Type of usage/accuracy

Question

As the boy tames the wild bird, it evokes pleasure in him away from his hardship in society; the bird is bettering us here.

verb
gerund or present participle: bettering

improve on or surpass (an existing or previous level or achievement).

Bird (animal) substituting human failure: that is what it means.

Can this clause be reduced as the bird bettering us here and use a comma instead of a semi-colon.

Or is that  wrong.

Elliot · Answer

By "bettering" it is meant that the presence of the bird is improving us. It does this by distracting the boy from his current hardships.

If you were to say "..the bird 'Betters' us" it might be similar but seems tortured and may not be understood

From Wiki; "A gerund is the present participle of a verb..."

Hot Licks · Answer

The problem is that "X is bettering Y" tends to be taken to mean that X is scoring higher than Y in some competition. Attempting to use it to mean that X is causing Y to become better would not be the normal interpretation.

Answered by Hot Licks on August 22, 2021

Type of usage/accuracy

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