The Grammar Logs -- Number Fifty-Seven

The
Grammar
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# 57

Question According to Rymond Murphy's English Grammar in Use, it is correct to say "I wish it would stop raining", but the parallel construction is wrong: "I wish it wouldn't be so cold today" or "I wish everything wouldn't be so expensive." Is the reason that you cannot use "be" because it implies a sense of state instead of a change?
Thank you very much.
Source & Date
of Question Barcelona, Spain
11 January 1998
Grammar's
Response Your conjecture seems correct to me, although I'm not sure. You would say "I wish it wouldn't rain today," but not "I wish it wouldn't be so cold."
Actually, when you are trying to express a wish, you probably could use a form of "to be" in the construction, but you would use the subjunctive form of it: "I wish it weren't going to be so cold today" or "I wish things weren't so expensive." In fact, all things considered, the subjunctive is probably a better form for wishing: "I wish he would be a better father to his children. I wish he wouldn't be so cold toward them."? I'd say, instead, "I wish he were a better father to his children. I wish he weren't so cold toward them."
I'm not sure I've answered your question; if not, please write again.

Question I would like to know if when typing an adjective that ends in y, do you hyphenate that word, such as healthy looking? I know you do not hyphenate ly words, such as slightly pale. Also, when typing the abbreviation for white blood cell count, should the abbreviation be lower case or upper case, i.e., wbc or WBC. I really appreciate your help in these problems.
Source & Date
of Question Glendale, Arizona
11 January 1998
Grammar's
Response I think you're talking about putting a hyphen between the words "healthy" and "looking," right? No, don't put a hyphen there. The rule is that when the compound adjective precedes the noun, you'll use a hyphen if there's a chance for misreading the phrase without the hyphen. But would you ever wonder "What's a 'looking horse?'" if someone wrote, "That's a healthy looking horse."? I don't think so. And if the compound adjective comes after the noun, there's rarely a reason to misread the phrase, so you'd write "That horse is healthy looking." (Actually, you'd probably write "That horse looks healthy."
As for your abbreviations, it's a matter of usage and will vary from medium to medium. Your best bet is to look in an appropriate academic journal and see how they handle abbreviations such as WBC. Personally, I'd use the ALL CAPS version to distinguish the abbreviation from other words. Consistency, of course, is important here. Generally, also, it is more and more the custom to avoid using periods within such abbreviations, as you've done.

Question
I have two questions on the verb 'dare'. Which one is correct:
'I wouldn't dare to ask.'
or 'Iwouldn't dare ask.' or
'I wouldn't dare asking.'? Why?
Which one is correct:
'He dare do it.' or
'He dare to do it.' or
'He dare doing it.' or
'He dares do it.' or
'He dares to do it.' or
'He dares doing it.'? Why?
Thank you very much for your help.

Source & Date
of Question San Diego, California
11 January 1998
Grammar's
Response The verbs need and dare sometimes function as modal (auxiliary) verbs and sometimes as regular (lexical -- which would use an infinitive) verbs. Both verbs are called "marginal modal auxiliaries." In the modal construction, we would write: "He dare not go now." "Dare he go now?" "No solder dare disobey." "No one dare predict." In the lexical construction, you could write: "He dares to go now." "He doesn't dare to go now." "Does he dare to go now?"
Authority: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993.

Question Which is correct to say: "none of the professors have books" or "none of the professors has books"?
Thank you.
Source & Date
of Question Dallas, Texas
11 January 1998
Grammar's
Response Technically, "none" is nearly always plural in meaning -- but not always. Some writers contend that "none" can be singular and take a singular verb when it means "not one." The fact of the matter is that when it does mean "not one," the sentence would almost always be better if the writer had used "not one" instead of "none."

Question Should we make a sentence like this?
We must instil a good ethical value in running a business because we should always thinking for the sake of the poor.
Is there anything grammatically wrong with the sentence ? Please clarify whether I should use the word "should" twice in my sentence.
Source & Date
of Question Unknown
12 January 1998
Grammar's
Response There's nothing wrong, really, with using "should" twice in the same sentence, although your wording is probably better. Check the spelling of "instil" and finish the verb string in the dependent clause -- "we should always be thinking." Also, I don't think you want to be "thinking for the sake of the poor." You probably mean something like "always care for the poor."? Finally, I think "ethical values" would be better than "a good ethical value"; I don't think there's such a thing as a "bad ethical value" and the plural is probably better.

