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The Grammar Logs # 185 |
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| QUESTION |
| I hate split infinitives. Am I hopelessly out of date, or is it the fact that split infinitives are tasteless at best or ugly at worst? What is your opinion? Thank you. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Bendigo, Victoria, Australia  Tuesday, August 18, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| You don't give me much of a choice there! You can certainly go on hating split infinitives, and, truthfully, they are often klutzy looking and unnecessary, but there are occasions when repairing a split infinitive simply isn't worth the bother. There are options to "He managed to more than double his salary his year," but none of them is a great improvement. And is "to go boldly" really an improvement over "to boldly go"? From what I've read, our objections to the split infinitive are based on rather shaky historical grounds. If split infinitives can be revised without strain, then revise them, I tell students (split infinitives are certainly easy enough to find), but there are much more important things to get excited about. |
| QUESTION |
| Is it incorrect to say ". . . in the district where the investigation . . ." or "in cases where . . ." or "in times where . . ."? Shouldn't "which" or "in which" be used instead of "where" in all these cases? Isn't it like using "who" instead of "which" when referring to people? I've seen it so much lately, I can't tell anymore. Thank you. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Fairfax, Virginia Tuesday, August 18, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| In see nothing wrong with "in the district where," because it's used to refer to place. In your other examples, I agree that "which" or "in which" would be better. It's not exactly the same as using "which" when you mean "who" (which seems plain wrong to me), but your point is interesting. |
| QUESTION |
| I am a native (US) English speaker. However, I am at a loss to describe to my students the rule/reason as to how to pronouce the indefinite article "a". Why do we sometimes say short a (ah) and other times long a? Is there a guideline that governs this? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Malang, Jatim, Indonesia Tuesday, August 18, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| We so seldom use "the long a" that I wouldn't bother teaching anyone that pronunciation. It is used to emphasize something. "Give me A ("long a, and day") scalpel! Now!" But almost always the pronunciation is somewhere between "ah" and "uh." |
| QUESTION |
When discussing the placement of question and exclamation marks in relation to quotation marks at the end of a sentence, I made the following statements about punctuation in formal writing:
The following punctuation marks can be classified as independent-clause ending and sentence ending: ; : . ? and !. Never place any two of these punctuation marks adjacent to each other at the end of an independent clause or sentence. That is, do not use a period to indicate an abbreviation (e.g., etc.)followed by a period to end the sentence (e.g., ...etc..), and do not use an exclamation or question mark followed by a period (or vice versa).(I am paraphrasing and condensing the actual discussion.) I also said not to end a sentence with an exclamation or question mark inside the ending quotation mark, and then follow it with another sentence-ending punctuation mark. For example, the following is wrong: Nice people do not yell, "Shut up!". That prompted the following example from one of my brighter students (who is always trying to sharp-shoot me!): Did you just shout, "Shut up!"? Since the exclamation mark pertains only to the "Shut up," it belongs inside the ending quotation mark. But the question mark pertains to the entire sentence, so it belongs outside the ending quotation mark. Is the above sentence punctuated correctly? Can you split the two punctuation marks with a quotation mark? Did I make an erroneous general statement? I think you can, as an exception to the general statement, use such an exclamation mark-quotation mark-question mark sequence, but I can't find an authority that addresses this specific issue. Come to think of it--is the exclamation mark-parenthesis-colon sequence in "(...sharp-shoot me!): Did you..." correct? Thanks |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Littleton, Colorado Tuesday, August 18, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The NYPL Writer's Guide contains this interesting bit of advice: "Double punctuation is not used at the end of a direct quotation. If the sentence needs one type of punctuation and the direct quotation needs another type, the "stronger" punctuation should be retained. The comma and the period are the weakest marks and are usually dropped, while the exclamation point is usually -- but not always -- stronger than the question mark; the overall sense of the sentence must be taken into account. If the sentence and the direct quotation require the same type of punctuation, the first is retained." Thus the guide lists
Did you just yell, "Shut up!"One should be happy, of course, to have students asking such questions! Authority: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994. Cited with permission. p. 277. And no, we don't want a double period when an abbreviation ends a sentence, as in this one ending with etc. As for your sharp-shooter, I'd leave out the exclamation mark altogether to avoid the question, but since you've got it there, yes, it's OK. Exclamation marks and question marks can appear within parentheses (which are then followed the terminal mark, in this case a colon). Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993. p. 163.
