[Grammar] Cleft - Structures that add emphasis

[PooMer]

Hi

What she did was move to Toronto.
What we did after class yesterday was race home to watch the football game on TV.
What he does is criticize me constantly.
What I like is hiking in the Andes.

Are
What she did was to move to Toronto.
What we did after class yesterday was racing home to watch the football game on TV.
What he does is criticizing me constantly.
What I like is hike in the Andes.
possible?

 

[bhaisahab]

No.

 

[PooMer]

A little more detail would be appreciated.
Some information here http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv149.shtml about using (to).

 

[TheParser]

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


Hello, PooMer:

I found some examples from a very reliable book.

You may wish to study them very carefully and then apply the principles to your sentences. (Of course, you will make allowances for a change in tenses whenever necessary.)


1. The monkey drives the jeep. = What the monkey drives is the jeep.
2. The monkey drives the jeep. = What drives the jeep is the monkey.
3. The monkey drove the jeep. = What the monkey drove was the jeep.
4. The monkey drove the jeep. = What drove the jeep was the monkey.

The author admits that #2 and #4 "sound rather strange, because a monkey seems more like a 'who' than a 'what.' "

5. The monkeys drive the jeep. = What the monkeys do is drive the jeep.
6. The monkey drives the jeep. = What the monkey does is drive the jeep.
7. The monkey drove the jeep. = What the monkey did was drive the jeep.



James


Credit goes to: Constance Weaver (who taught at Western Michigan University), Grammar for Teachers / Perspectives and Definitions (1979).

 

[PooMer]

Thanks for your reply

But what I don't get is the gerund and infinitive usage in pseudo-cleft sentences.

What I like is hiking in the Andes.
but:
What the monkey does is drive the jeep.
-------- is (as a verb) and drive (again another verb)


Can't it be
What the monkey does is driving the jeep?
-------- is (as a verb) and driving (as a noun)

Because I'm not completely familiar with English, and something like "I like drive" sounds strange to me.

 

[bhaisahab]

What do you know about the use of the auxilliary "do/does" and how it affects the form of the following verB?

 

[PooMer]

I presumed that it is obvious that I AM looking for some explanation.
Does it bother you?

 

[TheParser]

[1] Can't it be
What the monkey does is driving the jeep?


[2] "I like drive" sounds strange to me.

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


Hello, PooMer:

I have been checking my books and the Web, and I am 90% confident that the following is accurate:

[1] No, it can't be, in my opinion.

a. Original sentence: The monkey is driving the jeep.
b. Pseudo-cleft: What the monkey is doing is driving the jeep.


PooMer asks a question. What PooMer does is (to) ask a question.

PooMer is asking a question. What PooMer is doing is asking a question.

[2] I agree with you: "I like drive" is not correct.




James