Question Question 1
I noticed that Lean Rimes sings "Bridge over troubled waters." However, Simon & Garfunkel originally sings "Bridge over troubled water." Could you explain the difference between waters and water?
Question 2
Whitney Houston sings "I'm every woman." Please tell me what "every" means in the title.
Source & Date
of Question Yokohama, Japan
12 January 1998
Grammar's
Response There's not much difference between the two words, except that "waters" can mean bodies of water. I suppose when one pictures a "bridge over troubled water," one pictures a singular bridge over a singular river with violently tossed water in it, whereas when one pictures a "bridge over troubled waters," the metaphorical intent of the image is more manifest. (But I doubt it.)
Not having heard Houston's song, I'm not sure what she means. I suspect that she intends, somehow, to represent all women within the language of her lyrics, that the troubles or glories she sings about are somehow representative of everyone female. Whether or not she succeeds in that is up to you.

Question Here is the sentence I have a question about.
The firearms seized included a Mossberg Model 500, 12-gauge pump action shotgun; a Browning 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun, serial number 72V935; a CBC Model SB 12-gauge single-shot shotgun.
My question is when you use semicolons in a sentence, do you need to use the word and with the item listed, such as ...serial number 72V935; and a CBC Model....?
Source & Date
of Question Flint, Michigan
12 January 1998
Grammar's
Response In a word, yes. At least as long as you're running the list into the flow of your text that way. If you have what's called a vertical list (typographically setting the list apart; numbering if you wish), you have more choices. You might still use the semicolons (If you wish), but the and would become unnecessary.
Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993.

Question Do you capitalize the words mother or mom in a sentence if they follow the word your?
Example: Please give these to your mother.
Thanks!
Source & Date
of Question Orville, California
12 January 1998
Grammar's
Response No, you don't. As long as those words that substitute for people's names are modified by something -- your uncle, my mother, his grandfather, etc. -- don't capitalize them.

Question Please try to rewrite the following sentece:
I would appreciate to have your advice on the above matter, whether we could consider using IDRC to handle the funds, at least for the Argentinean contribution, since they have already posed a question to us regarding how to administer the funds.

Source & Date
of Question Geneva, Switzerland
12 January 1998
Grammar's
Response How about this: I would appreciate having (or "I would like . . .") your advice on [leave out "above matter" since you're going to recapitulate it anyway.] whether we could consider using IDRC to handle the funds, at least for the Argentinian contribution, since they have already posed a question to us [or "asked" ?] about the fund's administration. (It's unclear to me who "they" are. The IDRC? Shouldn't we use "it," instead of "they"?)

Question In the GMAT official guide there is a sentence correction sample question that I can't understand. The following sentence is the correct and complete answer.
"In the minds of many people living in England, before Australia was Australia, it was the antipodes, the opposite pole to civilization, an obscure and unimaginable place that was considered the end of the world."
My question is whether it is a run-on sentence? In fact I saw such kind of sentences many many times. I guess that they result from some elimination. Would you like to explain for me? Thank you very much.
Source & Date
of Question Taipei, Taiwan
13 January 1998
Grammar's
Response No, that's not a run-on sentence. In fact, there's really nothing wrong with it at all. The sentence says that Australia was three things (in the minds of those people), and the sentence lists those three things, linking them only with commas (which is quite appropriate since the three things are very much alike). You might have put an "and" before "an obscure" to make the list more obvious, but it's certainly not necessary. It's clear to you, isn't it, that "it" refers to Australia?

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Question	I would like to know if when typing an adjective that ends in y, do you hyphenate that word, such as healthy looking? I know you do not hyphenate ly words, such as slightly pale. Also, when typing the abbreviation for white blood cell count, should the abbreviation be lower case or upper case, i.e., wbc or WBC. I really appreciate your help in these problems.
Source & Date of Question	Glendale, Arizona 11 January 1998
Grammar's Response	I think you're talking about putting a hyphen between the words "healthy" and "looking," right? No, don't put a hyphen there. The rule is that when the compound adjective precedes the noun, you'll use a hyphen if there's a chance for misreading the phrase without the hyphen. But would you ever wonder "What's a 'looking horse?'" if someone wrote, "That's a healthy looking horse."? I don't think so. And if the compound adjective comes after the noun, there's rarely a reason to misread the phrase, so you'd write "That horse is healthy looking." (Actually, you'd probably write "That horse looks healthy." As for your abbreviations, it's a matter of usage and will vary from medium to medium. Your best bet is to look in an appropriate academic journal and see how they handle abbreviations such as WBC. Personally, I'd use the ALL CAPS version to distinguish the abbreviation from other words. Consistency, of course, is important here. Generally, also, it is more and more the custom to avoid using periods within such abbreviations, as you've done.

