Jack's avatar
Jack

May 24, 2024

0
Recording Learning

“Me being able to buy a car at that age was an exception.” (An American wrote this sentence.)

“Me being able to” seems a very new structure to me, which I don’t think I see often. I’ve been wondering why it is “me” instead of “I” and it is “being” instead of “be”? I know the first part of the above sentence is the subject, so it should be nominal. I am thinking about whether there are other ways to phrase the first part of the sentence without changing its original meaning. What I was able to…? That I was able to…? I hope someone can give me more alternatives. Thank you in advance.

Corrections

I’ve been wondering why it is “me” instead of “I” and it is “being” instead of “be”?

I don't know why you think "being" should be "be" - but it is "being" because it can be a participial phrase. Basically, "being" is a participle (a verb that we add -ed or -ing to, so it becomes an adjective to describe a noun) that works as an adjective to describe the noun "me."
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/mechanics/gerunds_participles_and_infinitives/participles.html
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/participial-phrases/

Another identical grammar structure to this is a gerund phrase. A gerund is a verb that we add -ing to the end of, so that it becomes a noun. When you use a gerund phrase, you can say "MY being able to buy a car at that age..." because "being" is a noun and "my" is your possessive article attached to it.

Technically, this sentence is "wrong" both ways. If it were a proper, correct participial phrase, we would write "I, being able to buy a car at that age, was an exception." This is correct, but it sounds really stuffy, and if you type it without the commas (I being able to buy a car at that age) looks completely incorrect.

The same goes for "my" - you will see the words "my being..." quite often in English, but it's very uncommon in speech. It's still more common than "I" in my opinion, though. But most often you'll see the words "me being" because these phrases often come at the end of a sentence. (Ex. That was just her being rude. They were annoyed at us being loud. My mom doesn't like me being upset. We want to see them smiling. etc. etc. etc.) "Me being" is more common, so "my being" - even though it's grammatically correct - starts to sound more strange.

So, in common speech, we like to fuck up these phrases by using the object pronoun + gerund/participle, no matter if it's the subject or object :)

I know the first part of the above sentence is the subject, so it should be nominal.

If it was a correct participial phrase - yes, we would write "I, being able to buy a car at that age, was an exception..."
This also sounds a bit wrong though, because you need to section off "being able to buy a car at that age," and that makes the sentence slightly different. The original one makes the focus on being able to buy a car. THAT is what is exceptional. When you "correct" it to use the word I, and then you section off the participial phrase in commas, it makes it sound more like you're saying "*I* was exceptional," which sounds a little more arrogant than intended.

What I was able to…?

"What" is mostly only for questions

That I was able to…?

You could say: That I was able to buy a car at that age was an exception.
Same exact meaning as "Me being able to buy a car at that age was an exception."

Feedback

I hope I didn't sound too confusing. This was something I struggled with trying to learn to translate from English, because technically, we say it all the time in places where we shouldn't! Don't worry too much about the grammar here, it's really complicated and stumped me for quite a while. I'm just trying to explain that, yes, technically the sentence should say "I" instead of "me" - but you would probably see a native speaker sooner correct it to "my" which we often, in speech, use interchangeably with "me" in this instance anyways.

Jack's avatar
Jack

June 5, 2024

0

Thank you very much.

“Me being able to buy a car at that age was an exception.” (An American wrote this sentence.)

“Me being able to” seems a very new structure to me, which I don’t think I see often.

I don't know what dialect you prefer, but just letting you know my observation on the phrase "seems a very new". This is 100% correct, but I associate it with British English. In American English, I would prefer to say "seems to be a very new" or "seems like a very new".

I’ve been wondering why it is “me” instead of “I” and it is “being” instead of “be”?

I know the first part of the above sentence is the subject, so it should be nominal.

I am thinking about whether there are other ways to phrase the first part of the sentence without changing its original meaning.

What I was able to…?

That I was able to…?

I hope someone can give me more alternatives.

Thank you in advance.

