| QUESTION |
- Which is correct :' Western oriented' or' western orientated'.
- a. to go on a holiday.
b. to go for a holiday.
What's the difference in these two sentences?
- Is there a phrase such as 'over scold' ?
- What's the difference between ' I like to say' and 'I would like to
say'.
- Is it correct to say: fill out a form?
Thank you.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Penang, Malaysia  Wednesday, July 15, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| 1. Western oriented (a peculiar phrase, when you think about origins of the word "oriented" 2. Those expressions are sometimes used in the United States, but are used much more elsewhere, I think. Americans usually "go on vacation" or "go on vacation over a holiday" or "go on vacation for ______ [holiday]." 3. I've never heard of "over scold." 4. "I would like to say" means that you 're about to add something to a conversation; it's sort of like you're asking permission (expecting to get it) to add a point to the discussion. "I like to say" (I guess) means that what follows is something that you are in the habit of saying? 5. Yes.
|
| QUESTION |
It seems to me that this sentence, taken from a posting on interoffice email:
After a long hiatus, Miss Know-it-All is back and in top form, with
another exciting tip for the grammatically-challenged!
should read
After a long hiatus, Miss Know-it-All is back and in top form with another exciting tip for the grammatically challenged.
I've taken out the comma after "form" and removed the hyphen from "gramatically-challenged."
I can't cite any grammatical rules on the comma; I just think the second sentence reads better. As for the hyphen, I would think gramatically challenged should be hyphenated only if it is used as an adjective, which it isn't here.
Whaddya think?
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Westminster, Colorado Wednesday, July 15, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| You can leave the comma out; if you put it in there, it sort of tacks on that last phrase, and we probably don't want that effect. You should definitely, though, leave out the hyphen; in fact, I wouldn't use it (the hyphen) even if the phrase were in a modifying position.
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| QUESTION |
The following sentence appeared in a manual about Web graphics:
"A common example is buttons, which can appear 'pushed in'."
I just want to confirm that "is" is correct -- it seems strange with the plural "buttons."
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| British Columbia, Canada Wednesday, July 15, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I admit it does sound strange, but it's correct. The subject is "example," and that's singular, of course, so we want a singular verb, "is." This will happen occasionally, where a singular subject "equals" a plural predicate: "My favorite combination is pepperoni, onions, and olives."
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| QUESTION |
| Do you say 32 foot long house or 32 feet long house?
Also, thanks you for this service. I enjoy having access to Grammar Logs.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Annapolis, Maryland Wednesday, July 15, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| thirty-two foot long house. I don't think I've ever seen a good explanation for it, but yes, we do use the singular form of the word signifying the type of measurement when it precedes and modifies a noun: six inch tube, forty yard punt, five ounce cup, etc. We'd use the plural, of course, if we said, "My house is thirty-two feet long."
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