<p>Hey guys, these are some sentences that I need to know WHY they are wrong, instead of the correct words. Thanks. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Every certificate is hard earn.</p></li>
<li><p>Winning games or competing like monopoly and tennis. </p></li>
<li><p>Completing goals like getting a considerable amount of money deliberately.</p></li>
<li><p>Success can almost be anything, winning, getting good, getting good grades, making a better you. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks guys. Even though I know how to correct them, I have trouble explaining. Thanks, again.</p>
<ol>
<li>“Earn” is a verb. “Earned” is correct because it is an adjective describing certificate.</li>
</ol>
<p>I have no idea what the other sentences are supposed to mean, so I can’t say what’s wrong with them.</p>
<ol>
<li>Wrong verb form</li>
<li>Fragment, no verb, Monopoly needs a capital letter</li>
<li>Fragment, no verb</li>
<li>Punctuation error, should be a colon after anything</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>“Earn” should be “earned.”</p></li>
<li><p>and 3. are obvious fragments.</p></li>
<li><p>should have a semicolon after “anything.”</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>Colon, not semi-colon</li>
</ol>
<p>For 2, and 3, why isn’t the verb : 2. Winning 3. Completing</p>
<p>^It’s not just winning, it’s “winning games”.
Winning games is a noun, kind of. Or modifier, something like that…
Ex. I was winning the match. <— Verb</p>
<p>So is “Winning games” a noun because its a gerund?</p>
<p>and is “hard earn” supposed to be “hard-earned” because it needs to be in past tense?</p>
<p>Whoops, colon. Sorry about that…</p>
<p>-ing verbs without helpers cannot be the main verb of the sentence.
Number one could be, “Every certificate is hard to earn.”</p>
<p>Your sentences have more that one problem and could be fixed several ways.</p>
<p>^ I agree with MD Mom.</p>
<p>Just to clarify some nomenclature, when a verb has -ing, it is said to be in the gerund form. Gerunds are nouns. They can therefore be neither the main verb, nor any other verb in a sentence.</p>
<p>Helping verbs, combined with -ing verbs, form the verb phrase in sentences. </p>
<p>I was trying to explain this. (was trying, without the was, it is not complete)</p>
<p>This is one of my favorite grammar sites:</p>
<p>[Helping</a> and Modal Auxiliary Verbs](<a href=“http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/auxiliary.htm]Helping”>http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/auxiliary.htm)</p>