She was a bit cool and was a member of....

[kachibi]

Hi everybody. I have two questions regarding the sentence "she was a bit cool and was a member of Jack's camp that I hate."

1) I wonder is it necessary to have 2 "was" here? I always come across this problem, like, "He didn't go to school with John and eat the breakfast.", "I am handsome and a member of the Social Service Club." and "She will join this activity and go to see her mum"... The question I have is: do I need to add back "did", "I am" and "will" to the second actions/ descriptions of the sentences?

2) Is it natural to say "she is a member of someone's gossipy (a right adjective?) camp which I hate." (note: the people of this camp always bad-mouth others). If not, are there any alternatives?

Thanks a lot!

[5jj]

None of your sentences is very natural. We do not normally join together with 'and' two clauses that have nothing to do with each other.

[Barb_D]

One thing to think about, in addition the statement above (which I agree with): If you join two ideas, and one is an adjective and one is a noun, repeat the verb.

I am smart and am a member of Mensa.
I am a smart person and a member of Mensa.

[kachibi]

Ok, then how about if the two actions/ descriptions are related to each other?

1) "I was going to school and (was) listening to music on the bus."
2) "ABC company did not provide transportation services and (did not) inform customers beforehand."
3) "John will repair his car and (will) sell it.
4) "Sally has not drunk coffee and (has not) eaten a cake."

[kachibi]

Thanks, BarbD, but I can't get what you meant by: "If you join two ideas, and one is an adjective and one is a noun, repeat the verb." << where is the verb?

[emsr2d2]

Ok, then how about if the two actions/ descriptions are related to each other?

1) "I was going to school and (was) listening to music on the bus."
That's fine without the second "was" because both "going" and "listening" are verbs.

2) "ABC company did not provide transportation services and (did not) inform customers beforehand."
I prefer "The company did not provide transportation services, nor did it inform customers [of this] in advance".

3) "John will repair his car and (will) sell it.
As with #1, that's fine without the second "will" because both "repair" and "sell" are verbs.

4) "Sally has not drunk coffee and (has not) eaten a cake."
I would use "Sally has not drunk coffee nor eaten a cake".

See above.

[Barb_D]

The verb is "am" or "is."

Ok, then how about if the two actions/ descriptions are related to each other?

1) "I was going to school and (was) listening to music on the bus." Okay to omit
2) "ABC company did not provide transportation services and (did not) inform customers beforehand." You have a negative. That changes things. Not only did ABC not provide..., they didn't inform.... ABC didn't provide tranportation nor did they inform...

3) "John will repair his car and (will) sell it. Better to omit the "will."

4) "Sally has not drunk coffee and (has not) eaten a cake."Also negative. Sally has neither drunk coffee nor eaten cake. (Few people have eaten an entire cake.)

[emsr2d2]

Few people have eaten an entire cake.[/QUOTE]

Oh, how I wish that were true! And it depends on the size of the cake of course. In BrE, one single chocolate cream eclair counts as a cake. So does a Danish Pastry.

[TheParser]

[QUOTE=kachibi;849851]


***** NOT A TEACHER *****


(1) I think (think) that I understand what meaning that you wish to express. So I should recommend something like:

She was a bit cool, and she was a member of Jack's clique, which I hate.

(a) She was a bit cool.
(b) She was a member of Jack's clique, which I hate. =

(i) I hate Jack's clique.
(ii) I hate the FACT of her belonging to Jack's clique.

It could be either (i) or (ii). I am guessing that you mean (i) because you used the word

"that" in your original sentence. But you cannot use "that" for a so-called non-defining

or non-restrictive clause. You can use "that" only in a sentence like:

Tom: I hate the clique.

Mona: What clique?

Tom The clique that she belongs to.

(2) If you write: "She was a bit cool and was a member of Jack's clique, which I hate,"

it could mean:

(i) She was a bit cool.
(ii) She was a member of Jack's clique.
(iii) "Which I hate" could mean:

(a) I hate Jack's clique.
(b) I hate the FACT that she was cool AND a member of Jack's clique.

(3) I guess the most important thing to remember is that you may NOT use the

word "that" as you have done. You need "which" and that little comma!

[kachibi]

I have two follow-up questions:

1) If in a sentence there is a verb and an adjective and you need to link them up, is it grammatically required that the "verb" (was) should be kept for the adjective (as what one of you has taught me above)?

e.g. She was smart and was (<-- verb) a member of Jack's clique (Right)
e.g. She was smart and a member of Jack's clique (must be wrong grammtically because there must be a verb in front of "a member".)

2) For sentences with two negative actions: like "do not study hard and do not go to school", is it totally grammatically incorrect if I write "do not study hard and go to school" instead of "do not study hard nor do I go to school" and "Not only do I not study hard, I also do not go to school."

Hope someone can answer my follow up questions one by one