that this process is realized primarily through the use of language."
I don't see how the whole sentence mentioned above would have contributed
better to the understanding of the grammatical issue written previously. Do
you agree?
By the way: Thank you for your contribution in order to explain why the
sentence is as it is. I am striving to become better in my understanding of
the English language, so everything helps.
Athel Cornish-Bowden
So? Who said anything about the quotation marks?
> not the whole discussion in the text. I thought that it would not have
> made the understanding better. However, since you imply this
It's not clear to me why you think I imply anything along the confused
lines you suggest.
> (At least this is what I think) I shall give you the whole sentence below:
>
> "Garret and Baquedano-Lopez(2002) defined socialization as "the process
> through which a child or other novice acquires the knowledge,
> orientations, and practices that enable him or her to participate
> effectively and appropriately in the social life of a particular
> community" (p.339) and stated that this process is realized primarily
> through the use of language."
>
> I don't see how the whole sentence mentioned above would have
> contributed better to the understanding of the grammatical issue
> written previously. Do you agree?
No, of course not. You an't discuss the grammatical structure of a
sentence that lacks a main verb.
>
> By the way: Thank you for your contribution in order to explain why the
> sentence is as it is. I am striving to become better in my
> understanding of the English language, so everything helps.
>
While you're striving you may likeke to note that "pluralis" and
"singularis" are not English words (though it wasn't difficult to guess
what you meant by them).
--
athel
Athel Cornish-Bowden
>
>
> "Leslie Danks" <leslie...@aon.at> skrev i meddelelsen
> news:4b3bc713$0$1551$91ce...@newsreader04.highway.telekom.at...
>> Arne H. Wilstrup wrote:
>>
>>> A verb in English has frequently added an -s to 3rd person singularis
>>> and nothing in the plural. I have, however, observed a sentence in which
>>> the -s doesn't seem to exist, so I should very much like to know why.
>>>
>>> Here is the sentence:
>>>
>>> "...the process through which a child or other novice acquires the
>>> knowledge, orientations, and practices that enable him or her to
>>> participate effectively and appropriately in the social life of a
>>> particular community."
>>>
>>> Why no -s after the word "enable". As I see it 'enable' refers to 'the
>>> process..." and "through which..." just explains the process and is not
>>> the main subject - process is (I think) - what do I miss here?
>>
>> "Process" is the subject of the verb "acquires".
Hmm. "The process ... acquires"? I fear you'll get Arne even more
confused than he already is.
>> The subject of "enable"
>> is "the knowledge, orientations and practices", which is, of course,
>> plural.
>
>
> Thank you!
Yes, you already did.
--
athel
mm
YOu're polite and that's nice, but just in case, "child or other
novice" is the subject of "acquires". And Athel's descripion of the
other clause was correct.
--
Posters should say where they live, and for which area
they are asking questions. I was born and then lived in
Western Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis 7 years
Chicago 6 years
Brooklyn, NY 12 years
Baltimore 26 years
Leslie Danks
> On 2009-12-30 22:38:11 +0100, "Arne H. Wilstrup"
> <nixen...@invalid.com> said:
>
>>
>>
>> "Leslie Danks" <leslie...@aon.at> skrev i meddelelsen
>> news:4b3bc713$0$1551$91ce...@newsreader04.highway.telekom.at...
>>> Arne H. Wilstrup wrote:
>>>
>>>> A verb in English has frequently added an -s to 3rd person singularis
>>>> and nothing in the plural. I have, however, observed a sentence in
>>>> which the -s doesn't seem to exist, so I should very much like to
>>>> know why.
>>>>
>>>> Here is the sentence:
>>>>
>>>> "...the process through which a child or other novice acquires the
>>>> knowledge, orientations, and practices that enable him or her to
>>>> participate effectively and appropriately in the social life of a
>>>> particular community."
>>>>
>>>> Why no -s after the word "enable". As I see it 'enable' refers to
>>>> 'the process..." and "through which..." just explains the process and
>>>> is not the main subject - process is (I think) - what do I miss here?
>>>
>>> "Process" is the subject of the verb "acquires".
>
> Hmm. "The process ... acquires"? I fear you'll get Arne even more
> confused than he already is.
You're right of course. Sorry, Arne! I should have written "a child or
other novice" is the subject of "acquires".
>>> The subject of "enable"
>>> is "the knowledge, orientations and practices", which is, of course,
>>> plural.
>>
>>
>> Thank you!
>
> Yes, you already did.
--
Les (BrE)
John Varela
<nixen...@invalid.com> wrote:
> I shall give you the whole sentence below:
>
> "Garret and Baquedano-Lopez(2002) defined socialization as "the process
> through which a child or other novice acquires the knowledge, orientations,
> and practices that enable him or her to participate effectively and
> appropriately in the social life of a particular community" (p.339) and
> stated that this process is realized primarily through the use of language."
The answer to your question is simple: that within the qoutation
marks is a sentence fragment, as Athel indicated.
Suppose your original were: 'Garret and Baquedano-Lopez defined
futbol as "a popular sport"'. Would you expect to find a verb in
the quotation from them?
The words quoted from G and B-L were doubtless originally preceded
by a subject and verb, perhaps something like "We define
socialization as..."
--
John Varela
Trade NEWlamps for OLDlamps for email