The
Grammar
Logs
# 167

QUESTION
I'm in doubt about the using of Have and have got.

If it is the same, why sometimes do Americans use have or have got?

Thank you

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Curitiba, Brazil Sunday, July 19, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
If you mean this in the sense of ownership, the "got" is redundant:
I have got four dollars in my pocket.

QUESTION
What is the plural of 'equipment'? and information?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil Sunday, July 19, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Those nouns are non-count words: they don't have plural forms. You can have more than one piece of information or piece of equipment, but you can't have informations or equipments.

QUESTION
Could you please help me identify the subject noun phrase in this sentence.
What in the name of heaven did he do that for?
Thanks a bunch!
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Dearborn, Michigan Sunday, July 19, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
The subject of that sentence is not a phrase; it's he.

QUESTION
Which of the books listed, or perhaps on-line, would show me how to do sentence diagramming. Like we use to do with the lines drawn under the sentence showing position and purpose of parts of speech.

Thank you.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Manteca, California Sunday, July 19, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I'm sure there are many grammar texts that explore the useful skill of diagramming, but I don't have many on my shelf. The best one that I know of is Understanding English Grammar by Martha Kolln. 4rth Edition. MacMillan Publishing Company: New York. 1994. I'll provide an e-mail link here if someone would like to suggest another title or a web-site: [E-Mail Icon]

QUESTION
The following sentence has an error (errors) in the part in [ ]. I don't know what it is.
Any medical test will sometimes fail to detect [a condition when it is present and indicate that there is one] when it is not.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Mountain View, California Sunday, July 19, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I think you've got a problem in parallel form there. You might try this:
Any medical test will sometimes fail to detect [a condition when it is present and indicate that there is one] when there [not "it"] is none.
But that fixes the error outside the brackets. What if we wrote:
Any medical test will sometimes fail to detect [a condition when it is present and indicate a condition is present] when it is not.
I'll provide an e-mail link here in case someone else wants to take a stab at this. [E-Mail Icon]

David Eason suggests these versions:
Any medical test will sometimes fail to detect [a condition when it is present, and any medical test will sometimes indicate a condition as present] when it is actually not.

OR

Any medical test will sometimes fail to detect [a condition when it is present; any medical test will sometimes indicate a condition as present] when it is actually not.

OR

Any medical test will sometimes fail to detect [a condition that is present, and any medical test will sometimes indicate a condition as present] that is actually not.

I love taking stabs at rewriting awkward sentences! I did it this way to emphasis the contradiction between the two situations. (That is why I added the actually, which normally I avoid like the plague.)


QUESTION
Please advise proper usage of quotation marks when speaker starts new paragraph within continuing conversation.
e.g.:
    John began, "Welcome, everyone. We're pleased you joined us, and hope you find our meeting informative.
    When our business is complete, we'll be serving dinner."
Should there be quotation marks before When?

Thanks!

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Dedham, Massachusetts Sunday, July 19, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Yep. You don't end the preceding paragraph with a quotation mark, but you begin each quoted paragraph with a quotation mark and you continue in that way until you end the last of the quoted language with a closing quotation mark.

QUESTION
I have a report due on integrity tomorrow, and I don't know what to write. It's just really hard for me to put on paper. Please help!
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Unknown Sunday, July 19, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Go to the Principles of Composition section and click on the "Developing a Definition" section. Make your essay as specific as possible. If you know someone who has illustrated integrity in a unique way, that would be helpful -- not someone who's been worked over before, like Ghandi or Lincoln, but the guy who runs the hardware store downtown, or your Little League coach, or your mom.

QUESTION
What kind of a word is "could?" ex: She could not feel the left side of her body?

What kind of a word is "not?" ex: She is not going to remember this very well.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
San Marcos, California Sunday, July 19, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Check out the section on Modal Auxiliaries; that's what could is in that sentence.

The word not is an adverb. It tells you in what way she is going to remember something -- not. It's technically not part of the verb, but it modifies the verb so closely that it feels as though it's part of the verb.


QUESTION
What is the proper usage of "others" in the following sentence? Should it be other's or others' or others?
This interaction and dialogue will be mutually beneficial because we will learn from each other's experiences.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Denver, Colorado Monday, July 20, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
The each makes it singular and, since other is possessive, we need the apostrophe: "each other's experiences." If we're talking about a lot of people here, learning from one another, we might consider using one another's experiences, instead of each other's experiences.

QUESTION
What are the rules for using the perfect tenses?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Somewhere, Israel Monday, July 20, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Go to the section on verb tenses and use the hyperlinks to the chart of tense forms and the article by Colin Mahoney on the uses of the perfect tense. If you have any specific questions afterwards, please write again.

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