Teaching > Grammar Questions and Teaching Suggestions

"Doctor is a good job."

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travelista:
I am going through some of my students' writing assignments and keep seeing expressions like:
"Doctor is a good job."
"Teacher is a stable job."
I want to explain to them that they need to change it to:
"Being a doctor is a good job."
"Teaching is a good job."
Although I know that the first sentences are wrong, I don't know the grammar rules for this. It just sounds unnatural/wrong to me. What are the grammar rules and how can I explain it simply to them?
Thank you~!!

Superchick3:
Well isn't "Teaching is good work." better?

Jozigirl:
"Doctor is a good job" and "Teacher is a stable job" are incorrect because neither of these sentences has a finite verb.  You cannot "is' so, in this context, "is" is an auxiliary (helping) verb that aides the flow of the sentence.  In order to be a complete sentence, there must be a subject and a finite verb (verb that can stand alone as it has a clear meaning and time attached to it) present.  You can "be" so "be' is a finite verb and, since jobs/careers are ongoing, it needs to be conjugated in the continuous tense.  Therefore, "Being a doctor is a good job."

flasyb:

--- Quote from: Jozigirl on May 23, 2012, 09:24:11 PM ---"Doctor is a good job" and "Teacher is a stable job" are incorrect because neither of these sentences has a finite verb.  You cannot "is' so, in this context, "is" is an auxiliary (helping) verb that aides the flow of the sentence.  In order to be a complete sentence, there must be a subject and a finite verb (verb that can stand alone as it has a clear meaning and time attached to it) present.  You can "be" so "be' is a finite verb and, since jobs/careers are ongoing, it needs to be conjugated in the continuous tense.  Therefore, "Being a doctor is a good job."

--- End quote ---

Are you sure that's the continuous? Looks more like a gerund phrase to me. In all these examples I'd say we're looking at gerunds/gerund phrases.


I reckon it could be to do with the fact that nouns like doctor, teacher, builder, butcher, baker, candle stick maker all refer to to people first and then the actual job. A teacher is a person who does teaching work.

"Doctor is a good job" fails because the noun "doctor" isn't a job but a person - albeit a person who does a particular job, a person nonetheless. (In the same way, you wouldn't say, "Merlot is a good beer" - it's the wrong category).

"Being a doctor is a good job" works better because it refers to the things that the doctor does - the actual job.

travelista:
Thanks~ Other people and websites have seemed to agree with flasyb. Wish me luck in trying to explain this to my students:)

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