Posted by jeevan159 · April 8, 2011 · 2 replies
Hi,
Should i add the word 'about' in these sentences? Is these sentences are grammatical correct?
a. Letter to a friend about describing a special occasion
b. Letter to a family member about a visitor from overseas
c. Letter to a friend about an incident
d. Letter to a pen-pal about religious practices in Malaysia
e. Letter to a friend about the profession of veterinary doctor
f. Letter to a friend about an event
Regards
Jeevan
You don't need both "about" and the present participle verb in (a) : Letter to a friend describing a special occasion is fine. The participle has the same meaning as a relative clause - so the sentence means Letter to a friend which describes a special occasion. Alternatively you could say Letter to a friend about a special occasion.
About is necessary in all the other sentences, where you just have a noun phrase.
In some contexts you would also need to say A letter to a friend ... It's fine in a list like this, but in a sentence the article is necessary : Yesterday I wrote a letter to a friend about....
(e) could also be improved - the expression is "veterinary surgeon" rather than "veterinary doctor" but it's more usual to abbreviate it to vet. I'd phrase this as : A letter to a friend about working as a vet.
(Here about is necessary, because despite being in the -ing form, the verb is not a participle but a gerund - it's the nominalisation of the verb. It couldn't be replaced by a relative clause).
Thanks a lot.
