288 CHAPTER 6. LANGUAGE PATTERNS
lates to ”that which is ’being able to keep a secret secret’”. This is different
from an abstraction using :
”The concept ’being able to keep a secret a secret’””The concept ’being able to keep that secret a secret forever’”
This concept can be talked about as for instance ’being hard’ or ’be-
ing impossible’, or even ’is unnatural’, whereas:
”That which is ’being able to keep a secret a secret’”
or”That which is ’being able to keep that secret a secret forever’”
can only be talked about as existing or not, but that’s roughly it. The
concept of being able to keep a secret hidden from the rest of the world is
something abstract, while the actual act of being able to keep some secret
hidden is concrete. For the abstract idea, is used. For the concrete
event, is used.
6.2.4 Illustrating a circumstance, case or occasion using
When you want to illustrate an occasion, circumstance or situation, you
use the nominaliser , which is typically followed by the particle
to indicate point in time. Used as a noun on its own, has these same
meanings:
literally: ”It is different depending on circumstances”
”It depends on the circumstance.”
Used as nominaliser, it turns the preceding part into a circumstance,
which can be commented on, by connecting it to either a noun phrase using
, or directly to verbal :
”(We)’ll consider your case an exception.”
In this sentence, the clause , a personal pronoun meaning ”you”,
has been paired with to create ”your circumstance”, about which a