The Grammar Logs -- Number Thirty-Two

The
Grammar
Logs
# 32

Question
I have a question about subject verb agreement of 'the number of' and 'a number of' when there is an adjective clause.
The number of students absent is three. (the number of takes a singular verb)
A number of students are absent. (a number of takes a plural verb)
But when you use an adjective clause should the verb in the clause agree with the phrase "the number of" or with the noun in that phrase?
Example: The number of people who (were/ was) allowed to immigrate to Canada increased.
The plural form would seem to be correct but I have been unable to find any rule regarding this in any grammar text.
Also what is the rule for "among" when it is the subject?
Exp: Among Elton John's most famous songs is Candle in the Wind. (the verb agrees with the prepositional and not with 'songs')
But what about with: Among Elton John's most famous songs (is/are) Candle in the Wind and Starry, Starry Night.
I've seen grammar text that say the rule is that when among is the subject the verb must be singular. But then you find the opposite used in general writing.

Source & Date
of Question Vancouver, B.C., Canada
13 October 1997
Grammar's
Response Good questions. First, in the adjective clause, the verb of the dependent clause will agree with the word that the who, which, or that refers to, and that would rarely be "the number" or "a number." Since it's nearly always going to be plural (isn't it?), you're nearly always going to need a plural verb. What's tricky is that when you're using "the number" the sentence's real verb has to be singular: "The number of people who are living in Vancouver HAS risen steadily since the 1960s."
Occasionally, I must add, it is possible for the who which or that to refer to "the number," as in "The number of homicides that is recorded in the daily newspapers is greatly exaggerated." It's rare, I suppose, but it can happen.
In Elton John's song, "among" is not the subject of that sentence. You've created an inverted sentence there (which is perfectly all right), and the subject of the sentence is the title of the song, which comes after the verb. But the title is singular, of course, and so is your verb. There may be a situation in which "among" (or a prepositional phrase beginning with among) would serve as a subject, but I can't think of one.

Question
I would like to ask about using 'of' word in the begining of the sentence.
For example:
"Of further interest, however, is the way in which the local irreversibility rates can be minimized."
My questions are:
1. What does 'of' on the above sentence means?
2. What is the rule for using it?
3. Are there any preposition with the same function like 'of' above?
Thank you very much for your attention.

Source & Date
of Question Trondheim, Norway
13 October 1997
Grammar's
Response Does it help to re-order the sentence as follows: "The way in which the local irreversibility rates can be minimized is of further interest"? I'd like to recommend that you look up the word "of" in the online Merriam's WWWebster Dictionary and see the various function of "of" there. I think you're using "of" as a function word to indicate derivation in this sentence. I don't think there are any rules about its use, but I can't think of a synonym or other prepositions that function that way, either.

Question Please provide "rules" for using cannot and can not.
Source & Date
of Question Mountain View, California
13 October 1997
Grammar's
Response Almost always, the negative of this verb is spelled cannot. I don't know why. You would save can not (two separate words) for situations in which you are being more forceful about the negative, really stressing the word not: "You can NOT do that to us!"

Question When do you use the word less in a sentence and when do you use the word fewer?
Source & Date
of Question San Diego, California
13 October 1997
Grammar's
Response Fewer refers to countable items; less to general amounts. There are fewer apples in the box than there were this morning. There is less water in the reservoir than there was last spring.

However, read this usage note from Merriam Webster's WWWebster's Dictionary:
The traditional view is that less applies to matters of degree, value, or amount and modifies collective nouns, mass nouns, or nouns denoting an abstract whole while fewer applies to matters of number and modifies plural nouns. Less has been used to modify plural nouns since the days of King Alfred and the usage, though roundly decried, appears to be increasing. Less is more likely than fewer to modify plural nouns when distances, sums of money, and a few fixed phrases are involved and as likely as fewer to modify periods of time .

Question
When shall I use 's for possession?
Example: Telecommunication's Industry or Telecommunication Industry

Source & Date
of Question Mexico City, Mexico
13 October 1997
Grammar's
Response I'm going to do something weird here and refer you to a copy editor, Bill Walsh, who warns us, in his "Curmudgeon's Stylebook," to stop making possessives of words that are simply labels. It's good advice. But it's a tough question: is it a writers' conference or a writers conference?

Question Please tell me when to use the word you vs. yourself, etc.
Source & Date
of Question Atlanta, Georgia
13 October 1997
Grammar's
Response The pronoun + self form of a pronoun is called either a reflexive or an intensive pronoun. In the intensive form, the word serves to emphasize a noun or other pronoun ("I myself don't know the answer to this"). In the reflexive form, the word indicates that the sentence subject also receives the action of the verb ("I hurt myself").
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
My daughter's 9th grade English teacher yelled at her for saying that the following sentence was NOT passive:
"Hector's life was not under his control."
I understand that the following is passive:
"Hector's life was controlled by fate."
However, I do not see how the original sentence is any more passive than to say "my shoes were under the bed." Right? Wrong? (And I have a Ph.D., but fortunately not in English!)

Source & Date
of Question San Luis Obispo, California
13 October 1997
Grammar's
Response Your daughter's right. A passive construction is one in which the subject is acted upon and, strictly speaking, there is no action in that sentence, since there is only an intransitive, linking verb ("was"). And, yes, the example you give of a passive construction is passive. Maybe your daughter's teacher had had a really bad day.

Question
What usage is correct and what part of speech am I dealing with?
The man has run for office? The man has ran for office?
The man has run to the store? The man has ran to the store?
I assume the first is correct but why if one says,"He has walked to the store rather than he has walk to the store, or he has been helpful rather than he has be helpful."

