I have a sentence:
She's very busy working three jobs.
Is that present continuous? it confuses me that there is a verb in ing after an adjective
Or is a gerund?
Thanks.
grammar
I have a sentence:
She's very busy working three jobs.
Is that present continuous? it confuses me that there is a verb in ing after an adjective
Or is a gerund?
Thanks.
Best Answer
'Working' in 'She's busy working [three jobs]' is a complement of the adjective 'busy', not a type of second predicate. In The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Huddleston & Pullum; 2002) (p 1259):
CGEL gives further analysis of the 'worth / worthwhile' examples.
..........
Contrast 'She's very tired, [what with] working such long hours'
and 'She's very busy, [what with] doing three jobs'
which use adjuncts, here (ignoring the what with's) participial clauses of reason (or expansion perhaps, in the latter example).