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The Grammar Logs # 189 |
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| QUESTION |
| A standard screwdriver has a torque count of 400lbs. Question: Can I paraphrase this and say: A 400 lbs screwdriver (pound with "s")? Thanks in advance |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Taipei, Taiwan  Monday, August 24, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| No, I don't think so, although you might check in a manual about tools to see how they refer to such things. First of all, I wouldn't pluralize the lbs when it's used as a modifier this way (as in "a ten-foot pole"). Second, it sounds as if you're talking about a screwdriver that weighs four hundred pounds. |
| QUESTION |
I have 2 questions. First, I believe the word "nor" is correct in the following sentence, although Word's grammar check likes "or":
The bottom line: no one in our association nor at the AEPP conference has yet volunteered information on a good scheduling program.The second question involves the following awkward sentence. I've struggled with it and can't get it to flow smothly. I'd greatly appreciate your help: The United Tutoring Services Association has this mission: To support tutoring centers and home tutoring services so as many students as possible receive an excellent education.Thank you for providing this service! |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Meadow Vista, California Monday, August 24, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I hate to agree with your software, but I think "or" is better there. It's connecting two prepositional phrases that modify "no one." No one in this or that has yadda-yadda. The "nor" suggests a negation to the first prepositional phrase that isn't appropriate. That sentence about tutoring services falls apart with "so as many students as possible." I'm wondering if the entire last part of the sentence is necessary. Your mission is really "to support tutoring centers and home tutoring services" and if that means that more students get a good education, so be it. In trying to claim so much, the mission gets rather vaporous toward the end. Also, I wouldn't capitalize the "to" after the colon (but some writers would disagree with me). Authority (about the colon): New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994. p. 202. Cited with permission.
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| QUESTION |
| What is the word that describes words that are the same spelled forwards and backwards? Is there also a word that describes a sentence in which the words are the same forward and backwards? Is there a place on the net that lists the definition of all of these type things? I'm looking for something that lists for example: antonymns, synonyms, homonyms, anagrams, acronyms,etc. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Atlanta, Georgia Monday, August 24, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The word palindrome means either a word or a phrase that, spelled backwards, is the same as the word spelled in normal order. If there is such a place on the WWW, and I'm sure there is, I don't know where it is. There's something called the Anagram Server -- maybe you can do a seach on one of the Search Engines for that. |
| QUESTION |
Can "over" and "more than" be used interchangeably (for example:
more than 200 people attended OR over 200 people attended)? Also, is Northern Spotted Owl capitalized or not? Thanks for your help. It is appreciated. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Fairbanks, Alaska Monday, August 24, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I would certainly use "more than" in anything the least bit formal. Don't capitalize the common names of animals except for parts of the name derived from a proper noun -- such as the great Alaskan double-headed flycatcher. Authority (for animals' names): New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. p. 228. 1994. Cited with permission.
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| QUESTION |
| Double negatives can be useful, I'll admit. How I WISH I had saved an example! But many of them jar me. Stopping to reverse them to get the drift interrupts the flow of the writing! I cannot find any rules about using double negatives. e.g., in The Chicago Manual of Style, or Strunk & White. Is it possible there are no rules? I'd be most appreciative of a response! Many thanks. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| La Verne, California Monday, August 24, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Just about every writing manual and reference book I have includes a caution against the use of double negatives in formal writing -- for exactly the reason you state, and because people have a tendency to attempt to twist them, algebraically, into something positive. See our notes on it in the section on Confusion: Its Sources and Remedies. |
| QUESTION |
| What is piety and how would I use this word in a sentence? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Los Angeles, California Monday, August 24, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The word refers to being dutiful and devout, usually in religious matters. If somebody makes a big show of being religious, I guess we could say that they have made their piety entirely too public. You need to get your hands on a good dictionary! Try the online Merriam-Webster's. |
| QUESTION |
| I was taught in basic grammar that starting a sentence with a conjunction was always improper because it resulted in something that was not truly a sentence. Lately, however, I see the frequent use of sentences that start with "but" or "and." Did the basic rules of grammar change, or did I not learn the correct rules in the first place? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| New Orleans, Louisiana Tuesday, August 25, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I don't know if it's a matter of the rule having relaxed or of the rule never really existing, but beginning a sentence with a conjunction is nearly commonplace in journalism nowadays. I tell students to look carefully at a sentence they've begun with a conjunction. If it should be connected with the preceding sentence, connect it. If the sentence reads better without the conjunction, eliminate the conjunction. If the conjunction serves well to connect ideas and it's not too obtrusive and you haven't done this kind of thing too often, use it. |
| QUESTION |
| I am writing concerning usage of the archaic structures.
When would we use "many a man tried to.." and "sayeth", "doth",
"you can't but think", "strange if interesting", "lest we forget"
The explanation of the first phrase is of particular interest! Thanks so much for your time! |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Petrozavodsk, Karelia, Russia Tuesday, August 25, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
The use of the quantifier "many" (which is normally a plural quantifier) followed by the indefinite article (a or an) and a singular noun followed by a singular verb is a rather archaic and literary usage. Many a young lover has fallen in love with love.You wouldn't want to get in the habit of using this construction; it's elegant, but rather stuffy. I'm glad you didn't really ask me to explain those others. |
| QUESTION |
| Dear Grammar, Is "Thank you" a sentence? If so, is it imperative? The you at the end confuses me. I would be greatly in your debt if you could help. Much obliged. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Allentown, Pennsylvania Tuesday, August 25, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I think you have an understood subject here, all right, but it's not the "you" of imperative sentences; it's "I" or "we." The "you" is an object here, I believe. I guess it's not really a sentence since it doesn't have a subject; it's more like an expletive or interjection. Note that "Excuse me" would be an imperative sentence, with the "you" understood (along with "please"). |
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