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crl

18:13

Farhan

Are these both correct? It is nice to meet you vs. It is nice to meeting you

I always thought that after the preposition to, you need the first form of verb, even without -ing.

Andrew Leach

You are right. To meeting is not correct. "To be meeting" is grammatically correct (for the same reason) but certainly not idiomatic (because present continuous is not normally used for instantaneous events).

Anonymous

@Farhan to meet contains the infinitive marker to, not the preposition to

Andrew Leach

@snailboat Oh. I suppose I should have noticed that :-(

At least the rest of what I said is correct.

I hope.

Johan Larsson

18:37

@Rob one week huh?

Robusto

For non-trivial sites.

Johan Larsson

who are you calling trivial?

I should do something about that menu

Robusto

Yeah, like make it a menu.

Johan Larsson

is that <menu>?

Robusto

no.

You're mr. speedy, you figure it out. ^_^

Johan Larsson

18:41

haha

is the ul approach dumb?

Robusto

no, it's standard

but not obligatory

Farhan

@AndrewLeach @snailboat Now I think about it, I guess my example wasn't too good. Please look at this:

I am looking forward to meet you VS I am looking forward to meeting you

Andrew Leach

Aha. That's different. You look forward to something, or even some thing.

So meeting is correct, as that's a gerund (which functions as a noun).

To there is a preposition.

Farhan

@AndrewLeach So meeting not a verb anymore, but has become a noun.

Robusto

yup

Farhan

18:54

If yes, shouldn't the proper use of meeting as a noun be like this: I am looking forward to have a meeting with you.?

Andrew Leach

Well, it's a gerund. It's a sort-of-noun. Which is a sort-of-verb. Which is why it doesn't haven't an article.

Robusto

meeting you is a noun phrase.

Andrew Leach

Your alternative needs having.

Farhan

Gerund is really confusing.

Andrew Leach

yup

Q: "For [verb]ing" vs "to [verb]"

Someone edited my message on StackOverflow, but it really bugs me out. I'm not sure what's wrong with it: As you see, the bigger the circle becomes, the more vertices I need for hiding the straight lines. As you see, the bigger the circle becomes, the more vertices I need to hide the straight ...

Anonymous

18:57

@AndrewLeach When you've got a gerund as your verb, the entire clause functions like a noun phrase.

Anonymous

That's how I'd put it.

Anonymous

You can tell it's still a verb inside the clause because it takes the same complementation the verb normally would, in this case an object.

Andrew Leach

@snailboat Yes. Or perhaps: "When you need a noun phrase, the verb needs to be a gerund." Does that turn it around correctly?

Anonymous

When you actually use meeting as a derived noun, you end up saying things like "I have a meeting in an hour", where we can see it's actually used as a noun

Anonymous

@AndrewLeach Sure

Anonymous

19:04

Gerund: "He was expelled for [wantonly killing the birds]." The clause as a whole functions like a noun phrase, but it takes verb-like complementation (the direct object the birds) and modification (the adverb wantonly). It does not take a determiner or inflect like a noun. It is not a noun.

Anonymous

Deverbal noun: "He was expelled for [his wanton killing of the birds]." Now it takes a determiner (his), adjectival rather than adverbial modification (wanton), noun-like complementation (an of-phrase rather than a direct object), and inflects like a noun (his wanton killings is grammatical). It is a noun.

Anonymous

So we can see that although it's accurate to say the clause it's in functions like a noun phrase, it's not really accurate to say the gerund itself functions as a noun

Johan Larsson

@Robusto I watched ~8 hours of tutorials, learned very little.

Anonymous

A gerund is still a verb form

Robusto

@JohanLarsson I never learn anything from general tutorials. I learn by doing. Can't stand to hear someone else prose on about this or that.

1 hour later…

Johan Larsson

20:25

<link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>

how do I know if they want money for it?

Andrew Leach

By looking it up?

google.com/fonts/specimen/Open+Sans

Apache License: apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html

"No charge, royalty free"

Johan Larsson

@AndrewLeach by asking here?

ty sir :)

Andrew Leach

:-)

3 hours later…

crl

23:33

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