I have two questions.
I wonder if "working" is gerund or anything.
I would like to know the subject of "work"
I got my first part-time job working at a car wash.
I am not a teacher, but as no one else has answered this post, I'll have a go.
I think "working at a car wash" is an -ing participle clause which functions as a postmodifier of the noun "job". The clause has no explicit subject but the implicit subject is "job" (his job is working at a car wash).
The non-finite clause serves to elaborate on or further explain "my .. job". It stands in apposition to "my ... job", the preceding noun phrase.
my first part-time job = working at a car wash
Gerund.
The -ing clause may have a temporal adverbial reading too, but that would be a tad far-fetched, IMO.
my job, my working, the speaker of " I"I would like to know the subject of "work"
"Job" being the logical subject is illogical to me. How can "my job" perform the working?
His job is that he is working...
It is not his job that is doing the working; it is him that is working.
His job is working at a car wash. --> [His job] = [(his) working at a car wash].
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Peter is working at a car wash --> [Peter] [is working] [at a car wash].
His job is working at a car wash --> [His job] [is working] [at a car wash].
Renames is more like it, IMO.
Last edited by Afit; 24-Sep-2011 at 18:30.
I'm sure you're right: you're an English teacher; I'm not![]()