The Grammar Logs -- Number Thirty-One

The
Grammar
Logs
# 31

Question If you have a pair of Adidas tennis shoes and you lose one of them, did you lose one of your Adidases? In other words, do you add the es to make it plural?
Source & Date
of Question Troy, Alabama
7 October 1997
Grammar's
Response Yes, I lost one of my Adidases, although I'd be much better off saying I lost one of my Adidas sneakers. We don't want Adidas to sue us for messing with their trademark and brand name. There's no other way around the creation of this plural; you were wise not to try to form the plural with an apostrophe -s.

Question I have lost the original question on this one, but it had to do with the use of "spoilt" to refer to things.
Source & Date
of Question Singapore
7 October 1997
Grammar's
Response I don't think that things can be said to be spoilt. They can be ruined, perhaps, but not spoilt. A performance is sometimes said to be spoiled by some deficiency. Fruits and vegetables and maybe children are often spoilt, but not things.

Question Somebody sent in two questions about using the APA-style guide -- good questions, too -- and I had absolutely brilliant answers. However, I've lost the questions before I could put them in this Grammar Log. If you wish to re-submit the questions, please do so.
Source & Date
of Question Unknown
9 October 1997
Grammar's
Response Try the CCTC online APA-style Guide to Writing Research Papers.

Question
Which is correct?
speak louder or speak more loudly
I tend to think it's speak more loudly. What's your take on this?
Thank you once more for your time and patience. I truly appreciate your prompt replies.
Source & Date
of Question Unknown
9 October 1997
Grammar's
Response Yes, we need an adverb ("loudly") to modify the verb "speak" here. "Louder" is the comparative form of an adjective, and it would be inappropriate to modify a verb with an adjective form.

Question Another lost question: I also blew away a good question about the form for personal letters. Again, please re-submit if you wish.
Source & Date
of Question Unknown
9 October 1997
Grammar's
Response If it's a personal letter, I say come up with your own form. I've looked around on the web, and I can't find anything to help you. There's a lot of information about business-type communications at the Purdue Online Writing Lab that might give you some ideas.

Question golf course
mountain bike
corn stalk
Must these be considered compound nouns? Or could we have an ajective and a noun?
Source & Date
of Question Hazlet, New Jersey
11 October 1997
Grammar's
Response A true compound noun is something like milestone or featherbrain, in which two or more words have come together to create a new word, a compound. In other languages, like German, two words like golf course would very quickly become a compound. In English, however, there is often a process in which two such words are first separate, then (sometimes) they are joined by hyphens, and then they become a true compound noun. I have a feeling that the process has already happened to cornstalk.

Question Do you have any worksheets on capitalization you could send me?
Source & Date
of Question Greensburgh, Pennsylvania
11 October 1997
Grammar's
Response No, but have you gone to our section on CAPITALIZATION? You can print that out.

Question What is a linking verb. How can I find them in a sentence?
Source & Date
of Question Mission Viejo, California
11 October 1997
Grammar's
Response I guess I should add a little section on linking verbs to our description of verbs. A linking verb connects a subject and its complement. They are often forms of the verb to be, but are sometimes verbs related to the five senses (look, sound, smell, feel, taste) and sometimes verbs that somehow reflect a state of being (appear, seem, become, grow, turn, prove, remain). What follows the linking verb will be either a noun complement or an adjective complement:

Those people are all professors.
Those professor are brilliant.
Authority: The Little, Brown Handbook by H. Ramsay Fowler and Jane E. Aaron, & Kay Limburg. 6th ed. HarperCollins: New York. 1995. By permission of Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc.

Question 1. The course on Acoustics will deal with this.
2. The course of Acoustics will deal with this.
Are both sentences correct? If the second is not acceptable, is there a context in which "course of" is used?
Source & Date
of Question Singapore
12 October 1997
Grammar's
Response I can't think of a situation in which "course of" would work, as long as you're talking about a course of instruction. (How's that for a paradox?) We could say "course in acoustics"; in fact, course in would probably be more likely than course on.

