The Grammar Logs -- Number Fifty-Six

The
Grammar
Logs
# 56

Question Why is it correct to put an apostrophe -s after day when used in phrases such as "a hard day's work" or "thirty day's notice"? "Day" does not seem to be possessive to warrant the apostrophe.
Source & Date
of Question Burbank, California
7 January 1998
Grammar's
Response It does seem a bit strange, doesn't it? What we've got in such phrases is an implication of personification. The work belongs to the hard day and the notice belongs to the thirty days. So the construction becomes possessive. (Incidentally, the "days" is plural, so the expression would be "thirty days' notice," with the apostrophe going after the final "s.") Also, "Seven Years' War," "this morning's paper," etc.
Authority: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994.

Question I teach writing to junior high students. We spend a lot of time on grammar. The grammar unit is extremely comprehensive. I have found that my students become much more competent writers after learning the basic rules of grammar. Unfortunately, I do not use the district curriculum or the district textbook. However, my students' assessment scores continue to rise.
I am seeking any research that supports my methodology. I start with basic knowledge and comprehension of the eight parts of speech. Next, we work with the ten ways to use a noun and pronoun in a sentence. From these units my students learn objective and subjective cases, subject/verb agreement, the difference between phrases and clauses, gerunds, infinitives, participles, and the like. I hope you can help me find more information about these methods. Thank you.
Source & Date
of Question Peoria, Illinois
7 January 1998
Grammar's
Response Learning the rules of English grammar, its peculiar vocabulary, never hurt anyone, in my opinion. It's the kind of learning that has application beyond writing skills, also. You might want to share your insights with folks on the alt.english.usage newsgroup, and folks there might be able to steer you towards interesting pedagogical discussions in print and online. Somewhere along the line, I'm sure that your students also have fun writing, without fear of correction. Teaching writing is not unlike teaching music (or dancing or ice-skating or fencing or. . . .): that line between the need for discipline, to get it right, and the need to foster a love for both the craft and the pure spirit of the thing is easily obscured.
I hope that the assessment tests that your students score well on are a true measure of their having become confident and happy writers.
Find Mina P. Shaughnessy's wonderful book, Errors and Expectations. It may not support your arguments completely, but you'll be a better writing teacher for having read it.

Question I have two questions:

What's the difference between image and imagery? Can you give some example sentences.
in this sentence, "He is a child abandoned by its real parents.", is the use of the word "its" correct or do we need to put in "his or her" parents.

Source & Date
of Question Unknown
8 January 1998
Grammar's
Response Imagery is a set or system of images. An image you could define as a picture, a representation, a way of seeing something. In Wallace Stevens's "Man with the Blue Guitar," we have the one major image of the guitar itself, but we could say that Stevens uses musical imagery to explore a problem of aesthetics. You could point to one of millions of images that Shakespeare uses, but then you could discuss the imagery from nature in one of his plays.
As for the child, I don't know why you'd rob this "he" of his gender in this sentence. If that's important, I would avoid the problem of the genderless child by pluralizing: "He is one of several/many children abandoned by their parents."

Question Do you capitalize a shortened version of a name of a course? (Compensation Module is the words I'm concerned with)
In the Compensation Module, you learned.....

Source & Date
of Question Orlando, Florida
9 January 1998
Grammar's
Response Yes, capitalize the important words in the title of a course, and it wouldn't matter if the title were abbreviated or not. (Although I'm not sure I'd ever take a course called Compensation Module!) Don't capitalize the name of a discipline (unless it's otherwise a proper noun, such as English), but do capitalize the name of a course: "I'm taking a course in compensation next semester. Last semester I took Intro to Compensation."

Question I am studying to teach English as a Second Language. I am currently taking a class in Linguistics and we were asked to write a paper on the differences of syntax in English and another language. My class partners and I chose English and Spanish but are having a hard time finding any info. on the differences in grammar, speaking, etc. in these two languages. I was wondering if you would be able to provide me with a website or two to find such information. Thanks so much for your time.
Source & Date
of Question Unknown
9 January 1998
Grammar's
Response You might ask this question at one of the forums at Dave's ESL Cafe. There are probably enough differences to create a rather enormous discussion. What if you concentrated on the different ways that a language creates the future tense. English has no real inflected forms for the future tense (such as our -ed endings for the past tense). English spelling is a problem for Spanish students (whose language is much more WYSIWYG than English), but you probably have something more substantial and structural in mind. I find it interesting that our Spanish English-learners have very little trouble with articles, whereas our students from Russia, say, or anywhere in eastern Europe have an awful time with articles.

Question I need your help in settling a dispute about compound modifiers. We all agree with the hyphenation in the following sentence:

James is a 12-year-old boy with pain in his left knee.
The problem comes in when the noun is not clearly stated in the sentence.

