The
Grammar
Logs
# 147

QUESTION
I'd like to know the usage of "BE" verb. Example:
  • I hope that it can be deliver to you.
    or
  • I hope that it can be delivered to you.
In the above sentence, which one is a correct usage for present base form?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Azusa, California Wednesday, June 17, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I'm not sure what you mean by the "base form," but you definitely want the participle form of the verb, "delivered."

QUESTION
What is the difference between "in to" and "into"? Is "in to" ever correct? For example, what would the correct usage be in the following sentence: "Please enter the information in to the database."

Thanks!

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Washington, D.C. Wednesday, June 17, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
You will use the construction "in to" (separate words) when you use a Phrasal Verb that uses "in." For instance, we will say something like "He gave in to his stepmother on this argument." Or "He walked right in to the Dean's desk," which means something different from "He walked right into the Dean's desk." Or "She drove the boat in to the dock" means something different from "She drove the boat into the dock." Usually, though, we mean "into."

QUESTION
Dear Grammar:

I would like to ask you for help. I have some problems with verb recommend. F.e.

I recommend to you leaving this place
Is it correct? Can you suggest some other possibilities .

What is the difference between scope and range ? Thank you in advance

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Helsinki, Finland Wednesday, June 17, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Usually, with recommend, the thing being recommended is going to follow the verb immediately: "I recommend spinach to you." "I recommend this person to you." Or we could say, "I recommend that you leave this place."

Scope and range have special meanings in mathematics that completely elude me. You're going to have to use a dictionary or a mathematics glossary if that's what you have in mind. In general usage, scope means the entire extent of treatment, activity, or influence of something; range means the space or distance or divisions between limits.


QUESTION
in a phrase of the form "fifteen years experience" or "in two days time", isn't the word ending in -s supposed to be possessive? In particular, "years'" and "days'", resp -- Ie, the experience of fifteen years; the time of two days.

I hope i can hear from you soon (within a week or two).

Thank you for your time.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Columbus, Ohio Wednesday, June 17, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Yes, those have always been appropriate uses of the possessive, a kind of personification of time. The same thing is true of times of the day and money: the morning's news, the evening's storm, six dollars' worth, etc. Authority: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994. Cited with permission.


QUESTION
I was raised by an old-fashioned English teacher, so grammar was always one of my best subjects in school. Now I work for a PR firm, where my boss insists on putting two spaces after a colon. I'd always been taught to use two spaces after a period, question mark, or exclamation point, but never after a colon - and I can't find any mention of it in any style or grammar guide. The grammar check on my word processor agrees with me, and puts a little green squiggle under every double space after a colon - but my other associates here agree with my boss, and maintain that they were taught in school to double-space after both colons and periods. Did I miss something?
Example: It is necessary to use two spaces after a colon.
(This may sound awfully nit-picky, but it's a point of pride; I'll do what they say if I must, but I'd like to know that I'm not wrong.)

Thanks

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Unknown Wednesday, June 17, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I thought the old-fashioned advice was to put two spaces after a colon. It doesn't really matter. Most new reference manuals that bother to speak to the issue suggest that one space is better. Modern word-processors can do weird things when you put two spaces after a period, semicolon, or colon. It's hard to change this habit from two spaces to one space, but it's probably worth working on, especially if you're working on material that might be converted electronically to published text.

Authority: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Assocation American Psychological Association. 4th ed. American Psychological Association: New York. 1994. 244.
QUESTION
I have understood that the first word after the comma separating a modifying phrase from its subject MUST be the subject itself. But Virginia Woolf writes: "When she reached this point, Rodney pocketed the letter." Shouldn't it read: "When Katharine reached this point, Rodney pocketed the letter"?

Is this a misplaced modifier?

Thanks

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Sedona, Arizona Thursday, June 18, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
No, that's not really a misplaced modifier. We have no trouble sorting that sentence out, as long as we know who "she" is and that "she" isn't Rodney. The subject of an introductory adverbial modifier can be different from the subject of the main clause without a problem, unless some ambiguity causes us to confuse the two. I think what you have in mind is a Dangling Modifier -- in which an introductory modifying phrase inappropriately modifies the subsequent subject of the sentence.

QUESTION
I teach an adult esl class and I am having difficulty explaining the difference between being and been.

Difference between: would, should, could, shall,

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
AOL Land Thursday, June 18, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
For those various modals, I suggest you look at the section on Modal Auxiliaries. If you have specific questions after that, please write again.

Being and been sometimes confuse students in ESL classes because they sound so much alike. I don't know what to tell you except that the "being" is used in the progressive forms -- "He is being stubborn." -- and that "been" is a past participle form used in the perfect tenses -- "He has been stubborn about this all along." But I'm sure you knew that. You might try that TESOL link at the bottom of our Quiz List.


QUESTION
I have a question about conditional sentences. I don't know which type of conditional structure I should use when I want to talk about a condition which did take place in the past. Example:
       CONDITION                     PROBABLE RESULT
      If I (visit) this website,     I (learn) a lot about grammar.

The situation is that I did visit this site and I have learnt something useful. However, how can I put this in a conditional sentence? Thank you very much.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Tuen Mun, Hong Kong Thursday, June 18, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
You have visited our section on Conditional, right? To create a conditional in the past, you need to take an additional step back in time, to the past perfect:
If I had visited this website, I would have learned a lot about grammar.
QUESTION
Wow! You are really efficient! However, I still have some problems about the conditional. I was told that we use the following structure when we want to talk about a condition that did not take place in the past. For example,
If I had worked hard, I would have had better result.
This sentence implies that I did not work hard. My question is what structure I should use in both clauses if the condition DID take place in the past. If there is no difference, how can we differentiate the conditions that happened from those did not happen?

Thank you very much!

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Follow-up to above Thursday, June 18, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
If the events really happened, then there is nothing "iffey" about them and they're no longer expressed in the conditional:
"I worked hard and I got a good result [or good results]."
Please send your e-mail address with any subsequent messages. I promise not to share it with anyone.

QUESTION
Is it correct to say: "I never thought I would see Russia go capitalist."

This is a quote from a person I interviewed, so changing the sentence to something like, "I never thought I would see Russia embrace capitalism" is not an option. Thanks for your help.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Richmond, Virginia Friday, June 19, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
It's certainly casual, if not downright slangy, and it might not be appropriate within the tenor of the rest of your interview. The whole of your interview is done verbatim? If not, you can use your own words. There is no way of clearing the change with the subject of your interview? If you quote your subject indirectly, you can paraphrase what he or she said and thus avoid a rather inappropriate bit of wording. It would save both of you.

QUESTION
Which verb form should I use after the phrase "more than one"? For example, more than one baby (is or are) born today.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Athens, Georgia Friday, June 19, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
That counts as a fractional expression (like 120%) and is treated as a singular, so you'd say "More than one baby is. . . ."

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