How many students graduate from university totally unable to spell even simple English words correctly?

[VinhPC]

How many students graduate from university totally unable to spell even simple English words correctly?

Hello, is the above sentence grammatically correct? It seems strange to me. If so, what grammatical piece is it using? I would have written it like this instead.

How many students who graduate from university are totally unable to spell even simple English words correctly?

 

[emsr2d2]

The original is correct. "totally unable to spell even simple English words correctly" is one long adjective describing the students in question. Your version is also grammatically correct but it's not an improvement on the original.

Let's use a shorter question:

How many children arrive at school tired?

To use "are", we would have to change the word order and add some words:

How many children are tired when they arrive at school?

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forum, VinhPC.

Where did you find the original sentence? Always tell us the source and author of any text you quote, please.

 

[jutfrank]

You might find it easier to understand with an omitted 'being' before the adjective phrase:

How many students graduate from university (being) totally unable to spell even simple English words correctly?

 

[VinhPC]

Welcome to the forum, VinhPC.

Where did you find the original sentence? Always tell us the source and author of any text you quote, please.

Sorry, I'll remember from now on.
I got it from Vietnam's 2015 English Olympic exam.

 

[Kontol]

The original is correct. "totally unable to spell even simple English words correctly" is one long adjective describing the students in question. Your version is also grammatically correct but it's not an improvement on the original.

Let's use a shorter question:

How many children arrive at school tired?

To use "are", we would have to change the word order and add some words:

How many children are tired when they arrive at school?

Hello, emsr2d2. I see your sentence use "would" in "to use "are", we would have to change the word order and add some words" Could you explain why you use "would" instead of just saying "have to?"

 

[emsr2d2]

Hello, emsr2d2. I see your sentence that you use used "would" in "to use "are", we would have to change the word order and add some words". Could you explain why you used "would" instead of just saying "have to?"

I treated it as a hypothetical. If you wanted to use "are", you would have to ...