James is a 12-year-old complaining of pain.
I am a medical transcriptionist and also edit transcriptionists. When I made a correction on a report and added the hyphens in the second sentence, the transcriptionist told me that one of the other editors had told her not to use hyphens in this type of sentence, since there was no noun for this compound modifier. I am pretty sure that I am correct in my hypen placement but would be more comfortable having a specific rule to cite. I think that the noun is understood.
Otherwise, the sentence would simply be "James is 12 years old and complains of pain." I have always felt that a good rule of thumb about knowing when a modifier containing numbers should be hyphenated or not is whether the word following the number is singular, making it a compound modifier, or plural. For example, James took a six-mile walk. James walked six miles.
I would greatly appreciate any help/ammunition you can give me. Of course, if I am wrong, I'm willing to eat crow.
Source & Date
of Question Hudson, Florida
9 January 1998
Grammar's
Response I, too, would hyphenate the 12-year-old in "John is a 12-year-old complaining of pain," but not because it's a compound adjective looking for a noun to modify. It's a compound noun. The person who would drop the hyphens, I think, is confusing this case with the situation in which (as you point out) the modifier follows the noun: "a boy twelve years old."
I can't follow your singular-plural distinction, and I don't think it's terribly useful or true (if I understand you correctly, which I may not). Lay off the crow, though.
Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993.

Question Is it correct to say "She is a good friend of Karen's" or She is a good friend of Karen." If it's the former, can you explain why?
Thanks.
Source & Date
of Question Cincinnati, Ohio
9 January 1998
Grammar's
Response I can tell you what it is, but I don't know if that will explain it. That's a double possessive, and it's perfectly all right to form such a thing, although you might be better off writing something like "She is Karen's good friend." Try substituting a pronoun for Karen, and you'll see how it works. You wouldn't say, "She is a good friend of she." You'd say, "She's a good friend of hers." (using the possessive, not the subjective form of the pronoun)

Question I recently read this sentence in a book: "This group, Catholic Families and Friends, were planning a special party that night to celebrate with us."
Why is the word "were" and not "was" used in this sentence? The author is talking about one collective group called Catholic Families and Friends. Shouldn't a singular verb be used to refer to this collective group acting together?
Thanks!
Source & Date
of Question Unknown
10 January 1998
Grammar's
Response There will be some situations in which a collective noun takes a plural verb: "The jury take their seats." But I think you're right about the group here, especially since the appositive phrase clearly identifies it as a singular entity and the group was functioning in that sentence as one thing.

Question Please could you give me an example of an irregular comparative and an irregular superlative.
What are lexical words anf functional words? I know that adjectives and pre and post modifiers are function words but what are prepositions - which category do they fall under ?
Source & Date
of Question Surrey, UK
10 January 1998
Grammar's
Response Regular comparative and superlative adjectives are formed simply with the inflected forms of -er and -est, respectively. The simplest examples of irregular comparative and superlative, then, are probably good, better, and best (instead of good, gooder, and goodest).
I'm not familiar with this lexical and functional distinction. I think, though, that it addresses the difference between words that we deal with or understand in terms of their meaning and those words that we understand in terms of their function within a sentence. Prepositions, I believe, would be functional words. The word after, for example, is rather difficult to define, isn't it, except in so far as it functions to show the relationship between time periods. The word because is hard to define, but we're able to use it because we understand the function it serves within a sentence.

Question I have two questions.

Is it proper in technical, formal writing to introduce a sentence with "there," such as "There is a way to accomplish that effect."?
Is the use of "this" or "that" as a pronoun acceptable in technical writing? ". . . This is also available for users in Asia." I think it is an acceptable usage, but I am not sure about it.

Source & Date
of Question Atlanta, Georgia
10 January 1998
Grammar's
Response
My faculty friend who teaches technical writing advises me that it's a good idea to avoid that expletive construction ("there is", etc.) because of its inherent wordiness. The example she gives is as follows:
There has been a decrease in the number of students enrolled in technical programs.
The following would be better because it uses a "real subject" and the relationship between subject and verb is clearer:
The number of students enrolled in technical programs has decreased.
If the antecedent of "this" is not perfectly clear, avoid using that construction also. As long as the antecedent is clear and the reader doesn't have to go fishing around in your last paragraph or his memory to discover what the "this" or "that" is referring to, this construction can be not only correct but useful as a device for summing up and pointing forward at the same time.
These two suggestions would apply to any kind of writing, of course, not just technical writing.

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Question	I have two questions: What's the difference between image and imagery? Can you give some example sentences. in this sentence, "He is a child abandoned by its real parents.", is the use of the word "its" correct or do we need to put in "his or her" parents.
Source & Date of Question	Unknown 8 January 1998
Grammar's Response	Imagery is a set or system of images. An image you could define as a picture, a representation, a way of seeing something. In Wallace Stevens's "Man with the Blue Guitar," we have the one major image of the guitar itself, but we could say that Stevens uses musical imagery to explore a problem of aesthetics. You could point to one of millions of images that Shakespeare uses, but then you could discuss the imagery from nature in one of his plays. As for the child, I don't know why you'd rob this "he" of his gender in this sentence. If that's important, I would avoid the problem of the genderless child by pluralizing: "He is one of several/many children abandoned by their parents."

