Forum newsfeeds |  | 
15-Oct-2006, 12:43
| | Member | | Join Date: Sep 2006 Country: England
Posts: 146
Current Location: Spain First Language: English Member Type: English Teacher Thanks: 0
Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts
| | I'm horribly confused - question for proper teachers I'm supposed to teach a class tomorrow. My first ever. Unfortunately, I've never studied grammar and I've suddenly found myself in hell.
I'm having trouble with the following:
1) Baseball is the national sport of the United States.
2) The national sport of the United States is baseball.
In (1), baseball is the subject, right? But in (2), is baseball still the subject? Or is the subject now the national sport of the United States?
What's the object? Is there an object? If so, is it direct or indirect? Why?
Luckily I'm not supposed to be explaining any of this tomorrow, but I do need to get it clear in my head. Obviously.
Help! | 
15-Oct-2006, 12:48
| | Key Member | | Join Date: May 2005 Country: USA
Posts: 1,879
Current Location: North Carolina First Language: English Member Type: English Teacher Thanks: 0
Thanked 85 Times in 77 Posts
| | Re: I'm horribly confused - question for proper teachers 1. Baseball is the subject.
2. Sport is the subject.
There is no direct object because there is no transitive action verb like give or put. | 
15-Oct-2006, 13:25
| | Member | | Join Date: Sep 2006 Country: England
Posts: 146
Current Location: Spain First Language: English Member Type: English Teacher Thanks: 0
Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts
| | Re: I'm horribly confused - question for proper teachers Thankyou.
So am I right in thinking that in (1), national sport of the United States is a predicative nominative? How does the adjective fit in?
And what is the United States in example (2), if it's not part of the subject?
They really ought to have covered this stuff in school. | 
15-Oct-2006, 16:41
|  | Moderator | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Country: USA
Posts: 2,870
Current Location: Detroit, Michigan First Language: English Member Type: English Teacher Thanks: 0
Thanked 415 Times in 358 Posts
| | Re: I'm horribly confused - question for proper teachers In (1), "national" is an adjective. It describes "sport." If the sentence said simply "Baseball is a sport in the United States," then "sport" would be a predicative nominative. But since it says "the national sport", I would call it a predicate adjective.
In (2), "the United States" is the object of the preposition "of."
Speaking of baseball, congrats to my hometown Detroit Tigers for making it to the World Series! | 
15-Oct-2006, 22:13
|  | VIP Member | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Country: USA
Posts: 6,094
Current Location: New York First Language: American English Member Type: Academic Thanks: 0
Thanked 13 Times in 13 Posts
| | Re: I'm horribly confused - question for proper teachers Quote:
Originally Posted by Ouisch In (1), "national" is an adjective. It describes "sport." If the sentence said simply "Baseball is a sport in the United States," then "sport" would be a predicative nominative. But since it says "the national sport", I would call it a predicate adjective.
In (2), "the United States" is the object of the preposition "of."
Speaking of baseball, congrats to my hometown Detroit Tigers for making it to the World Series!  | I have to disagree with part of that. The phrase "the national sport" is a noun, not an adjective, even though "national" is an "adjective".
Congratulations to the Tigers, but I hope the Mets will be coming. | 
15-Oct-2006, 22:18
|  | VIP Member | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Country: USA
Posts: 6,094
Current Location: New York First Language: American English Member Type: Academic Thanks: 0
Thanked 13 Times in 13 Posts
| | Re: I'm horribly confused - question for proper teachers Quote:
Originally Posted by boothling I'm supposed to teach a class tomorrow. My first ever. Unfortunately, I've never studied grammar and I've suddenly found myself in hell.
I'm having trouble with the following:
1) Baseball is the national sport of the United States.
2) The national sport of the United States is baseball.
In (1), baseball is the subject, right? But in (2), is baseball still the subject? Or is the subject now the national sport of the United States?
What's the object? Is there an object? If so, is it direct or indirect? Why?
Luckily I'm not supposed to be explaining any of this tomorrow, but I do need to get it clear in my head. Obviously.
Help! | 1.
Baseball - noun, subject
is - linking verb
sport - noun, predicate nominative (modified by the article "the" and the adjective "national")
of the United States - adjectival prepositional phrase modifying "sport".
2.
sport - noun subject (modified by "the" and "national")
of the United States - (see above)
is linking verb
baseball - noun, predicate nominative | 
16-Oct-2006, 18:16
| | Member | | Join Date: Sep 2006 Country: England
Posts: 146
Current Location: Spain First Language: English Member Type: English Teacher Thanks: 0
Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts
| | Re: I'm horribly confused - question for proper teachers Thanks to all, and especially MikeNewYork - that breakdown is very clear. | 
16-Oct-2006, 19:12
|  | VIP Member | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Country: USA
Posts: 6,094
Current Location: New York First Language: American English Member Type: Academic Thanks: 0
Thanked 13 Times in 13 Posts
| | Re: I'm horribly confused - question for proper teachers Quote:
Originally Posted by boothling Thanks to all, and especially MikeNewYork - that breakdown is very clear. | You're very welcome.
How did the class go? | | Thread Tools | | | | Display Modes | Linear Mode |
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts HTML code is Off | | | All times are GMT. The time now is 17:19. |  |