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Thread: a complicated sentence

  1. #1
    tianhang is offline Member
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    Default a complicated sentence

    Hi, dear teachers, I need your help again.
    Few football grounds boast a more prestigious address than the Bernabeu, lies as it does on the Castellana, the three lining highway that runs through the heart of Mardrid.
    This is a mistake-correcting exercise. According to the reference answer, there is one mistake. lies should be changed into lying, used as the attribute of the Bernabeu.
    If the reference answer is right, how to understand as it does?
    As far as I can understand, we should change lies into lie. In this way, lie as it does is used as the adverbial of the sentence.
    How about your opinion? I am wating for your answers. Thanks a lot!
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    SoothingDave is offline Key Member
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    Default Re: a complicated sentence

    "Lying as it does" is correct.


    I don't know what a "three lining highway" is? "Three lane," perhaps is what it means.
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  3. #3
    tianhang is offline Member
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    Threadstarter / Original Poster

    Default Re: a complicated sentence

    Oh, sorry, I made a mistake here. It is three lined highway, not three lining highway, which means the place is where the three highways join to each other.
    Thank you. But I am sill confused about the function of as it does. I think if lying is correct, as it does should be changed into as it is, because the right expression is it is lying on the Castellana. And if we use lie as it does on the Castellana, it is grammatically right.
    So, further explanations are applauded here. Thanks again!
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    SoothingDave is offline Key Member
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    Default Re: a complicated sentence

    "Does" and "do" are often used for emphasis. The author is trying to say that anything in this area would have a prestigious address. And the football stadium does lie here. So, "lying here as it does" is the expression used.

    "Lying" indicates an action that continues on.
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  5. #5
    Rover_KE is online now VIP Member
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    Default Re: a complicated sentence

    I don't know in what kind of English a three lined highway means the place where the three highways join to each other.

    A place where three roads intersect is a three-way junction.

    There's another mistake - Madrid is spelt wrong.

    Rover

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    tianhang is offline Member
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    Threadstarter / Original Poster

    Default Re: a complicated sentence

    I really appreciate your answer. I can understand the structure now. And I have found many sentneces with as it did or as it does structure.
    1.Islamic law is the result of an examination, from a religious angle, of legal subject matter that was far from uniform, comprising as it did the various components of the laws of pre-Islamic Arabia and numerous legal elements taken over from the non-Arabnpeoples of the conquered territories.

    2.Victorian Britain was truly an empire, ruling as it did over huge portions of the entire world.

    Thanks a lot!
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  7. #7
    tianhang is offline Member
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    Threadstarter / Original Poster

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Rover_KE View Post
    I don't know in what kind of English a three lined highway means the place where the three highways join to each other.

    A place where three roads intersect is a three-way junction.

    There's another mistake - Madrid is spelt wrong.

    Rover
    Sorry for my spelling mistake.
    But the origingal text used the three lined highway. I don't know where it is from. That is how we understand it. Thanks for your natural expression. By the way, it may come from an English-speaking country.
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  8. #8
    Rover_KE is online now VIP Member
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    Default Re: a complicated sentence

    These pictures of the Paseo de la Castellana show that it is tree-lined (it's got trees on either side).

    I bet that's the solution.

    Rover
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  9. #9
    TheParser is offline Key Member
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    Default Re: a complicated sentence

    But I am sill confused about the function of as it does.



    NOT A TEACHER


    (1) If you remove "as it does" from your sentence, you get:

    Few football grounds can boast a more prestigious address than the Bernabeau, lying on the Castellana, the tree-lined highway that runs through the heart of Madrid.

    (2) I believe that "as it does" is a parenthetical element. That is, some extra words that are not necessary. In this case, according to some books, "As it does" is a
    comment clause. The writer wants to make a comment about what he describing.
    "As it does," I feel, means something like: It really does lie on the Castellana.

    Here are some more examples from Professor Quirk's famous grammar book:

    as it appears, as it happens, as it may interest you to know, as I remember, as I understand, etc.

    (3) Let's say that a man visited Madrid many, many years ago. Let's say that he is

    in his golden years (he's old!) and cannot remember too well. He might say something

    like:

    When I was in Madrid in 1937, I remember visiting the Bernabeau, lying

    as I remember on the Castellana, the tree-lined highway in the heart of the

    capital.


    OR


    I have never been to Madrid, but a friend has just returned from there. He told

    me about the Bernabeau, lying as I understand [from him] on the Castellana, the

    tree-lined street running through that beautiful city.
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  10. #10
    Curt Jugg is offline Junior Member
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    Default Re: a complicated sentence

    NOT A TEACHER

    I think also that this sort of participial clause gives a reason for the main clause in the sentence.

    For example, "Victorian Britain was truly an empire, ruling as it did over huge portions of the entire world" means "Victorian Britain was truly an empire because it ruled over huge portions of the entire world" and "Few football grounds boast a more prestigious address than the Bernabeu, lying as it does on the Castellana, the tree-lined highway that runs through the heart of Madrid" means "Few football grounds boast a more prestigious address than the Bernabeu, because it lies on the Castellana, the tree-lined highway that runs through the heart of Madrid".
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