The Grammar Logs -- Number Forty-Six

The
Grammar
Logs
# 46

Question Can you please tell me which is correct? "This is from me." Or "This is from I." I think "me" is correct, but a friend insisted it was "I". Thank You.
Source & Date
of Question Greenwood, California
30 November 1997
Grammar's
Response Your friend is either fooling you or he or she needs a trip to the Grammar Farm next summer. You're looking for the object of the preposition from, there, so you need the object form of the pronoun: me.

Question I know that the correct response to "thank you" is "you're welcome." However, I see people sometimes writing "your welcome." Why do they do that? Thank you for your reply.
P.S. Is "see people sometimes writing..." grammatically correct?
Source & Date
of Question Houston, Texas
30 November 1997
Grammar's
Response Why? Because they mistakenly substitute the possessive form of "you" for the contraction for "you are" (and probably the other way around), and nothing short of hooking them up to a car battery and jolting them every time they make the mistake will cure this nonsense.
"I see people sometimes writing" suffers from what's called a misplaced modifier. The people don't sometimes write something; you sometimes see them doing so. Put that modifier "sometimes" where it can modify only the word "see."

Question Tell me about MLA writing style.
Source & Date
of Question Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
1 December 1997
Grammar's
Response According to the web-page of the Modern Language Association, the MLA style is "the style recommended by the Modern Language Association for preparing scholarly manuscripts and student research papers concerns itself with the mechanics of writing, such as punctuation, quotation, and documentation of sources. MLA style has been widely adopted by schools, academic departments, and instructors for nearly half a century."
I would refer you to the mla-style Guide to Writing Research Papers, which has no official connection to the Modern Language Association, and, most importantly, to the Fourth Edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, which you ought to be able to borrow from any library (although it might be nailed down at the reference desk) or purchase (for less than $20) at any decent bookstore.

Question Dear Grammar,

I wonder "rises" or "rose" should be used in the following situation.
The teacher told the child that the sun always rises in the east.
OR
The teacher told the child that the sun always rose in the east.
I have the query because I am confused: The sentence is about a past event, therefore the past tense "told" is used. However, the clause that "the sun always rises in the east" is about a natural phenomenon which is always true, so present tense seems okay. So what really should be the right choice?
Thank you very much for your kind advice.
Source & Date
of Question Sydney, Australia
1 December 1997
Grammar's
Response It would be appropriate to use the present tense, "rises," because, as you point out, the subordinate clause expresses what is known as a "general truth."

Question Hi.
I have a doubt about the use of LIKE and AS, when they are used to compare persons, things, etc.
Can you explain me the difference between them, and in which cases they have to be used ?
Source & Date
of Question Buenos Aires, Argentina
1 December 1997
Grammar's
Response Generally, you use as when introducing a clause (remembering that sometimes things can be left out of clauses so they don't look like clauses). For instance, we would say, "I am tall like my father." But we would say, "I am as tall as my father [is tall]."
Does that make sense?

Question In your section on often confused words you describe effect as an result, or an outward sign, and "affect" is defined as "to influence." Does this mean that effect is always a noun, while affect is always a verb. If not could you clear up the definitions. They seem to be the same to me except for the part of speech. ie. could you say, "what affect does this effect have on you?" Thank you for your response.
Source & Date
of Question Kirksville, Missouri
1 December 1997
Grammar's
Response Sorry, but the lack of room for those definitions for the Notorious Confusables causes us to shortchange some words. No, affect and effect are not interchangeable. Unfortunately, both of them can serve as both noun and verb. Usually, effect is the noun. "What is the effect of this ruling?" And affect is the verb. "How does this ruling affect these citizens? (In the example you create, both words are nouns.)
However, effect can sometimes be a verb. We can say, for example, that the President was able "to effect a change in Congressional attitudes." And affect can be a noun, used by psychologists to describe a set of physiological responses. It's enough to send one to the dictionary every time! Try to remember the "effect as noun" and "affect as verb" and you'll almost always be right.

Question
Is it appropriate to start a sentence with the word "Because" and a dependent clause? e.g:
Because he was afraid to swim, Terry stayed out of the ocean.

Source & Date
of Question El Segundo, California
1 December 1997
Grammar's
Response Some careful writers don't like to begin sentences with a "because clause" and get very excited when others do it. I guess their idea is that the word because implies a cause to something which ought to be stated before the cause (or something like that).
Most writing manuals and reference books nowadays agree that beginning a sentence with a "because clause" might sometimes express one's meaning quite exactly and that there's really nothing wrong with it. If it's important to express the reason for Terry's reluctance to enter the ocean first, then go ahead and do so. As long as you understand that some people get touchy about it and that you shouldn't go overboard in its use, it's perfectly all right.

