I will have you ---

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

I will have you all speaking and writing fluent English within a year -Is this correct sentence ? If so ,where is direct or finite /nonfinite verb ?

2

Yes, that is fine. The finite verb in ‘have’.

3

Thanks .

The bus knocked him down or
The bus knocked down him

Where is the problem ? Does any problem exist ?

4

The bus knocked him down.
The other option doesn’t work, though you could say ‘He was knocked down by a bus,’

Where a pronoun is used in the context of a vehicle hitting a pedestrian, ‘knocked x down’ is the standard order.
The same rule is not applied so rigidly if the noun is used:
Both ‘The bus knocked the man down’ and ‘The bus knocked down the man’ are acceptable to many speakers.

5

Thanks.

You had brought about my ruin -what about this ? Pls. again compare with 'The bus knocked down him ’ Does first one’s context indicate differently ?

6

Sorry, Koreanlab. I’m afraid it’s not good news. That sentence only indicates bad grammar.

7

You had brought about my ruin.
(X) The bus knocked down him.

These are not comparable structures. The object of ‘brought about’ is a noun, ‘ruin’. The object of ‘knocked down’ is a pronoun, ‘him’. Both verbs are separable phrasal verbs, and they follow the rule which states that separable phrasal verbs may be separated by noun objects (‘brought my ruin about’ or ‘brought about my ruin’) but must be separated by pronoun objects (‘knocked him down’).

8

Oh,

Thanks MM - I had completely misread that question. I didn’t realise the first sentence was part of the question. :slight_smile:
I thought we were still comparing the two earlier sentences about the bus.

9

Thanks Mr.M.M.
I can have you responding almost well !

Did you notice crying somebody outside the window ? or
Did you notice somebody standing outside the window ? Do they have any grammatical inconsistency here -except present participle.?

10

Hi,

In your first sentence you need to look at word order. The object of ‘notice’ is ‘somebody’ and not ‘crying’. That is why the first sentence doesn’t make sense and the second one does.

Alan

11

Thanks a lot Mr. Alan.

‘He would have had her believe that he was penniless .’

Is here 'believe ’ infinitive or transitive verb ? Why not ‘this believe’ should be ‘believed’ ?

12

Hi,

The form here is infinitive. ‘Believe’ is a transitive verb and in the sentence, that he was penniless. is the noun object clause.

Alan

13

But where is ‘to’ before the 'believe ’ ? I might have heard something 'bare infinitive ’ ; is this like that one ?

14

Hi,

The construction is: have someone do something - no ‘to’.

Alan

15

Thanks .

Let there be knowledge or
Let there be light - what types of constructions are these ?

16

Let there be light.

‘There’ is existential; it is the grammatical subject, but merely a place holder for the notional subject ‘light’: ‘Let light be’.
‘Let’ is a coercive verb (like ‘make’ and ‘have’) in the imperative mood.
‘Be’ is the bare infinitive complement to ‘let’.

17

Is ‘light’ here object of the ‘Let’ or ‘Be’ – I mean which one? Does ‘bare infinitive’ contain any ‘object’?

18

‘Be’, which as a linking verb, is intransitive and doesn’t take an object. You can consider ‘light’ either an indefinite subject or a subject complement.

19

Thanks .

Now ,‘Let him there be finish (noun)of this matter immediate as we have disinterested(or uninterested ?)by anymeans’ - Is this correct to say ?

20

No, not at all. I have no idea what you are trying to say, Koreanlab. Please try express it in simple English.