students <being><who are> more willing

[Mnemon]

Hi,

"The most common concerns among college students are anxiety and depression. Experts point out that this increase could be attributed to students being more willing to seek help."

Source: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1225649

Do you find the part in bold accurate, grammatically and in terms of meaning?

I reckon it would need be "students who are more willing" though I'm not 100% sure.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks.

 

[SoothingDave]

It is correct and conveys the intended meaning.

 

[Cunning Fox]

The original is also correct.

Not a native speaker nor a teacher.

 

[Mnemon]

It is correct and conveys the intended meaning.

Thanks for your contribution, but my book does not seem to concur with you on that.

The following sentences have been taken from the book Common Mistakes at IELTS Advanced.

a. Of course there are some student being more willing to study than others.

b. Of course there are some student who are more willing to study than others.

As per the book, the correct one is b and a is marked as wrong. Not sure why.

 

[Phaedrus]

". . . Experts point out that this increase could be attributed to students being more willing to seek help."

I agree with SoothingDave that the sentence is correct.

Thanks for your contribution, but my book does not seem to concur with you on that.

The following sentences have been taken from the book Common Mistakes at IELTS Advanced.

a. Of course there are some student being more willing to study than others.

b. Of course there are some student who are more willing to study than others.

From a grammatical standpoint, neither of those sentences, each of which exhibits a different type of error, bears the slightest resemblance to the example in your first post.

That the increase could be attributed to students being more willing to seek help means that it could be attributed to the fact that they are more willing to seek help.

The object of the preposition "to" in "attributed to" is the nominal -ing phrase "students being more willing to seek help," headed by "being."

Some people would use the possessive, which here would be just an apostrophe, after the subject of the -ing phrase:

This increase could be attributed to students'/their being more willing to seek help.

 

[SoothingDave]

Thanks for your contribution, but my book does not seem to concur with you on that.

The following sentences have been taken from the book Common Mistakes at IELTS Advanced.

a. Of course there are some student being more willing to study than others.

b. Of course there are some student who are more willing to study than others.

As per the book, the correct one is b and a is marked as wrong. Not sure why.

View attachment 4277

a is wrong. It's also not the same as the original sentence that I told you was correct.

 

[Mnemon]

I agree with SoothingDave that the sentence is correct.


From a grammatical standpoint, neither of those sentences, each of which exhibits a different type of error, bears the slightest resemblance the example in your first post.

That the increase could be attributed to students being more willing to seek help means that it could be attributed to the fact that they are more willing to seek help.

The object of the preposition "to" in "attributed to" is the nominal -ing phrase "students being more willing to seek help," headed by "being."

Some people would use the possessive, which here would be just an apostrophe, after the subject of the -ing phrase:

This increase could be attributed to students'/their being more willing to seek help.

Many thanks for the clarification. Sorry, but I didn't read it that way. Let me explain it in more details.

- (Original) Experts point out that this increase could be attributed to students [who are] being more willing to seek help.

- a. Of course there are some student [who are] being more willing to study than others.

The way I saw it, they completely follow the same pattern, which I think, from a grammatical point of view is known as reduced adjective clause.

However, you seem to be saying the original sentence should be seen as,

- (Original) Experts point out that this increase could be attributed to students' being [which is] more willing to seek help.

Is that true?

 

[SoothingDave]

students' being [which is] more willing

This is nonsense. There is nothing omitted or being reduced in the original sentence.

 

[emsr2d2]

No, the "which is" you have added has no place in that sentence.

Here are some similar sentences using different verbs.

The lack of bananas could be attributed to students eating more of them in the summer.
Joe believes he is very attractive to mosquitoes due to his having a particular blood group.
This increase could be blamed on people working from home more.

Things like "attributed to" and "blamed on" are followed by a description of something happening.

 

[Mnemon]

Things like "attributed to" and "blamed on" are followed by a description of something happening.

I see. Many thanks for you patience and helpful remark. Sorry if I was completely off the mark.

 

[5jj]

Also asked here: students being /who are more willing - English Grammar - English - The Free Dictionary Language Forums

 

[jutfrank]

I reckon it would need be "students who are more willing" though I'm not 100% sure.

The original sentence is correct. Your rewrite is wrong, as you've misunderstood the meaning.

Here's a paraphrase of the original:

Experts point out that this increase could be attributed to the fact that students are more willing to seek help.

It is not the students whom the increase can be attributed to, but the fact that they are more willing to seek help.

 

[emsr2d2]

Mnemom, please note that we need to know if you ask the same question on another website.

 

[Phaedrus]

Many thanks for the clarification. Sorry, but I didn't read it that way. Let me explain it in more details.

- (Original) Experts point out that this increase could be attributed to students [who are] being more willing to seek help.

. . . The way I saw it, they completely follow the same pattern, which I think, from a grammatical point of view is known as reduced adjective clause.

Your interpretation, with its rendering of "students being more willing to seek help" as a noun phrase containing a reduced relative clause:

students who are being more willing to help

implies that the following sentence is possible:

*[strike]Students are being more willing to seek help.[/strike]

But it is not. That sentence is ungrammatical.

"Students being more willing to seek help" is not a noun phrase at all, and it contains no reduced relative/adjective clause. "Students being more willing to seek help" is a nonfinite clause functioning as the object of a preposition. The subject of that nonfinite clause is "students," and the predicate is "being more willing to seek help."

This construction is known in modern syntax as the Acc-ing construction and, in the traditional grammar of H. W. Fowler, as the "fused participle" construction.

 

[Rover_KE]

Mnemon, please click 'Thank' or 'Like' in post #13 to acknowledge that you have read it.

 

[5jj]

[Your interpretation ...] implies that the following sentence is possible:

*[strike]Students are being more willing to seek help.[/strike]

But it is not. That sentence is ungrammatical.

While I admit that sentences such as that are very rare, I would not say that they were ungrammatical.

 

[Phaedrus]

While I admit that sentences such as that are very rare, I would not say that they were ungrammatical.

It makes sense to say that someone is being silly or being a jerk. It makes no sense to say that someone is being willing to seek more help.

What does make sense is to say that someone is willing (present simple) or has been willing (present perfect) to seek more help.

In any case, the reduction of "students who are more willing to seek help" is "students more willing to seek help," NOT "students being more willing to seek help."

The OP involves the Accusative-ing construction, as a variant of the Possessive-ing construction. It is absurd to suppose that it involves a reduced relative clause.

 

[5jj]

It makes sense to say that someone is being silly or being a jerk. It makes no sense to say that someone is being willing to seek more help.

We have different opinions here.

In any case, I was talking about it being grammatical, not about it necessarily making sense, though I think it does.

Colorless green ...

 

[Phaedrus]

In any case, I was talking about it being grammatical, not about it necessarily making sense [. . .].

Very well, 5jj. I enjoy the grammar of this sentence of yours, insofar as it relates to this thread, and have taken the liberty, for Mnemon's benefit, of underlining its Accusative-ing constructions (nonfinite clauses) and the prepositions of which they are objects.

 

[5jj]

If I'd known you were going to do that, I'd have stuck a couple of 's in.

;-)