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Shinya Maki
10-25-2005, 05:50 PM
Hello, everyone.

The following is one of the model sentences I have found in a writing/composition textbook now in use for high school students in Japan.

Just before going to sleep is the time when I enjoy reading the most.

I am wondering if it is grammatically correct to take a prepositional phrase like “just before going to sleep” as the subject of a sentence. When I was a student, I was taught from teachers of English that the subject of a sentence should be a noun equivalent.

Or is the sentence above an “inverted” sentence?

Any comment would be appreciated.

Best regards,
Shinya Maki
Temico
10-26-2005, 12:09 AM
Just before going to sleep is the time when I enjoy reading the most.

The sentence is grammatically correct. "Just before going to sleep" is used as a noun phrase, subject of the verb "is".
English Patriot
10-27-2005, 04:41 PM
the sentence is correct but you are missing a comma in the middle of it
Temico
10-28-2005, 12:04 AM
the sentence is correct but you are missing a comma in the middle of it

Middle of where, may I ask? To me, there is no need for a comma just like the sentence below:-

"8p.m. is the time when I enjoy reading most."
English Patriot
11-07-2005, 01:57 AM
Middle of where, may I ask? To me, there is no need for a comma just like the sentence below:-

"8p.m. is the time when I enjoy reading most."

As you can see there is no need for a comma in this sentence asit has a full stop after the 8pm. in the last one it says " Just before going to sleep," this is where the comma is needed. :p
Temico
11-07-2005, 02:26 AM
As you can see there is no need for a comma in this sentence asit has a full stop after the 8pm. in the last one it says " Just before going to sleep," this is where the comma is needed. :p

I see. Can you please tell me how many punctuation mistakes are there in your own above sentence/s? Or are there none??
English Patriot
11-10-2005, 03:31 PM
I see. Can you please tell me how many punctuation mistakes are there in your own above sentence/s? Or are there none??

I sure can tell you where they are.

1.
As you can see there is no need for a comma, in this
2.
sentence as it has a full stop after the 8pm. :p

Is this to your liking or is this a debate about my English.