[projectaon] Re: Editor's Companion Submission

  • From: Simon Osborne <outspaced@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: projectaon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:04:56 +0000

On 26/01/2010 20:09, McSwain LeRoy wrote:



 > Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:36:35 +0000
 > From: outspaced@xxxxxxxxxxxx
 > To: projectaon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
 > Subject: [projectaon] Re: Editor's Companion Submission
 >
 > On 26/01/2010 15:04, pamail.cgi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
 > > The following was sent from the Editor's Companion form
 > > From: Jan Charvát<ch.honza@xxxxxxxxxx>
 > > Date: 15:04:52 on Tuesday, January 26, 2010
 > >
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 > >
 > > (er) 17tdoi 62: the grand arch begin to collapse -> the grand arch
begins to collapse
 > > (er) 17tdoi 36: the grand arch begin to collapse. -> the grand arch
begins to collapse.
 >
 > No, this is correct. The sentence reads: "You are within seconds of
escaping when, to your horror,
 > you see [1] the walls buckle and [2] the grand arch begin to collapse."
 >
 > That is, you are seeing the grand arch begin to collapse, rather than
just being told that it is
 > beginning to collapse.
 >


Right. ?In this sentence, 'begin' is the infinitive form essentially
acting as a verbal noun in the role of direct object of the verb 'see'.
?Because it's an infinitive, it doesn't take an ending.
Let's imagine that the sentence were to only refer to one thing: "To your horror, you see the grand arch begin to collapse." This is grammatically correct.
The original sentence from Book 17 mentions that you see, rather than one particular cause for alarm, two distinct causes for worry: the walls are buckling, and the grand arch is beginning to collapse. Nevertheless, they are related and are both affecting you immediately. Hence: "To your horror, you see [the walls buckle and the grand arch begin to collapse]." This is also grammatically sound. 

Is this UK idiom? It makes perfect sense to me.

--
Simon Osborne
Project Aon

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