Sounds like "to be" or "not to be" to me.

Cheers

Dave wrote:
On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 19:13:36 -0700, "Jonathan Ganz"
said:


Nonsense! You don't seem to be able to work with the original quotation.
That's OK. I'll try to move down to your level.

Example A: "We hold these truths self-evident."
Example B: "We hold these truths passionately."

By your arguments, Example B should be written as "We hold these truths
passionate".


Even someone with your limited understanding of basic grammar should be

able

to see that you are wrong.


On the contrary. By my argument Example B is correct as written. Why?
Because there is no understood "to be" verb in Example B. Let me
illustrate:

Example A as Jefferson wrote it: "We hold these truths to be self-evident."
Example A as Donal wrote if: "We hold these truths self-evident." --Both
entirely correct, since the "to be," though not stated in Example A as Donal
wrote it, is understood. "Self-evident" is an adjective referring to truths,
not an adverb describing how the truths are held. The understood reflexive
"to be" tells us that.

Example B as Jefferson wouldn't have written it: "We hold these truths to be
passionately."--incorrect, since he intends to describe how the truths are
held rather than to describe the truths themselves.
Example B as Donal wrote it: "We hold these truths passionately" --entirely
correct, since there is no understood "to be." "Passionately" is not an
adjective. It's an adverb telling how the truths are held.

Once you get beyond the sixth grade level, Donal, the grammar requires a bit
of subtlety and an ear for the language, not the application of simple
formulaic rules, as you would perhaps have seen had you read the references
I gave you earlier.


Dave
S/V Good Fortune
CS27

Who goes duck hunting with Jamie Gorelick?