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pareshcs
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infinitive phrase as a direct object 20 Jan 2014, 19:14
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Hi ,

I came across this sentence in Participial phrases video on Magoosh

HC posted a loss of 50 million dollars, causing their stock to plummet by $25 per share.

Please let me know if the participial phrase beginning with causing has an infinitive phrase "their stock to plummet by $25 per share" as a direct object.

Thanks,
Paresh
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mikemcgarry
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infinitive phrase as a direct object 21 Jan 2014, 11:31
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pareshcs
Hi ,

I came across this sentence in Participial phrases video on Magoosh

HC posted a loss of 50 million dollars, causing their stock to plummet by $25 per share.

Please let me know if the participial phrase beginning with causing has an infinitive phrase "their stock to plummet by $25 per share" as a direct object.

Thanks,
Paresh
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Dear Paresh,
I'm happy to respond. :-)

What's tricky here is that the infinitive has a subject, "their stocks", so the entire infinitive phrase, with subject, is:
their stock to plummet by $25 per share
This entire infinitive phrase is the direct object of the participle "causing."

Does this make sense?
Mike :-)
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infinitive phrase as a direct object 21 Jan 2014, 19:40
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Hi Mike,


Thanks for the reply..:)
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arunspanda
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infinitive phrase as a direct object 21 Jan 2014, 23:04
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mikemcgarry
pareshcs
Hi ,

I came across this sentence in Participial phrases video on Magoosh

HC posted a loss of 50 million dollars, causing their stock to plummet by $25 per share.

Please let me know if the participial phrase beginning with causing has an infinitive phrase "their stock to plummet by $25 per share" as a direct object.

Thanks,
Paresh
Dear Paresh,
I'm happy to respond. :-)

What's tricky here is that the infinitive has a subject, "their stocks", so the entire infinitive phrase, with subject, is:
their stock to plummet by $25 per share
This entire infinitive phrase is the direct object of the participle "causing."

Does this make sense?
Mike :-)
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Dear Mike,

Infinitive is used to mean action is completed or it is used to expresses a purpose.
It is confusing that the example sentence uses a participle to mean action is taking place along with infinitive.
Is this an example of absolute phrase --Kindly elaborate.

Thanks.
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infinitive phrase as a direct object 04 Feb 2014, 17:47
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arunspanda
Dear Mike,

Infinitive is used to mean action is completed or it is used to expresses a purpose.
It is confusing that the example sentence uses a participle to mean action is taking place along with infinitive.
Is this an example of absolute phrase --Kindly elaborate.

Thanks.
Show more
Dear arunspanda,
I'm happy to respond. :-)

First of all, infinitives have a variety of uses --- one common use is the infinitive of purpose, but there are many other uses. It would be hard to generalize.

In the sentence,
HC posted a loss of 50 million dollars, causing their stock to plummet by $25 per share.
the participle "causing" modifies the entire clause. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/modifiers- ... orrection/
This is not an absolute phrase. For more on absolute phrases, see:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/absolute-p ... -the-gmat/
and
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-tuesd ... e-phrases/

Let me know if you have any further questions.
Mike :-)
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infinitive phrase as a direct object 08 Feb 2014, 05:27
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mikemcgarry
arunspanda
Dear Mike,

Infinitive is used to mean action is completed or it is used to expresses a purpose.
It is confusing that the example sentence uses a participle to mean action is taking place along with infinitive.
Is this an example of absolute phrase --Kindly elaborate.

Thanks.
Dear arunspanda,
I'm happy to respond. :-)

First of all, infinitives have a variety of uses --- one common use is the infinitive of purpose, but there are many other uses. It would be hard to generalize.

In the sentence,
HC posted a loss of 50 million dollars, causing their stock to plummet by $25 per share.
the participle "causing" modifies the entire clause. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/modifiers- ... orrection/
This is not an absolute phrase. For more on absolute phrases, see:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/absolute-p ... -the-gmat/
and
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-tuesd ... e-phrases/

Let me know if you have any further questions.
Mike :-)
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Dear Mike,

The topics referred above are very informative.
Can we rewrite the original sentence using absolute phrase:HC posted a loss of 50 million dollars, an event that caused their stock to plummet by $25 per share.

Thanks.
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infinitive phrase as a direct object 08 Feb 2014, 16:37
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arunspanda
Dear Mike,

The topics referred above are very informative.
Can we rewrite the original sentence using absolute phrase:HC posted a loss of 50 million dollars, an event that caused their stock to plummet by $25 per share.
Thanks.
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Dear arunspanda,
Absolutely. That's a very elegant rephrasing.
Mike :-)