# Grammar Videos and Peikoff Grammar Course \[AM\]

**URL:** <https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/grammar-videos-and-peikoff-grammar-course-am/2005>\
**Category:** Projects\
**Created:** [February 26, 2025, 5:34pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/grammar-videos-and-peikoff-grammar-course-am/2005 "2025-02-26T17:34:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 6

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**Author:** ![ActiveMind](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/user_avatar/discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/activemind/32/5560_2.png) [@ActiveMind](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/ActiveMind)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 11:15pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/grammar-videos-and-peikoff-grammar-course-am/2005/6 "2025-02-28T23:15:39Z")

</div>

Doing [exercises](https://courses.aynrand.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Leonard_Peikoff-Principles_of_Grammar.pdf) for the first lecture. Some nesting/levels got messed up when I copied from bullet points into MindNode, which is why I took so much time on meta today.

> 1. When Jack came into the room, he began to remove his coat.

 ![screenshot 16](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/uploads/default/original/2X/c/c7193c5072ab3ddc194fd73993b038b79504ef48.jpeg)

“A wise move” modifies “began” or “to remove”. I think it makes more sense to modify the verb, since that’s the action. it was wise of him to begin.

> 1. Coming into the room, Jack began to remove his coat.

wrong:

 ![screenshot 17](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/uploads/default/original/2X/2/20562cfac1723aee24184b88d87bee1746dcade8.jpeg)

this is the same as the “darting up the wall, the mouse escaped”. so I still have that mentality of thinking about what’s happening instead of the grammar.

final:

 ![screenshot 18](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/uploads/default/original/2X/a/a7f3be0f56ff650cb6b4b1069537758ce1c8168b.jpeg)

`<Jack <coming <into <the room>>>> began <to remove <his coat>>`

> 1. Italy owes a historic debt to her great sculptors. A debt she can never repay.

 ![screenshot 20](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/uploads/default/original/2X/8/846eebb73ad56cbfbfb36e5e3064c99920211ea4.jpeg)

wrong:

 ![screenshot 22](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/uploads/default/original/2X/7/7aaa632d30398003fb3943f8c7f6b40cce587dbc.jpeg)

I would translate this back to a sentence as:

> She can never repay a debt.

is there a way to make the tree unambiguously represent the original sentence? so I think the clue is that these two sentences were given together (and an explanation of appositives are given right under.) so “a debt” is refering to the debt Italy has to her great sculptors. “A debt” is an appositive modifying “debt” in the first sentence, then “she can never repay” is adjectival clause modifying “debt” in the second sentence. the second sentence isn’t really a complete thought then, but neither was “a wise move.”

 ![screenshot 23](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/uploads/default/original/2X/b/b86235d5dfbc63c3983352e3ee5ad40a2ba9e924.jpeg)

however this has a verb modifying a noun, so need a way to connect them. they’re connected with an implied that/which.

final:

 ![screenshot 24](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/uploads/default/original/2X/1/15c28f6ee2c97e8719f5597df96facbe026dcb02.jpeg)

> 1. Learning may be easy, if you are learning from a good teacher, but teaching is work.

 ![screenshot 25](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/uploads/default/original/2X/2/2f7c80e5692b645ae3e9839ee803c31f0464edfa.jpeg)

> 1. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

 ![screenshot 28](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/uploads/default/original/2X/f/fdffe0f68dcab5f571acf8abeb8ec0ecd8f8e2d5.jpeg)

I had it like this to start with:

 ![screenshot 29](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/uploads/default/original/2X/4/45133c8b6ffbb79c3642bb5ecdd6d40e1a4829c0.jpeg)  
tricky.

> 1. It is not enough that a man do the right thing, that his acts be in accord with duty; the moral man must act from duty; he must do his duty simply because it is his duty.

 ![screenshot 31](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/uploads/default/original/2X/b/b4f698ed9c17a88191fedd8a18e6f84171304089.jpeg)

I was uncertain about “duty”, a noun, being the subject complement for “it is.” Then I checked “to rule is his prerogative”:

 ![screenshot 15](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/uploads/default/original/2X/3/37bf171d24382af64fa12cb2988266376e527974.jpeg)

another example is “he is a policeman.”

# project notes

I also listened to the first Peikoff lecture while doing other things.

Time table for today:

| _Total time_ | _3:30_ | | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| grammar | 3:30 | | |
| \_ meta | | 0:41 | |
| \_ peikoff course | | 2:49 | |
| \\_ listen in background | | | 0:54 |
| \\_ first try exercises | | | 1:55 |

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_[View the full topic](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/grammar-videos-and-peikoff-grammar-course-am/2005)._