Feedback

"Me being able to buy a car". In this sentence, 'being able to' is acting as a Gerund. A gerund is like a special form of a verb that acts as a noun. Often, when using gerunds, one uses a Possessive Pronoun before it. So 'My being able to buy car" is the technically correct form, but I would be fine with hearing "Me being able to". Also, in this case, because the gerund "being able to" acts as a noun, it is actually now the subject of the sentence. You would not use "I". Gerunds are very sneaky, even for native speakers, since words ending in -ing have a lot of different forms and functions. In casual American English, I would be perfectly fine with hearing "Me being able to buy". Another way to phrase this would be: "My ability to buy" or "For myself, being able to buy" or "The fact that I was able to buy" or "That I was able to buy" (this one sounds a bit formal/old-fashioned/stiff).

Jack's avatar
Jack

May 24, 2024

0

Thank you very much.

“Me being able to” seems a very new structure to me, which I don’t think I see often.


“Me being able to” seems a very new structure to me, which I don’t think I see often.

I don't know what dialect you prefer, but just letting you know my observation on the phrase "seems a very new". This is 100% correct, but I associate it with British English. In American English, I would prefer to say "seems to be a very new" or "seems like a very new".

Recording Learning


I’ve been wondering why it is “me” instead of “I” and it is “being” instead of “be”?


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

I’ve been wondering why it is “me” instead of “I” and it is “being” instead of “be”?

I don't know why you think "being" should be "be" - but it is "being" because it can be a participial phrase. Basically, "being" is a participle (a verb that we add -ed or -ing to, so it becomes an adjective to describe a noun) that works as an adjective to describe the noun "me." https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/mechanics/gerunds_participles_and_infinitives/participles.html https://www.grammarly.com/blog/participial-phrases/ Another identical grammar structure to this is a gerund phrase. A gerund is a verb that we add -ing to the end of, so that it becomes a noun. When you use a gerund phrase, you can say "MY being able to buy a car at that age..." because "being" is a noun and "my" is your possessive article attached to it. Technically, this sentence is "wrong" both ways. If it were a proper, correct participial phrase, we would write "I, being able to buy a car at that age, was an exception." This is correct, but it sounds really stuffy, and if you type it without the commas (I being able to buy a car at that age) looks completely incorrect. The same goes for "my" - you will see the words "my being..." quite often in English, but it's very uncommon in speech. It's still more common than "I" in my opinion, though. But most often you'll see the words "me being" because these phrases often come at the end of a sentence. (Ex. That was just her being rude. They were annoyed at us being loud. My mom doesn't like me being upset. We want to see them smiling. etc. etc. etc.) "Me being" is more common, so "my being" - even though it's grammatically correct - starts to sound more strange. So, in common speech, we like to fuck up these phrases by using the object pronoun + gerund/participle, no matter if it's the subject or object :)

I know the first part of the above sentence is the subject, so it should be nominal.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

I know the first part of the above sentence is the subject, so it should be nominal.

If it was a correct participial phrase - yes, we would write "I, being able to buy a car at that age, was an exception..." This also sounds a bit wrong though, because you need to section off "being able to buy a car at that age," and that makes the sentence slightly different. The original one makes the focus on being able to buy a car. THAT is what is exceptional. When you "correct" it to use the word I, and then you section off the participial phrase in commas, it makes it sound more like you're saying "*I* was exceptional," which sounds a little more arrogant than intended.

“Me being able to buy a car at that age was an exception.” (An American wrote this sentence.)


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

I am thinking about whether there are other ways to phrase the first part of the sentence without changing its original meaning.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

What I was able to…?


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

What I was able to…?

"What" is mostly only for questions

That I was able to…?


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

That I was able to…?

You could say: That I was able to buy a car at that age was an exception. Same exact meaning as "Me being able to buy a car at that age was an exception."

I hope someone can give me more alternatives.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Thank you in advance.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

You need LangCorrect Premium to access this feature.

Go Premium