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The Grammar Logs # 183 |
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| QUESTION |
| Can you give me all the information about "BE GOING TO" when, how, questions, etc. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico  Tuesday, August 18, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Perhaps you should write again with a more specific question? It's a way of expressing the future in English: "I am going to study today. We are going to work in the garden today." In questions, as usual, the auxiliary comes before the subject: "Were they going win the game?" |
| QUESTION |
| I need to know what an imperative sentence is? Also what the four kinds of sentences are. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Seaside, California Tuesday, August 18, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| An imperative sentence gives a command or directive: "Give me the pencil." There are various ways of categorizing sentences, but what I think you have in mind are the imperative, the exclamatory ("I hate this work!"), the interrogative ("What's this?"), and the declarative (all the rest of them). I suggest you visit our section on Sentence Variety; there's a description of the various sentence types there based on clausal construction. |
| QUESTION |
| Dear Grammar, Is it correct to say:
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Allentown, Pennsylvania Tuesday, August 18, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Unless I'm misreading the dictionary, you could use that word either in the active or the passive (i.e., either would do). In the active, intransitive sense of the word (Harry drowned), it can mean that Harry "became drowned," or suffocated under water. You could also use the verb in the transitive sense: "Harry drowned the cats." I had never thought of these different uses of "drown" before. Thanks for your note. |
| QUESTION |
| Please can you tell me the word for two words that sound the same but are spelt differently and have different meanings. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Auckland, New Zealand Tuesday, August 18, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Those are homophones. See our Notorious Confusables note on Homonyms. |
| QUESTION |
| I wanted to know an example of how one would use a 'PUN' in a sentence. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Kingston, Ontario, Canada Tuesday, August 18, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Why? People who use a lot of puns suffer from an affliction. I had a roommate in college who loved puns; we tried to cure him, but eventually had to punish him by sending him to a punitentiary. |
| QUESTION |
Should you capitalize a job title
Ex- vice president, manager, etc.Thanks! |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Baltimore, Maryland Tuesday, August 18, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| According to the Chicago Manual of Style, no. |
| QUESTION |
| Their passion, creativity, leadership, execution, and drive HAVE/HAS put us on the path to achieve best of breed in our industry. Question: Which is correct, HAVE or HAS, and why? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Raleigh, North Carolina Tuesday, August 18, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| All of those things are discrete elements; it's a whole bunch of things that have put us on this path. You've got a plural subject, you need a plural verb; it's that simple. |
| QUESTION |
Is it grammatically correct to say:
"Motion by Dr. Smith, seconded by Mr. Jones, approving the minutes of the August 20, 1999, Regular Board Meeting."Or is it necessary to put it in either of the following formats?
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Modesto, California Tuesday, August 18, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I can't find, online, any advice on the language for reporting minutes, and I don't have the necessary reference books. It's been my experience that the most important thing is consistency within the organization or at least consistency within an individual meeting's minutes. I would recommend your #1 version, but with an infinitive: "The motion was made. . . to approve. . ." but that's a personal preference, and I don't speak with any great authority on this matter. |
| QUESTION |
| In the following sentence, why should the period be contained within the quotation marks--At the heart of Amistad month, October 20, Dr. Fred Steilo will deliver a presentation on the Amistad uprising, titled, "Perspectives on Amistad." The words in quotes are a title, not a quotation. Therefore, they are only a part of the sentence. If I rearranged the sentence to say: (Dr. Fred Steilo will deliver a presentation on the Amistad uprising titled, "Perspectives on Amistad" on October 20, the final program in the series.) it is obvious the words in quotes are not spoken in either sentence and the second sentence does not end the same way. Appreciate your thoughts. What a great web sight, I wish I had it when I was teaching. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Troy, New York Tuesday, August 18, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| You're trying much too hard to be sensible about this matter. In the United States, we put commas and periods inside the quotation marks whether it makes sense or not. If you try to be logical about this choice, you'll only drive yourself mad or you'll have to be transported to England, where they actually have to think about such things. Incidentally, I wouldn't use a comma before the title in your rewritten sentence. |
| QUESTION |
| A major part of my job is writing reports that are presented to the Federal Parliament. The reports are often long and detailed. Information is often presented as lists. A list might contain four or five items, ranging in length from a few word to one or two sentences. The style we use in our reports features an introductory clause, punctuated with a colon, and the lists run-on, indented with a 'bullet'. Each list item is punctuated with a semi-colon at the end of the item, except the second last item, which has "; and", and the last item, which concludes with a period. eg: "The following matters were considered:
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Canberra, Australia Tuesday, August 18, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| You'll find different answers for this question, depending on which authority you consult. The best answer, truly, is that consistency within your documents is the most important thing. The Chicago Manual of Style would leave out that "and" before the last item. The New York Public Library's Guide to Usage would write your list exactly as you did it. The NYPL also has a list with complete sentences within it that has no end punctuation marks at the end of each item, not even the last one (and there is a dash at the end of the introductory clause). Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993. p. 160. Authority: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994. Cited with permission. p. 318.
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