Source & Date
of Question Portland, Oregon
13 October 1997
Grammar's
Response What you're talking about here is the present perfect tense of the verb. This means that the action of the verb has been completed as of now (thus it is "finished" or "perfect"). That's why we use a form of the verb "to have" in the present tense ("has," in this case) along with the past form of the main verb ("walked"). We have a table of the various tense forms of verbs in the active voice that might help. Click HERE.

Question
punctuating subordinating clauses - The grammar book says not to use a comma if the s. clause is at the end of the sentence, but if you look at any other printed material, you will find commas. I need a rule.
I will rest because I am tired.
I will rest, because I am tired.

Source & Date
of Question Sunnyvale, Texas
14 October 1997
Grammar's
Response
I'm hoping that you've misread the grammar book -- or else you've picked up a really bad grammar book somewhere. Whent he subordinate clause comes at the end of a sentence, you have to decide if the information in the clause is essential to the meaning of the sentence or not. If it's essential, you won't use commas; if it's not, you will. And sometimes, as in your examples, you can go either way.
We will go to the movies when the camp director says we may leave.
We will go to the movies, though no one really seems in the mood for it.

Question Hello. Can you please tell me what is wrong about the following sentence? "His answer came on the screen, without his having printed anything."
Source & Date
of Question Oslo, Norway
14 October 1997
Grammar's
Response Well, I'm not sure it makes any sense, that's the first thing (the connection between the printing and the screen is not clear). But grammatically it seems ok to me. We would probably say "came up" on the screen, wouldn't we? Is that what you mean?

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Question	I would like to ask about using 'of' word in the begining of the sentence. For example: "Of further interest, however, is the way in which the local irreversibility rates can be minimized." My questions are: 1. What does 'of' on the above sentence means? 2. What is the rule for using it? 3. Are there any preposition with the same function like 'of' above? Thank you very much for your attention.
Source & Date of Question	Trondheim, Norway 13 October 1997
Grammar's Response	Does it help to re-order the sentence as follows: "The way in which the local irreversibility rates can be minimized is of further interest"? I'd like to recommend that you look up the word "of" in the online Merriam's WWWebster Dictionary and see the various function of "of" there. I think you're using "of" as a function word to indicate derivation in this sentence. I don't think there are any rules about its use, but I can't think of a synonym or other prepositions that function that way, either.

Question	When shall I use 's for possession? Example: Telecommunication's Industry or Telecommunication Industry
Source & Date of Question	Mexico City, Mexico 13 October 1997
Grammar's Response	I'm going to do something weird here and refer you to a copy editor, Bill Walsh, who warns us, in his "Curmudgeon's Stylebook," to stop making possessives of words that are simply labels. It's good advice. But it's a tough question: is it a writers' conference or a writers conference?

Question	My daughter's 9th grade English teacher yelled at her for saying that the following sentence was NOT passive: "Hector's life was not under his control." I understand that the following is passive: "Hector's life was controlled by fate." However, I do not see how the original sentence is any more passive than to say "my shoes were under the bed." Right? Wrong? (And I have a Ph.D., but fortunately not in English!)
Source & Date of Question	San Luis Obispo, California 13 October 1997
Grammar's Response	Your daughter's right. A passive construction is one in which the subject is acted upon and, strictly speaking, there is no action in that sentence, since there is only an intransitive, linking verb ("was"). And, yes, the example you give of a passive construction is passive. Maybe your daughter's teacher had had a really bad day.

Question	What usage is correct and what part of speech am I dealing with? The man has run for office? The man has ran for office? The man has run to the store? The man has ran to the store? I assume the first is correct but why if one says,"He has walked to the store rather than he has walk to the store, or he has been helpful rather than he has be helpful."
Source & Date of Question	Portland, Oregon 13 October 1997
Grammar's Response	What you're talking about here is the present perfect tense of the verb. This means that the action of the verb has been completed as of now (thus it is "finished" or "perfect"). That's why we use a form of the verb "to have" in the present tense ("has," in this case) along with the past form of the main verb ("walked"). We have a table of the various tense forms of verbs in the active voice that might help. Click HERE.

Question	punctuating subordinating clauses - The grammar book says not to use a comma if the s. clause is at the end of the sentence, but if you look at any other printed material, you will find commas. I need a rule. I will rest because I am tired. I will rest, because I am tired.
Source & Date of Question	Sunnyvale, Texas 14 October 1997
Grammar's Response	I'm hoping that you've misread the grammar book -- or else you've picked up a really bad grammar book somewhere. Whent he subordinate clause comes at the end of a sentence, you have to decide if the information in the clause is essential to the meaning of the sentence or not. If it's essential, you won't use commas; if it's not, you will. And sometimes, as in your examples, you can go either way. We will go to the movies when the camp director says we may leave. We will go to the movies, though no one really seems in the mood for it.

Question	Please provide "rules" for using cannot and can not.
Source & Date of Question	Mountain View, California 13 October 1997
Grammar's Response	Almost always, the negative of this verb is spelled cannot. I don't know why. You would save can not (two separate words) for situations in which you are being more forceful about the negative, really stressing the word not: "You can NOT do that to us!"

Question	Hello. Can you please tell me what is wrong about the following sentence? "His answer came on the screen, without his having printed anything."
Source & Date of Question	Oslo, Norway 14 October 1997
Grammar's Response	Well, I'm not sure it makes any sense, that's the first thing (the connection between the printing and the screen is not clear). But grammatically it seems ok to me. We would probably say "came up" on the screen, wouldn't we? Is that what you mean?