Question	Do you capitalize a shortened version of a name of a course? (Compensation Module is the words I'm concerned with) In the Compensation Module, you learned.....
Source & Date of Question	Orlando, Florida 9 January 1998
Grammar's Response	Yes, capitalize the important words in the title of a course, and it wouldn't matter if the title were abbreviated or not. (Although I'm not sure I'd ever take a course called Compensation Module!) Don't capitalize the name of a discipline (unless it's otherwise a proper noun, such as English), but do capitalize the name of a course: "I'm taking a course in compensation next semester. Last semester I took Intro to Compensation."

Question	Is it correct to say "She is a good friend of Karen's" or She is a good friend of Karen." If it's the former, can you explain why? Thanks.
Source & Date of Question	Cincinnati, Ohio 9 January 1998
Grammar's Response	I can tell you what it is, but I don't know if that will explain it. That's a double possessive, and it's perfectly all right to form such a thing, although you might be better off writing something like "She is Karen's good friend." Try substituting a pronoun for Karen, and you'll see how it works. You wouldn't say, "She is a good friend of she." You'd say, "She's a good friend of hers." (using the possessive, not the subjective form of the pronoun)

Question	I recently read this sentence in a book: "This group, Catholic Families and Friends, were planning a special party that night to celebrate with us." Why is the word "were" and not "was" used in this sentence? The author is talking about one collective group called Catholic Families and Friends. Shouldn't a singular verb be used to refer to this collective group acting together? Thanks!
Source & Date of Question	Unknown 10 January 1998
Grammar's Response	There will be some situations in which a collective noun takes a plural verb: "The jury take their seats." But I think you're right about the group here, especially since the appositive phrase clearly identifies it as a singular entity and the group was functioning in that sentence as one thing.

Question	Please could you give me an example of an irregular comparative and an irregular superlative. What are lexical words anf functional words? I know that adjectives and pre and post modifiers are function words but what are prepositions - which category do they fall under ?
Source & Date of Question	Surrey, UK 10 January 1998
Grammar's Response	Regular comparative and superlative adjectives are formed simply with the inflected forms of -er and -est, respectively. The simplest examples of irregular comparative and superlative, then, are probably good, better, and best (instead of good, gooder, and goodest). I'm not familiar with this lexical and functional distinction. I think, though, that it addresses the difference between words that we deal with or understand in terms of their meaning and those words that we understand in terms of their function within a sentence. Prepositions, I believe, would be functional words. The word after, for example, is rather difficult to define, isn't it, except in so far as it functions to show the relationship between time periods. The word because is hard to define, but we're able to use it because we understand the function it serves within a sentence.

Question	I am studying to teach English as a Second Language. I am currently taking a class in Linguistics and we were asked to write a paper on the differences of syntax in English and another language. My class partners and I chose English and Spanish but are having a hard time finding any info. on the differences in grammar, speaking, etc. in these two languages. I was wondering if you would be able to provide me with a website or two to find such information. Thanks so much for your time.
Source & Date of Question	Unknown 9 January 1998
Grammar's Response	You might ask this question at one of the forums at Dave's ESL Cafe. There are probably enough differences to create a rather enormous discussion. What if you concentrated on the different ways that a language creates the future tense. English has no real inflected forms for the future tense (such as our -ed endings for the past tense). English spelling is a problem for Spanish students (whose language is much more WYSIWYG than English), but you probably have something more substantial and structural in mind. I find it interesting that our Spanish English-learners have very little trouble with articles, whereas our students from Russia, say, or anywhere in eastern Europe have an awful time with articles.

Question	I have two questions. Is it proper in technical, formal writing to introduce a sentence with "there," such as "There is a way to accomplish that effect."? Is the use of "this" or "that" as a pronoun acceptable in technical writing? ". . . This is also available for users in Asia." I think it is an acceptable usage, but I am not sure about it.
Source & Date of Question	Atlanta, Georgia 10 January 1998
Grammar's Response	My faculty friend who teaches technical writing advises me that it's a good idea to avoid that expletive construction ("there is", etc.) because of its inherent wordiness. The example she gives is as follows: There has been a decrease in the number of students enrolled in technical programs. The following would be better because it uses a "real subject" and the relationship between subject and verb is clearer: The number of students enrolled in technical programs has decreased. If the antecedent of "this" is not perfectly clear, avoid using that construction also. As long as the antecedent is clear and the reader doesn't have to go fishing around in your last paragraph or his memory to discover what the "this" or "that" is referring to, this construction can be not only correct but useful as a device for summing up and pointing forward at the same time. These two suggestions would apply to any kind of writing, of course, not just technical writing.