| QUESTION |
| A student of mine is anglicizing the name of his company and asked for my advice on the usage of "the." Should it be included here? Or more precisely, can it be omitted?
THE Institute of the Far East Community
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Seoul, Korea  Thursday, August 20, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I'd keep the "The," although I doubt if there are any rules on the matter. Be advised that no matter what you do, people will use the title incorrectly, either adding the "The" or not, depending on their personal whim and what sounds good to them.
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| QUESTION |
| In listing steps for someone to follow, is a sentence with you understood treated as an independent clause for punctuation purposes? For example, would the following sentence need any punctuation between the steps: "Have the individual
sign the form then sign and date it yourself."?
Thank you.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Fairfax, Virginia Thursday, August 20, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The punctuation problem with that sentence is not so much the understood subject, "you," as it is with the conjunction "then." If you used "and then" after the word "form," you could probably could get away without a comma (although I would use a comma there). Without the "and" (as it's written now), I would recommend either a semicolon or a new sentence.
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| QUESTION |
| I would like to know if a semicolon is proper to use at the end of each part of a list, as follows:
There are three items of clothing I would like for Christmas:
- a red shirt;
- a green shirt; and
- a pair of blue jeans.
I am also interested in knowing if the "and" after item #2 and the period after item #3 are needed.
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Hudson, Ohio Thursday, August 20, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| That is one perfectly acceptable way of doing vertical lists (the way recommended, in fact, by the Chicago Manual of Style). Another way is simply to end the introductory element with a dash (Christmas -- ) and then not put anything at the end of each list item (including the last). The New York Public Library's Writer's Guide to Style and Usage makes that suggestion. It's really a typographical question and the solution is pretty much up to you. Consistency is the most important thing.
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| QUESTION |
| Dear Grammar,
I wonder how one uses the word people when referring to 'a people', like to a crowd or a herd. Do you then say 'the people is...' or 'the people are...'? Should I say 'the people of Seattle is...' or 'the people of Seattle are...'? I intend to refer to everybody living there as one tribe.
Thanks in advance
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Heidelberg, Germany Thursday, August 20, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| People is always plural and will always need a plural verb: The people of Seattle are. The only confusing thing about people is that every once in a while, you will hear someone speak of the peoples of a continent, say, like the "peoples of southeast Asia," referring, usually, to a wide mix of ethnic and national groups.
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