Experts, please explain! BEING

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by Cumulonimbus » Mon Feb 25, 2013 10:11 pm
lunarpower wrote:
Cumulonimbus wrote:If so then how is the subject of the sentence - 'Being followed' or 'Being heavily committed'
I thought it was celebrities and executive respectively.

Please help to clarify my doubts.
KR,
these are -ing forms that act as nouns. since they act as nouns, they can be the subject of the sentence, just as any other noun could be.

here's a simpler sentence in which the same thing happens:
Swimming is fun.
... and ...
Being followed by a stalker is not fun.
same thing.

Hi Ron,
Thanks.
So does that mean that in a passive voice 'tobe +verbed' can describe action done by someone/something on someone/something, which need not be the subject necessarily, or it is specific to gerunds?

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by lunarpower » Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:07 am
Cumulonimbus wrote:Hi Ron,
Thanks.
So does that mean that in a passive voice 'tobe +verbed' can describe action done by someone/something on someone/something, which need not be the subject necessarily, or it is specific to gerunds?
i'm not 100% sure that i understand the question here, but it seems you're asking whether other passive forms can do the same thing as what's going on in the example above.

if that's actually your question, then, yes. for instance, this is a legitimate sentence:
To be loved is to be understood.

if that's not what you are asking, then please clarify, thanks.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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