English grammar!!?

Question

Hello,
Reading a book named The Queen's English ,
I found a sentence confusing me.
Writer says it's wrong in terms of grammar to say "The national interest is not increasing food production."
What I think is that since this sentence consists of a subject,
verb (is), and a noun,
*The national interest = subeject.
* is = be
* not increasing = a gerund acting as a noun.
There's nothing wroing in this sentencce.

If i am wrong , what is the difference in terms of grammar
between saying the national interest is not increasing production and he is not a student, when the two sentences
have their subjects, be and nouns.
would clearly tell me why i am wrong and how I can make a better sentence?

one more thing,

* He would not cave in to international pressure over climate change.

* He would not cave in on capital penalty.

I am wondering why the first sentence has "to" after cave in
whereas the second has "on" after cave in.
How do you know when to use on or to?

Answer 1

If i am wrong , what is the difference in terms of grammar between saying the national interest is not increasing production and he is not a student, when the two sentences
have their subjects, be and nouns.
would clearly tell me why i am wrong and how I can make a better sentence?

YOU ARE WRONG. Something called 'word sense' is a part of grammar. "Interest" CANNOT increase 'food production' under any circumstances, so it communicates nothing to say whether it does or doesn't. The corrected sentence would read:

The national interest is not served by increasing food production.

People or companies can increase food production, not the 'national interest.'

one more thing,

* He would not cave in to international pressure over climate change.

* He would not cave in on capital penalty.

I am wondering why the first sentence has "to" after cave in
whereas the second has "on" after cave in.
How do you know when to use on or to?

"Word sense" involves the DEFINITION of the word. Both 'on' and 'to' are prepositions, but with entirely different meanings. 'To' is used in reference to people. 'International pressure' comes from people. 'On' is used in reference to ideas, 'Capital penalty' is an idea.

If you said he caved in 'on' people exerting international pressure, that would imply that he physically and literally FELL on them.

If you said he caved in 'to' an idea such as capital penalty, that would imply that he had been physically and literally EXECUTED.

Pay attention to the 'word sense' as well as the parts of speech when crafting your sentences.

Answer 2

I agree with Wise Owl. The problem with the first sentence is that to use a gerund as a noun it should read 'The national interest is not IN increasing food production'. Or alternatively you could use a double verb - 'The national interest is not to increase......'

The second part of your question I think is perhaps a question of semantics rather than strict grammar.

Answer 3

The first sentence is wrong because "The national interest" is not increasing anything. The sentence actually is trying to describe where the national interest lies.
The correct sentence would be:
"The national interest is in not increasing production".
I would write "It is not in the national interest to increase production" or "Increasing production is not in the national interest".

In the "cave in" context
For "He would not cave in to international pressure", the person is at the receiving end of the pressure. He is SUBJECTED TO the pressure, and will not cave in.
Likewise you would have "I refuse to give in to blackmail"

Whilst in the sentence "He would not cave in on capital penalty" the person is refusing to give ground ON THE SUBJECT of capital penalty.
"I refuse to give in on the question of capital punishment"

Answer 4

That first sentence is wrong because it means to say, "The national interest is not *in* increasing food production." As written, the sentence means something entirely different.

Regarding your second question, use "to" to describe what is causing the cave-in, and "on" to describe what the subject is trying to hold up against.

Answer 5

Hi I think the word "the" is not necessary in the first sentence you talk about. eg we woud not say 'the public interest is increasing'- we would say 'public interest....'

The second question you ask is a matter of meaning. Cave in to suggests that other people are putting pressure on him

Cave in on suggests that he is just sticking to his own opinions

Hope this is clear

Answer 6

I agree with you that the first sentence is correct.
As far as cave to and on..that's more difficult to put a rule to...generally 'not cave in to' means that some pressure was being put on you to try to make you collapse....not cave in on...means that you would not allow that increase of pressure to succeed

Answer 7

forgot the first bit, early morning, but international pressure would be the a description, is this a pronoun?, and so needs a physical action applies to it, i don't know, i shouldn't have even tried.
sorry, someone else will know.

Answer 8

Read the book again, hit "Check Spelling," and call me in the morning. Next time maybe you should consider having a point.

Answer 9

Hit snooze

Answer 10

Brent is correct.