Question Are titles of musical compositions (e.g., Beethoven's Symphony No. 9) placed inside quotation marks?
Source & Date
of Question Cincinnati, Ohio
1 December 1997
Grammar's
Response No. You might put the title of a shorter musical piece (the title of a song, say) inside quotation marks, but the titles of longer musical compositions are italicized (or underlined). However, there's an important difference between a title such as the Pastoral Symphony or American in Paris, which you would italicize, and Beethoven's Symphony Number 6 or Mozart's Divertimento in D, which you would not.

Question When should words like "uncle" and "aunt" be capitialized? Also, I just wrote a paper about Pope Pius XII. When referring to him as either the "Roman Pontiff," "Supreme Pontiff," or the "Pope" should one capitialize these words? Thanks for your time. You are always helpful!!
Source & Date
of Question Unknown
1 December 1997
Grammar's
Response About your aunt and uncle, you would capitalize those "titles" when they accompany the name ("My Aunt Gladys and my Uncle Chet are visiting.") or when the title substitutes for the name. "I love you, Uncle!" Don't capitalize them when they're not acting in that way (the words that is), and this is usually true when the words are accompanied by adjectives such as "my": "I visited my uncle and my aunt. My friend's aunt and grandmother are visiting."
As for the Pope, I have a feeling that word gets handled like most religious titles and gets capitalized, although I can't find any references to it in my manuals. With his other titles, I think you'd have to judge on a case-by-case basis. The Roman pontiff doesn't sound like a title to me, but Supreme Pontiff does. I think it matters whether you're referring to an individual or not: for instance, you could write about the election of a pope, but it would be better talk about how the Pope was elected. It would be easier if the Pope were your uncle.

Question Here there's one sentence:
It was a cold, blowy day in early April, and a million radios were striking thirteen.
This sentence was changed into : It was a bright, cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.
Could you tell me which words were inserted , changed and replaced and deleted (comparing the first one to the second one).
I appreciate your help
Source & Date
of Question Brazil
2 December 1997
Grammar's
Response I imagine someone has suggested changing the word "blowy" to almost anything else, since "blowy" isn't really a word (although it sounds like a nice substitute for "windy"). And those "million radios" might well announce the time, but they probably don't "strike" the time as a clock does. By the way, I don't know of any clock that actually strikes "thirteen," though it is certainly possible.

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Question	I know that the correct response to "thank you" is "you're welcome." However, I see people sometimes writing "your welcome." Why do they do that? Thank you for your reply. P.S. Is "see people sometimes writing..." grammatically correct?
Source & Date of Question	Houston, Texas 30 November 1997
Grammar's Response	Why? Because they mistakenly substitute the possessive form of "you" for the contraction for "you are" (and probably the other way around), and nothing short of hooking them up to a car battery and jolting them every time they make the mistake will cure this nonsense. "I see people sometimes writing" suffers from what's called a misplaced modifier. The people don't sometimes write something; you sometimes see them doing so. Put that modifier "sometimes" where it can modify only the word "see."

Question	Tell me about MLA writing style.
Source & Date of Question	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 1 December 1997
Grammar's Response	According to the web-page of the Modern Language Association, the MLA style is "the style recommended by the Modern Language Association for preparing scholarly manuscripts and student research papers concerns itself with the mechanics of writing, such as punctuation, quotation, and documentation of sources. MLA style has been widely adopted by schools, academic departments, and instructors for nearly half a century." I would refer you to the mla-style Guide to Writing Research Papers, which has no official connection to the Modern Language Association, and, most importantly, to the Fourth Edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, which you ought to be able to borrow from any library (although it might be nailed down at the reference desk) or purchase (for less than $20) at any decent bookstore.

Question	Dear Grammar, I wonder "rises" or "rose" should be used in the following situation. The teacher told the child that the sun always rises in the east. OR The teacher told the child that the sun always rose in the east. I have the query because I am confused: The sentence is about a past event, therefore the past tense "told" is used. However, the clause that "the sun always rises in the east" is about a natural phenomenon which is always true, so present tense seems okay. So what really should be the right choice? Thank you very much for your kind advice.
Source & Date of Question	Sydney, Australia 1 December 1997
Grammar's Response	It would be appropriate to use the present tense, "rises," because, as you point out, the subordinate clause expresses what is known as a "general truth."

Question	Hi. I have a doubt about the use of LIKE and AS, when they are used to compare persons, things, etc. Can you explain me the difference between them, and in which cases they have to be used ?
Source & Date of Question	Buenos Aires, Argentina 1 December 1997
Grammar's Response	Generally, you use as when introducing a clause (remembering that sometimes things can be left out of clauses so they don't look like clauses). For instance, we would say, "I am tall like my father." But we would say, "I am as tall as my father [is tall]." Does that make sense?

