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eshh
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usage of THAT and -ing

by eshh Sat Aug 12, 2017 10:35 am

Hi instructors,

I have one question regarding the usage of THAT and -ing to introduce a modifier. Let's say we have the following:
1) "With A, B, and C that are/is bla bla bla"
2) "With A, B, and C being bla bla bla"

In both cases, "bla bla bla" would modify all A, B and C or only C?

Thanks in advance.
Sage Pearce-Higgins
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Re: usage of THAT and -ing

by Sage Pearce-Higgins Sun Aug 20, 2017 2:08 pm

They are both noun modifiers, yes. Your examples don't make much sense to me, but here are two (correct) examples with the same meaning:

I saw a bird flying overhead.
I saw a bird that was flying overhead.


If this isn't clear, please give me a clear example of what confuses you.
eshh
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Re: usage of THAT and -ing

by eshh Mon Aug 21, 2017 6:03 am

Thank you.

My doubt is when we have several nouns linked by "and", then the modifier would modify all the nouns or just the last one?

e.g.
I saw a girl and a boy walking on the street.
I saw a dog and a cat that was/were walking on the street.

Do "walking" and "that" in these cases modify "girl and boy" and "dog and cat"? Or do they modify only "boy" and "cat"?
StaceyKoprince
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Re: usage of THAT and -ing

by StaceyKoprince Mon Aug 28, 2017 3:59 pm

When the modifiers are linked with a parallelism marker such as "and," it's possible for the modifer to apply to the whole set or just to the last one in the set. Context can tell you which interpretation to use. You can also use sentence structure to make the meaning more clear.

For example, this is correct:
Amy and Su, who are really nice, are going to the movies.
(applies to both)

Compare these two:
Amy and Su, who is really nice, are going to the movies.
Su, who is really nice, and Amy are going to the movies.

The second sentence is better than the first because it is very clear that I am really saying that (only) Su is nice (sorry Amy!). The first one would technically be okay, because the singular verb is tells you that I'm talking about just one person. But if I had a choice between the first and the second, I would want to use the second because it's crystal clear / there's no room for misunderstanding.
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