[Grammar] Please help me identify the Subject

Status
Not open for further replies.

EEL

Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2009
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
I found the following sentence in a news article.

Very, very serious problem in Russia being addressed in a new way.

Please explain the syntax of the above sentence.

And what difference would the sentence make if an "is" was placed before being. As in, Very serious problem in Russia is being addressed in a new way.

Could you please give me few examples with the similar syntax. But, with a few possible variations.

Kindly oblige.
:roll:
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
I found the following sentence in a news article.

A very, very serious problem in Russia is being addressed in a new way.

Please explain the syntax of the above sentence.

And what difference would the sentence make if an "is" was placed before being. As in, Very serious problem in Russia is being addressed in a new way.

Could you please give me few examples with the similar syntax. But, with a few possible variations.

Kindly oblige.
:roll:
The grammar in original is wrong if it is supposed to be a complete sentence. And it's too long to be a proper headline. So I don't know what the author had in mind.

The subject is problem. It's in the passive. We don't know who is addressing (trying to fix) the problem, because the people are are "doing" something are not named. However, the grammatical subject is problem. A problem is being addressed.

A very, very serious problem in Russia is the complete subject.

You are quite correct to add the "is." It's not grammatical (as a full sentence) without it.
 

TheParser

VIP Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2009
Member Type
Other
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
I found the following sentence in a news article.

Very, very serious problem in Russia being addressed in a new way.

Please explain the syntax of the above sentence.

And what difference would the sentence make if an "is" was placed before being. As in, Very serious problem in Russia is being addressed in a new way.

Could you please give me few examples with the similar syntax. But, with a few possible variations.

Kindly oblige.
:roll:


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


(1) The moderator has given you and me the answer.

(2) If I were forced to "fix" that sentence, I would have to say

something like:

It is a very, very serious problem in Russia (that) is being

addressed in a new way.

I guess:

It = subject.

is = linking verb.

a very, very serious problem in Russia = subjective complement

(refers to "it").

that is being addressed in a new way. = adjective clause that

modifies "problem."
 

EEL

Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2009
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top