It is a comment describing the anime that I saw:
"WHILE TAKING RESTRAINING OUR PRISONER MORGAN, HE MANAGED TO SLICE AND KILL GARP-SAN!"
Is this "taking restraining" a valid usage?
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CowperKettle
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오준수
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no there is nothing like that, as far as I know at least. maybe there was a spelling error? – technophyle Sep 12 '15 at 02:05
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Please don't use ALL CAPS. It makes it seem like you are SHOUTING. – Jasper Sep 12 '15 at 03:09
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@Jasper it's a direct quote from YouTube. I'm guessing that it should only read "taking" or "restraining". – Catija Sep 12 '15 at 04:36
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1It is customary to include an actual question in the Body of your Question. – Brian Hitchcock Sep 12 '15 at 09:16
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It looks like a careless omission to me. It should say "While taking and restraining our prisoner..." – J.R. Sep 12 '15 at 09:20
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1Is it possibly meant to be something like "placing in restraints", i.e. "handcuffing"? "slice" gets a chuckle. – TimR Sep 12 '15 at 11:49
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I wonder who deleted *my* comments (not the first time) while leaving others. – Victor Bazarov Sep 13 '15 at 11:46
2 Answers
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Whether it's a "valid" usage is up for debate, I suppose, but it looks to me like the translators omitted a conjunction:
While taking and restraining our prisoner Morgan, he managed to slice and kill Garp-San.
In other words, while Morgan was being taken and restrained – or perhaps we could say, while Morgan was being arrested – Garp-San was killed by a sword.
Using two verbs with a conjunction such as and is quite common in English. For example:
- Mr White hurt his neck while restraining and controlling the prisoner.
- Leash dogs while entering and exiting the dog park.
In fact, nothing limits us to just two verbs; we could use three or more:
Include signs that remind everyone to wash hands before eating, drinking, or preparing food.
This really looks like a missing word, and I'd strongly advise against doing this without a conjunction:
Mr White hurt his neck while restraining controlling the prisoner.
J.R.
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There is certainly a completely grammatically correct form of two gerunds adjacent in a sentence:
He sighed starting cleaning the floor.
We had such fun opening nesting dolls!
Spreading growing branches wider and wider the oak reigned over the forest.
Yes, it is possible to amend those examples to add an article or a pronoun between the gerunds, but it's not required.
Victor Bazarov
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1That first one sounds quite awkward to me. He sighed, and started to clean the floor. He sighed, starting to clean the floor. Those would be much better. As for #2, that's a valid sentence, but it's not the same construct – nesting functions adjectively there, much like dancing in dancing lessons. The third one isn't exemplary English, either; I feel it needs a conjunction and a comma: Spreading and growing its branches wider and wider, the oak tree reigned over the forest.. – J.R. Sep 12 '15 at 12:58
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The third one I'd probably put as "Spreading *his* growing...". The first we could write, "Bending low and starting cleaning the floor, he sighed" (and yes, "starting to clean" is essentially the same, does not make mine non-grammatical, though). – Victor Bazarov Sep 12 '15 at 13:03
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It may not be non-grammatical, but it still sounds horrific at best, and would best be avoided. – J.R. Sep 13 '15 at 08:45
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The problem I have with this answer is that it would lead the learner to believe that there's no problem with the cartoon's translation. You seem to be validating the construct. There may be places where it happens, but the O.P.'s example is more likely a typo than a complex grammar structure. Words like "certainly completely correct" don't really answer this particular question very well. – J.R. Sep 13 '15 at 18:10