[General] takeout food being a really good option

[kompstar]

Hello,

I actually see takeout food being a really good option for individuals who are trying to limit their exposure to people. -> source CNN 10


Shouldn't it be:

I actually see takeout food is a really good option for individuals who are trying to limit their exposure to people

 

[probus]

To my ear "is" sounds unnatural here. I think "as" is better than both "being" and "is". It is certainly what I would use.

 

[kompstar]

But "is" and "being" is also correct?

 

[Tarheel]

I prefer as to both other options.

 

[jutfrank]

is is simply wrong.

I'm quite confident that being is wrong too. It could be possible in a certain sense—if, say, the speaker were considering a future possibility, but I doubt that sense is what the speaker means. We need more context to say for sure.

The correct word is probably as.

 

[probus]

I wouldn't go quite so far as to declare CNN wrong on this. Plenty of AmE speakers would use "being" there, although I am not one of them. "Is", however, is clearly wrong as jutfrank said.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

But "is" and "being" are also correct?

No. They're wrong. It should be as.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I wouldn't go quite so far as to declare CNN wrong on this. Plenty of AmE speakers would use "being" there, although I am not one of them. "Is", however, is clearly wrong as jutfrank said.

Plenty of Americans can't put a sentence together with duct tape and a glue gun.

I'd go along with as being, but the as is still needed.

 

[jutfrank]

As I said in post #5, I think there's a difference in meaning between as and being.

I see takeout food as a good option = I think takeout food is a good option

I see takeout food being a good option = I think takeout food would be good option

Am I the only one who discriminates them like this? Is this another variety difference?

 

[probus]

I'd go along with as being, but the as is still needed.

With respect, I disagree. I can't see anything wrong with the sentence as spoken on CNN:

"I actually see takeout food being a really good option for individuals who are trying to limit their exposure to people."

It is colloquial to be sure, but to call it wrong is to go too far towards prescriptionism.

 

[TheParser]

Hello,

I actually see takeout food being a really good option for individuals who are trying to limit their exposure to people. -> source CNN 10

NOT A TEACHER

My teachers taught me to simplify a sentence in order to parse it more easily. So let's look at "I see takeout food ____ a good option."

Michael Swan's respected Practical English Usage (1995), entry 580.2 on page 609 says that "when we say how we see or describe somebody/something," we can introduce the object complement with "as being." His example: "The police do not regard him as being dangerous."

 

[jutfrank]

I think the verb see is a complicating factor here, because, unlike regard, it can be used to mean imagine rather than consider.

Imagine this: I have a friend who is not a hairdresser. I'm now considering what he would be like if he were a hairdresser:

I can't see him being a good hairdresser.

The sentence above uses the same pattern (see + somebody + -ing) as is used in the 'takeout food' sentence. It doesn't mean that he isn't a good hairdresser.

I don't think this hypothetical sense is what the speaker means, though. I still see being as wrong in the OP sentence, (unless there is a hypothetical sense). In the sentence directly preceding this one, I couldn't say I see 'being' being wrong, could I?

 

[Tarheel]

"The police do not regard him as being dangerous."

With all due respect to Michael Swan, where did he see that?

(If you guessed that I wouldn't use "being" there you guessed right.)

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER

The online Longman Dictionary says that "strike somebody as (being) something" is illustrated in the sentence "His jokes didn't strike Jack as being very funny."

The dictionary allows for the word "being" to be deleted.

 

[Tarheel]

I've had a distate for Longman ever since somebody "corrected" me using Longman as his guide.

I would say:

I don't think Jack's jokes are funny.

(Surely they could have found a more natural use for being.)

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER

Here is the opinion of four respected grammarians.

1. "The media described the situation as hopeless."

a. "as" is a preposition here.
b. "hopeless" is an adjective (phrase). (The authors say that this construction of a preposition plus an adjective is "exceptional.")

2. "The media described the situation as being hopeless."

a. By adding the word "being," they say, the prepositional phrase is converted into a nominal -ing clause. They claim that this construction is "more orthodox."



Source: Professors Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (1985), page 1201.

 

[jutfrank]

a. By adding the word "being," they say, the prepositional phrase is converted into a nominal -ing clause. They claim that this construction is "more orthodox."

Thanks for the info.

"Orthodox" meaning what exactly? More commonly used?

I really don't like being there. What's the point of it?