- 8 Aug 2005
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No. You can't use the posessive の for a verb.Whoops. Looks like I really messed up the first sentence without realizing it. I meant to put 「彼の言っているのは変です。」. I'm mostly just interested in if I'm understanding this concept of 「彼の言っている」 as I should be. Is it correct? Is it just defining the act of speaking as his more specifically?
Well, こと is generally used for more abstract things, but there are other uses for it. There are specific grammar structures that call for the use of こと、 for which の cannot be substituted, and vice-versa.走っていることが難しいです
The act of running is difficult.
I chose こと because I'm talking specifically about the action, not a particular instance. But from your example above it seems like either this is wrong, or I could also use の here.
の is also not bound to a single purpose, and doesn't have to refer to a single instance of an action. when I used the example 漢字を書くのが難しいです, I wasn't referring to a single act of writing kanji, but writing kanji in general.
I don't know what you are talking about throwing particles around. You need to have a firm grasp of the basics before you can start playing with different tenses.昨日(の?)走っていたのは難しかったです。
The running we did yesterday was difficult
I'm unsure about the の after 昨日 here because I've always been taught to just leave it dangling without a particle. I'm pretty sure you can throw a で on there if you please, but in this case I felt like a の would work because I'm specifically talking about the running that happened yesterday. Ergh. So many things to be cleared up.
How are you studying? You're all over the place and I don't think I can help you by fixing sentences one at a time. You gotta crawl before you walk; what materials do you have on the basic particles は、が、を、の、に、で、 etc?