Forum newsfeeds
Forum Newsfeeds


Sites for Teachers

Sites for Teachers

Home > Forums > ESL Forums



Go Back   UsingEnglish.com ESL Forum > Learning English > Ask a Teacher
confused verb confused verb
Register FAQDonate Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Notices
You are welcome to answer questions posted in the Ask a Teacher forum as long as your suggestions, help, and advice reflect a good understanding of the English language. If you are not a teacher, you will need to state that clearly at the top of your post. Please note, all posts are moderated by our in-house language experts, so make sure your suggestions, help, and advice house the kind of information an international language teacher would offer. If not, and your posts do not contribute to the topic in a positive way, they will be subject to deletion.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)  
Old 10-Jul-2008, 11:38
Newbie
  
Join Date: Apr 2008
Country: Philippines
Posts: 22
Current Location: Manila
First Language: Filipino
Member Type: Student or Learner
Thanks: 4
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
drifter is an unknown quantity at this point
Default confused verb
Please help (one verb> watching; 2 nouns> movies and sports games).

My hobbies are watching movies and sports games.
or
My hobby is watching movies and sports games.

Kindly explain the grammar rule behind. Thanks....
Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
  #2 (permalink)  
Old 10-Jul-2008, 11:59
Soup's Avatar
Key Member
  
Join Date: Sep 2007
Country: Canada
Posts: 3,844
Current Location: Shanghai, China
First Language: English
Member Type: English Teacher
Thanks: 28
Thanked 1,428 Times in 1,311 Posts
Soup has much to be proud ofSoup has much to be proud ofSoup has much to be proud ofSoup has much to be proud ofSoup has much to be proud ofSoup has much to be proud ofSoup has much to be proud ofSoup has much to be proud ofSoup has much to be proud ofSoup has much to be proud of
Default Re: confused verb
Ex: My hobby is watching movies and sports on TV.

Ex: My hobby is watching TV, specifically movies and sports.

Ex: My hobbies are watching movies and watching sports.
Reply With Quote
  #3 (permalink)  
Old 14-Jul-2008, 03:49
Newbie
  
Join Date: Apr 2008
Country: Philippines
Posts: 22
Current Location: Manila
First Language: Filipino
Member Type: Student or Learner
Thanks: 4
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
drifter is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: confused verb
Can't we just say: "My hobbies are watching movies and sports games."?

Wouldn't it be redudant to say "watching movies and watching sports"?

Thanks.
Reply With Quote
  #4 (permalink)  
Old 14-Jul-2008, 06:33
Senior Member
  
Join Date: Mar 2008
Country: India
Posts: 511
Current Location: Bhubaneswar
First Language: Oriya
Member Type: English Teacher
Thanks: 8
Thanked 245 Times in 238 Posts
sarat_106 has a spectacular aura aboutsarat_106 has a spectacular aura aboutsarat_106 has a spectacular aura about
Exclamation Re: confused verb
Quote:
Originally Posted by drifter View Post
Please help (one verb> watching; 2 nouns> movies and sports games).

My hobbies are watching movies and sports games.
or
My hobby is watching movies and sports games.

Kindly explain the grammar rule behind. Thanks....
I think, hobby being a coutable noun, both can be correct but I will prefer the second one.
Reply With Quote
  #5 (permalink)  
Old 14-Jul-2008, 07:27
Raymott's Avatar
Key Member
  
Join Date: Jun 2008
Country: Australia
Posts: 3,187
Current Location: Brisbane
First Language: English
Member Type: Academic
Thanks: 46
Thanked 1,388 Times in 1,279 Posts
Raymott has much to be proud ofRaymott has much to be proud ofRaymott has much to be proud ofRaymott has much to be proud ofRaymott has much to be proud ofRaymott has much to be proud ofRaymott has much to be proud ofRaymott has much to be proud ofRaymott has much to be proud ofRaymott has much to be proud of
Default Re: confused verb
Quote:
Originally Posted by drifter View Post
Can't we just say: "My hobbies are watching movies and sports games."?

Wouldn't it be redudant to say "watching movies and watching sports"?

Thanks.
Possibly, but your sentence is ambiguous and could easily mean "My hobbies are watching movies and (playing) sports games", since there is no indication that "watching" also applies to "sports games".
Compare: "James Bond's hobbies are fighting international crime and women".
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

« Previous Thread | Next Thread »
Thread Tools
Display Modes
Linear Mode Linear Mode

Posting Rules
You may post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Usage Of "does" crool Ask a Teacher 7 09-Aug-2007 15:56
Verb or be plus adjective krishna_ab Ask a Teacher 1 03-Mar-2006 13:18
verbs eyescold_07 Ask a Teacher 1 08-Aug-2005 05:32
noun phrases sting Ask a Teacher 1 26-Aug-2004 20:52
Confused about agreement of subject and verb. Anonymous Ask a Teacher 7 20-Apr-2004 15:54


New To Site? Need Help?

All times are GMT. The time now is 06:51.
UsingEnglish.com ESL RSS Feeds - Contact Us - UsingEnglish.com ESL - Archive - Privacy Statement - ^ Back to Top

vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2009, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.2.0
Copyright © 2002 - 2008 UsingEnglish.com