Being

[English4everyone]

What kind of structure is this?
It depends on the weather being good.

 

[MikeNewYork]

What do you mean? It is perfectly normal.

 

[English4everyone]

I just know it's correct but I don't know how it is correct?
Why is the -ing form? Is there any deduction in "the weather being good"?
What is the original form?

 

[Matthew Wai]

Why is the -ing form?

I think 'being' should be used instead of 'is' because you cannot use a clause directly after prepositions such as 'on', but I am not a teacher.

What is the original form?

In my humble opinion, 'the weather is good' is a sentence, and it could be used as a clause in 'It depends on whether the weather is good'.

 

[mawes12]

In my humble opinion, 'the weather is good' is a sentence, and it could be used as a clause in 'It depends on whether the weather is good'.

I think you can also replace 'whether' with 'if'.

 

[Matthew Wai]

'Whether' sounds better to me in this context, but I am not a teacher.

 

[mawes12]

Both give the same meaning though.

 

[TheParser]

What is the original form?

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


Hello, English:

It seems that Matthew Wai has again hit the nail on the head.

By googling, I was able to find several dozen examples. Here are just three:

1. "It depends on whether the weather is good or bad."

2. "The danger ... depends on whether the weather is hot or cold on the day of the climb."

3. "Our ski trip depends on whether the weather is appropriate."

*****

I was not able to find many examples of "on the weather being," even though I am guessing that many (most?) native speakers would prefer the sound of "on the weather being" to "whether the weather is."

 

[MikeNewYork]

James, are you sure you spelled the search parameters correctly? My search returned 570,000 hits.

https://www.google.com/search?q="de...me&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8#q="on+the+weather+being"

 

[TheParser]

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


I found some information that has really extended my knowledge about this kind of sentence. I am delighted to share it with followers of this thread.


The following words (including those in the parentheses) are the authors'. (I have, however, emphasized two words.)

"You can depend on it. (it = John does his work.)
"You can depend on John doing his work.

1. The authors parse "doing" as a gerund in that sentence.
2. The authors do not use "John's," for they feel that many speakers reserve the possessive only for personal pronouns. They admit, however, that the choice is a matter of personal style.

*****

I was just wondering whether that pattern also applies to the verb "be." Thus:

"You can depend on it. (it = The weather is nice.)
"You can depend on the weather being nice.

a. As the authors point out (in another case): if the subject of a gerund is not a person, most speakers do not use the possessive. Thus, it might be more natural to say "weather being" instead of "weather's being."


Credit goes to: Mesdames Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, The Grammar Book / An ESL/EFL Teacher's Course (1983), pages 427, 440, and 475 -476.

 

[Matthew Wai]

"You can depend on John doing his work.

1. The authors parse "doing" as a gerund in that sentence.

I consider it a present participle, but I am not a teacher.

 

[Polyester]

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

"You can depend on the weather being nice.

What does the underlined in red mean?

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think you can simply translate it into your native language literally, but I am not a teacher.

 

[TheParser]

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


Mr. Wai:

I am not replying to your question regarding the status of "doing" in that sentence. Hopefully, another member will do so.

I just thought, however, that you would like this information from the same two scholars.

1. "We watched John running across the field." (participle. "Here the focus is on the object John, who is in the act of running across the field; John cannot occur in the possessive form.")

2. "We appreciated his being discreet about the matter." (gerund. "Here the focus is on the whole embedded sentence, i.e., the fact that he was discreet about the matter." (The authors realize that in "informal contexts," some speakers might use "him.")


Page 476 of the book cited in post #11.

 

[TheParser]

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


Polyester:


Maybe (maybe!) it means something like:

Mona: Should I wear a sweater today?

Mother: There is no need to.

Mona: Why not?

Mother: You can depend on the weather being nice.

Mona: What did you say? A noisy airplane just flew overhead, so I didn't hear you.

Mother: I said that you will not need to wear a sweater today because the weather person on TV says that the weather today will be nice. You can depend on her word. She is seldom wrong.

 

[Matthew Wai]

You can depend on the weather being nice.

I take it to mean 'You can expect that the weather will be nice', but I am not a teacher.

 

[Matthew Wai]

'You can be quite sure that the weather will be nice.'
Is it correct?

 

[tzfujimino]

I think now is the time for you to click on 'Edit Post', Piscean. I personally find it useful.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think small typos would not affect our understanding, but I am not a teacher.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I consider it a present participle, but I am not a teacher.

I agree. It is not a noun there, it is a modifier (participle).