Lots of homework to do/to be done, I have to stay at home all day.

[diamondcutter]

Lots of homework to do, I have to stay at home all day.

Source: An English Reference Book For Senior High School Students, Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, Beijing

I’d like to know whether it’s a correct sentence. What about my version below?

Lots of homework to be done, I have to stay at home all day.

 

[Rover_KE]

What point was the textbook making about this example?

It's not a correct sentence: it lacks a subject and finite verb, and your rewrite doesn't work.

I've got lots of homework to do. I have to stay at home all day.

 

[diamondcutter]

The sentence is an example for the absolute construction.

 

[5jj]

The writers of your English Reference Book seem to delight in presenting a range of formal, old-fashioned absolute constructions that very few writers would use today. I doubt if Lots of homework to do would ever have worked, though it's just about possible as With lots of homework to do. People today would use two sentences, as Rover did, or join the clauses with as, since or because.

 

[jutfrank]

Both sentences are awful.

I don't think that book is teaching you how to use this kind of construction very well. It may be doing more harm than good, in fact. Get a better book, with better examples.

 

[Tarheel]

Try:

The sentence is an example of an absolute construction.

Most native speakers probably wouldn't know what an absolute construction is. Indeed, I am not sure myself what it is exactly.

 

[Tdol]

This would work better:

I have to stay at home all day- lots of homework to do.

I see no reason to use the passive.

 

[Tarheel]

I would probably use two sentences. (But there goes your absolute construction.) Perhaps;

I will probably be home all day today. I have a lot of homework to do.

I might order some pizza to be delivered at some point. I might also play some online chess.

 

[diamondcutter]

But in some idioms, we can find the absolute construction easily. I found these examples in Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries.

1. All things considered, she's done very well.
2. All things being equal, we should finish the job tomorrow.
3. We'll have the party outside, weather permitting.
4. I'll be back next week, God willing.
5. I can't stand academics - present company excepted.

 

[5jj]

some idioms,

Those are the important words.

 

[diamondcutter]

In my personal limited reading experience, I seldom find the absolute construction except the idioms in #9 in non-fiction books but I sometimes find some in fiction books. What about you?

 

[diamondcutter]

Hi, 5jj. In #4, your said this: it's just about possible as With lots of homework to do.

I'd like to know whether you meant this:

It's just about possible to say "with lots of homework to do".

(You may be wondering why I didn't use the quoting function. To be frank, since the new platform was applied, I can only use the typing function on this forum.)

 

[emsr2d2]

(You may be wondering why I didn't use the quoting function. To be frank, since the new platform was applied, I can only use the typing function on this forum.)

You should post in the Support Area about this. Make sure you explain whether you're using a desktop, a laptop or a mobile, and which operating system and browser. This information can really help the admins to sort out problems.

 

[5jj]

Hi, 5jj. In #4, your said this: it's just about possible as With lots of homework to do.

I'd like to know whether you meant this:

It's just about possible to say "with lots of homework to do".

Your re-wording conveys the same meaning as my original words.

 

[diamondcutter]

That is to say, “it” is the dummy subject and the preposition phrase “as with lots of homework to do” is the real subject. Am I right?

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, it is the subject. I don't quite understand what you mean by 'the real subject'.

Are you trying to understand 5jj's use of the word as?

 

[diamondcutter]

Let me take the following sentence as an example.

It is important to learn English.

In many grammar books in China, the pronoun “it” is looked as “the dummy subject” and the infinitive phrase “to learn English” is called “the real subject” because “it” refers to “to learn English”.

What I want to know is whether the preposition phrase “as with lots of homework to do” in 5jj’s sentence has the same function as the infinitive phrase “to learn English” in my sentence. That is to say, are they both real subject?

 

[jutfrank]

In many grammar books in China, the pronoun “it” is looked as “the dummy subject” and the infinitive phrase “to learn English” is called “the real subject” because “it” refers to “to learn English”.

Okay, I see what you mean now.

What I want to know is whether the preposition phrase “as with lots of homework to do” in 5jj’s sentence has the same function as the infinitive phrase “to learn English” in my sentence. That is to say, are they both real subject?

No.

In 5jj's sentence, the bit that reads with lots of homework to do is merely a piece of quoted language. It doesn't actually form part of the grammar of the sentence. Let me rewrite the sentence in a different way:

It is just about possible if written as "with lots of homework to do".

Think of the subject it as referring to the absolute construction—or rather, to 5jj's suggested version of the absolute construction, which is just about possible. There's no dummy subject.

 

[diamondcutter]

It's just about possible as “with lots of homework to do”.
It's just about possible to say "with lots of homework to do".

According to 5jj, these two sentences have the same meaning, so the preposition phrase--as “with lots of homework to do” and the infinitive phrase--to say "with lots of homework to do" have the same meaning and same function--both are real subjects.

I look the whole red part as a preposition phrase and the whole blue part as an infinitive phrase.

 

[5jj]

I doubt if Lots of homework to do would ever have worked, though it's just about possible as With lots of homework to do. People today would use two sentences, as Rover did, or join the clauses with as, since or because.

That is what I wrote. The subject of the clause I have underlined is 'it', which refers back to 'Lots of homework to do'.

In a different context 'it' might be labelled a dummy pronoun; not in this context.