Posted by David Bamford on January 11, 2010 at 14:19:25 user David.
In Reply to: Re: Grammar (was Ages in GN) posted by Tom Napier on January 11, 2010 at 02:50:14:
If my partner told me that "The flowers need watering" I would probably reply "Is that why they are drooping so sadly?" in order to deflect the implication that I should be the person involved in the solution to the problem. She would then have to say, in her active voice "Please water the flowers!" There will be something in the quality of her 'active voice' which cannot be written, but which tells me that if those flowers don't get wet very soon then no dinner will be the least of my problems.
On the subject of a gerund, I haven't met one before, but it sounds like something which I would have expected to see being eaten by lions on the plains of Africa. A bit like an antelope.
David.