question!

[MikeNewYork]

The sentence:

Some parents of bilingual children try to encourage their children by characterizing them as "double" rather than "half",emphasizing the advantage of having two cultural backgrounds.

Which word does "emphasizing" modify, "try" or "encourage"?

I agree with the others. One could analyze this by having the participial phrase "emphasizing...." be an adverb modifying either the main verb "try" or the infinitive "to encourage". But the emphasis here is on the attempt, the "try" part and "emphasizing" should be seen as a method that is part of the attempt. :wink:

[Taka]

Thank you, teachers!

Do you watch football?

Ah! That Zidane! French!

I kind of have a stereotypic image that French people hate English. I've heard that French government prohibits companies from using English words in their advertisements.

Glad we have a French English Enthusiast, Francois! :D

Let's enjoy English together here!! :D

[Francois]

Well, we're trying to preserve our language too from the pervasive use of English words. Yet this sometimes leads to some ridiculous French words coined to replace the original English ones eg. in computer science.

FRC

[Taka]

I see. :)

[Tdol]

I kind of have a stereotypic image that French people hate English. I've heard that French government prohibits companies from using English words in their advertisements.

Glad we have a French English Enthusiast, Francois! :D

Let's enjoy English together here!! :D

I think that, as individuals, the French and British get on fine- it's the countries, or governments, that like to squabble.

[Tdol]

I'm not sure that it can be pinned down to a single word. It's adding additional information to explain the 'double' idea.

If you had to pick one for grammatical reason, which one do you think it could be; "try" or "encourage"?

If I had to, I might choose 'try' as the other verb is dependent on it grammatically. However,semantically, it swings the other way.

[Taka]

If I had to, I might choose 'try' as the other verb is dependent on it grammatically. However,semantically, it swings the other way.

That's exactly why I've been confused.

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

Thank you, everyone! :)

[Tdol]

You're welcome.