Question
Consider the following pair of statements:
A1. He wants to advance in his career. (advance - VERB)
A2. He is reading Advanced Level Mathematics. (advanced - ADJECTIVE)

B1. I welcome you to my party. (welcome - VERB)
B2. You are always welcomed. (welcomed - ADJECTIVE)
However, some authorities tell me that B2 is wrong, it should be, "You are always welcome." Is B2 acceptable also?
Closely related to this, are past participle passive verbs equal to adjectives?
C1. The door is opened. (past participle passive verb = adjective?)
C2. The door is open. (pure adjective)

Source & Date
of Question The Singapore Connection
12 October 1997
Grammar's
Response "You are always welcomed" would be ok in certain situations, but it's not the same thing as "you are always welcome." You could say, "You are always welcomed by a happily barking dog when you enter that house." Or "Every time I go there, I am always welcomed." Usually, though, in that context, you would add by whom or what you were welcomed.
There is a slight difference in meaning between the past participle and the adjective, as in your example, but it's kind of hard to describe. In your first sentence, we are more aware of the action that caused the door to be opened; in the second, it is more simply the condition of being open. In the second, the adjective belongs to the door; in the first, it is shared by the opener.

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Question	Which is correct? speak louder or speak more loudly I tend to think it's speak more loudly. What's your take on this? Thank you once more for your time and patience. I truly appreciate your prompt replies.
Source & Date of Question	Unknown 9 October 1997
Grammar's Response	Yes, we need an adverb ("loudly") to modify the verb "speak" here. "Louder" is the comparative form of an adjective, and it would be inappropriate to modify a verb with an adjective form.

Question	golf course mountain bike corn stalk Must these be considered compound nouns? Or could we have an ajective and a noun?
Source & Date of Question	Hazlet, New Jersey 11 October 1997
Grammar's Response	A true compound noun is something like milestone or featherbrain, in which two or more words have come together to create a new word, a compound. In other languages, like German, two words like golf course would very quickly become a compound. In English, however, there is often a process in which two such words are first separate, then (sometimes) they are joined by hyphens, and then they become a true compound noun. I have a feeling that the process has already happened to cornstalk.

Question	1. The course on Acoustics will deal with this. 2. The course of Acoustics will deal with this. Are both sentences correct? If the second is not acceptable, is there a context in which "course of" is used?
Source & Date of Question	Singapore 12 October 1997
Grammar's Response	I can't think of a situation in which "course of" would work, as long as you're talking about a course of instruction. (How's that for a paradox?) We could say "course in acoustics"; in fact, course in would probably be more likely than course on.

Question	If you have a pair of Adidas tennis shoes and you lose one of them, did you lose one of your Adidases? In other words, do you add the es to make it plural?
Source & Date of Question	Troy, Alabama 7 October 1997
Grammar's Response	Yes, I lost one of my Adidases, although I'd be much better off saying I lost one of my Adidas sneakers. We don't want Adidas to sue us for messing with their trademark and brand name. There's no other way around the creation of this plural; you were wise not to try to form the plural with an apostrophe -s.

Question	I have lost the original question on this one, but it had to do with the use of "spoilt" to refer to things.
Source & Date of Question	Singapore 7 October 1997
Grammar's Response	I don't think that things can be said to be spoilt. They can be ruined, perhaps, but not spoilt. A performance is sometimes said to be spoiled by some deficiency. Fruits and vegetables and maybe children are often spoilt, but not things.

Question	Somebody sent in two questions about using the APA-style guide -- good questions, too -- and I had absolutely brilliant answers. However, I've lost the questions before I could put them in this Grammar Log. If you wish to re-submit the questions, please do so.
Source & Date of Question	Unknown 9 October 1997
Grammar's Response	Try the CCTC online APA-style Guide to Writing Research Papers.

Question	Another lost question: I also blew away a good question about the form for personal letters. Again, please re-submit if you wish.
Source & Date of Question	Unknown 9 October 1997
Grammar's Response	If it's a personal letter, I say come up with your own form. I've looked around on the web, and I can't find anything to help you. There's a lot of information about business-type communications at the Purdue Online Writing Lab that might give you some ideas.

Question	Do you have any worksheets on capitalization you could send me?
Source & Date of Question	Greensburgh, Pennsylvania 11 October 1997
Grammar's Response	No, but have you gone to our section on CAPITALIZATION? You can print that out.