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| QUESTION |
| Would you use me or I? (written by Sam Smith and ?) |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Laurel, Maryland Tuesday, August 18, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Me (because it's the object of the preposition "by"). |
| QUESTION |
Use of "whether", 'wether or not" and "if" When do I use "whether" rather than "if" ? Does "whether" requires to be followed with "or not" ?
e.g. :You will be asked to choose whether or not to make the color the new default. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Montreal, Quebec, Canada Wednesday, August 19, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
"Whether" (note spelling) can be used either as a subordinator (without the alternative followed by "or") or as a coordinating conjunction (with the "or"). As you suggest, "whether" should be used to suggest an option. I don't know whether it will rain today. |
| QUESTION |
Can you please tell me the circumstances in which Federal Government should be capitalized? Always? Never?
For example: "The federal government will give educational savings grants to your child."Thank you for your help! (I wouldn't know what to do without 'Ask Grammar'. (You're a voice of reason in a crazy world.) |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Toronto, Ontario, Canada Wednesday, August 19, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| There probably are situations in which you will capitalize Federal Government, but within the normal flow of text, I can't imagine one. You're welcome. |
| QUESTION |
| Grammar, how many ways can the date be written with or without punctuation (please include some examples using st, nd, rd and th)?
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| F'sted, St. Croix U.S.V.I Wednesday, August 19, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| In informal text, you can use the ordinal numbers (with th, rd, etc.), but in formal, academic prose, avoid those endings and just use the numbers. The first two options you give us are the most often used, and without the date, we drop the comma (for some reason). That last option you give us is rather odd and I find "18th of August of 1998" rather klutzy -- although you see that kind of thing on a wedding announcement. If that's what you're looking for, perhaps you should look in a book about etiquette and communications in socially formal situations. |
| QUESTION |
| What's the plural of 'email' (or, another issue, should it be 'e-mail'?): I contend that 'email', when referring to an individual message received on my computer, is more like a 'letter' than like the word "mail", and thus should be countable, so "I received 5 emails today" should be correct. The "Wired" site at: http://www.hotwired.com/hardwired/wiredstyle/97/04/aske.html seems to agee with me. Some other friends, however, do not and contend that email (and voicemail) are un-countable. What's your opinion? Thanks |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Unknown Wednesday, August 19, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The dictionaries (and other publications that use the word) seem to agree that we should write that word with a hyphen (which I did not do when I first started this project, so you might very well find an email running around). I'm not sure I agree with "E" of Wired, though his argument is interesting. I think the analogy with regular snail-mail, good old mail, which is a non-count noun, not permitting a plural, will eventually prevail. The online Merriam-Webster's does not provide for a plural. It's a new word, though, so if you want to call those messages e-mails, go right ahead. If you have enough friends joining you, that's what other dictionaries might eventually record. |
| QUESTION |
| Is there any set rule for writing a chapter in a novel? Like how many words, how many pages etc. I am writing a novel and some of my chapters are only 3 pages. Is that enough?
Also, I would like to teach an English class and would like your permission to use some of your work. Also, some of your quizzes. To whom should I write for this permission? You have the best on the net, for grammar usuage that I have been able to find. Thank you for your help. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Denver, Colorado Wednesday, August 19, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| There are certainly no set rules for the length of a chapter, although your eventual editor and publisher might have something to say about it -- whether they're really chapters, should be they be called chapters, etc. At the stage you're at, I wouldn't worry about it. Consider the permission granted for linking to the Guide for Grammar and Writing. |
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