Question	Which is correct to say: "none of the professors have books" or "none of the professors has books"? Thank you.
Source & Date of Question	Dallas, Texas 11 January 1998
Grammar's Response	Technically, "none" is nearly always plural in meaning -- but not always. Some writers contend that "none" can be singular and take a singular verb when it means "not one." The fact of the matter is that when it does mean "not one," the sentence would almost always be better if the writer had used "not one" instead of "none."

Question	Should we make a sentence like this? We must instil a good ethical value in running a business because we should always thinking for the sake of the poor. Is there anything grammatically wrong with the sentence ? Please clarify whether I should use the word "should" twice in my sentence.
Source & Date of Question	Unknown 12 January 1998
Grammar's Response	There's nothing wrong, really, with using "should" twice in the same sentence, although your wording is probably better. Check the spelling of "instil" and finish the verb string in the dependent clause -- "we should always be thinking." Also, I don't think you want to be "thinking for the sake of the poor." You probably mean something like "always care for the poor."? Finally, I think "ethical values" would be better than "a good ethical value"; I don't think there's such a thing as a "bad ethical value" and the plural is probably better.

Question	Question 1 I noticed that Lean Rimes sings "Bridge over troubled waters." However, Simon & Garfunkel originally sings "Bridge over troubled water." Could you explain the difference between waters and water? Question 2 Whitney Houston sings "I'm every woman." Please tell me what "every" means in the title.
Source & Date of Question	Yokohama, Japan 12 January 1998
Grammar's Response	There's not much difference between the two words, except that "waters" can mean bodies of water. I suppose when one pictures a "bridge over troubled water," one pictures a singular bridge over a singular river with violently tossed water in it, whereas when one pictures a "bridge over troubled waters," the metaphorical intent of the image is more manifest. (But I doubt it.) Not having heard Houston's song, I'm not sure what she means. I suspect that she intends, somehow, to represent all women within the language of her lyrics, that the troubles or glories she sings about are somehow representative of everyone female. Whether or not she succeeds in that is up to you.

Question	Do you capitalize the words mother or mom in a sentence if they follow the word your? Example: Please give these to your mother. Thanks!
Source & Date of Question	Orville, California 12 January 1998
Grammar's Response	No, you don't. As long as those words that substitute for people's names are modified by something -- your uncle, my mother, his grandfather, etc. -- don't capitalize them.

Question	Please try to rewrite the following sentece: I would appreciate to have your advice on the above matter, whether we could consider using IDRC to handle the funds, at least for the Argentinean contribution, since they have already posed a question to us regarding how to administer the funds.
Source & Date of Question	Geneva, Switzerland 12 January 1998
Grammar's Response	How about this: I would appreciate having (or "I would like . . .") your advice on [leave out "above matter" since you're going to recapitulate it anyway.] whether we could consider using IDRC to handle the funds, at least for the Argentinian contribution, since they have already posed a question to us [or "asked" ?] about the fund's administration. (It's unclear to me who "they" are. The IDRC? Shouldn't we use "it," instead of "they"?)

Question	In the GMAT official guide there is a sentence correction sample question that I can't understand. The following sentence is the correct and complete answer. "In the minds of many people living in England, before Australia was Australia, it was the antipodes, the opposite pole to civilization, an obscure and unimaginable place that was considered the end of the world." My question is whether it is a run-on sentence? In fact I saw such kind of sentences many many times. I guess that they result from some elimination. Would you like to explain for me? Thank you very much.
Source & Date of Question	Taipei, Taiwan 13 January 1998
Grammar's Response	No, that's not a run-on sentence. In fact, there's really nothing wrong with it at all. The sentence says that Australia was three things (in the minds of those people), and the sentence lists those three things, linking them only with commas (which is quite appropriate since the three things are very much alike). You might have put an "and" before "an obscure" to make the list more obvious, but it's certainly not necessary. It's clear to you, isn't it, that "it" refers to Australia?