Question	In your section on often confused words you describe effect as an result, or an outward sign, and "affect" is defined as "to influence." Does this mean that effect is always a noun, while affect is always a verb. If not could you clear up the definitions. They seem to be the same to me except for the part of speech. ie. could you say, "what affect does this effect have on you?" Thank you for your response.
Source & Date of Question	Kirksville, Missouri 1 December 1997
Grammar's Response	Sorry, but the lack of room for those definitions for the Notorious Confusables causes us to shortchange some words. No, affect and effect are not interchangeable. Unfortunately, both of them can serve as both noun and verb. Usually, effect is the noun. "What is the effect of this ruling?" And affect is the verb. "How does this ruling affect these citizens? (In the example you create, both words are nouns.) However, effect can sometimes be a verb. We can say, for example, that the President was able "to effect a change in Congressional attitudes." And affect can be a noun, used by psychologists to describe a set of physiological responses. It's enough to send one to the dictionary every time! Try to remember the "effect as noun" and "affect as verb" and you'll almost always be right.

Question	Can you please tell me which is correct? "This is from me." Or "This is from I." I think "me" is correct, but a friend insisted it was "I". Thank You.
Source & Date of Question	Greenwood, California 30 November 1997
Grammar's Response	Your friend is either fooling you or he or she needs a trip to the Grammar Farm next summer. You're looking for the object of the preposition from, there, so you need the object form of the pronoun: me.

Question	Is it appropriate to start a sentence with the word "Because" and a dependent clause? e.g: Because he was afraid to swim, Terry stayed out of the ocean.
Source & Date of Question	El Segundo, California 1 December 1997
Grammar's Response	Some careful writers don't like to begin sentences with a "because clause" and get very excited when others do it. I guess their idea is that the word because implies a cause to something which ought to be stated before the cause (or something like that). Most writing manuals and reference books nowadays agree that beginning a sentence with a "because clause" might sometimes express one's meaning quite exactly and that there's really nothing wrong with it. If it's important to express the reason for Terry's reluctance to enter the ocean first, then go ahead and do so. As long as you understand that some people get touchy about it and that you shouldn't go overboard in its use, it's perfectly all right.

Question	Are titles of musical compositions (e.g., Beethoven's Symphony No. 9) placed inside quotation marks?
Source & Date of Question	Cincinnati, Ohio 1 December 1997
Grammar's Response	No. You might put the title of a shorter musical piece (the title of a song, say) inside quotation marks, but the titles of longer musical compositions are italicized (or underlined). However, there's an important difference between a title such as the Pastoral Symphony or American in Paris, which you would italicize, and Beethoven's Symphony Number 6 or Mozart's Divertimento in D, which you would not.

Question	When should words like "uncle" and "aunt" be capitialized? Also, I just wrote a paper about Pope Pius XII. When referring to him as either the "Roman Pontiff," "Supreme Pontiff," or the "Pope" should one capitialize these words? Thanks for your time. You are always helpful!!
Source & Date of Question	Unknown 1 December 1997
Grammar's Response	About your aunt and uncle, you would capitalize those "titles" when they accompany the name ("My Aunt Gladys and my Uncle Chet are visiting.") or when the title substitutes for the name. "I love you, Uncle!" Don't capitalize them when they're not acting in that way (the words that is), and this is usually true when the words are accompanied by adjectives such as "my": "I visited my uncle and my aunt. My friend's aunt and grandmother are visiting." As for the Pope, I have a feeling that word gets handled like most religious titles and gets capitalized, although I can't find any references to it in my manuals. With his other titles, I think you'd have to judge on a case-by-case basis. The Roman pontiff doesn't sound like a title to me, but Supreme Pontiff does. I think it matters whether you're referring to an individual or not: for instance, you could write about the election of a pope, but it would be better talk about how the Pope was elected. It would be easier if the Pope were your uncle.

Question	Here there's one sentence: It was a cold, blowy day in early April, and a million radios were striking thirteen. This sentence was changed into : It was a bright, cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen. Could you tell me which words were inserted , changed and replaced and deleted (comparing the first one to the second one). I appreciate your help
Source & Date of Question	Brazil 2 December 1997
Grammar's Response	I imagine someone has suggested changing the word "blowy" to almost anything else, since "blowy" isn't really a word (although it sounds like a nice substitute for "windy"). And those "million radios" might well announce the time, but they probably don't "strike" the time as a clock does. By the way, I don't know of any clock that actually strikes "thirteen," though it is certainly possible.