The Grammar Logs -- Number Fifty-Eight

The
Grammar
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# 58

Question Here is a sentence that I need feedback on, i.e. whether to use who or whom:
"It is one that has been recorded less on paper, but more in the hearts of the many who(m) have continued the legacy of Stella Hardin."

Source & Date
of Question Austin, Texas
13 January 1998
Grammar's
Response Use "who" in that sentence. I hope it is clear what "it" is, and I wonder if it's possible to "continue a legacy." Doesn't it make more sense to inherit a legacy?
There's a brief section on choosing who/whom in our digital handout on pronouns. Don't forget to take the quizzes!

Question Using a noun as an adjective.
"grammatical mistakes" is correct. What about "grammar mistake"? "adverb phrase" or "adverbial phrase"? All four forms seem correct to me.
Sometimes, which form to use seems to be context-dependent -- "A beautiful girl" and "beauty contest".
So, in general, when is it incorrect to use a noun, as opposed to the associated adj form, as the adj of the sentence?
I'm trying to find a universal rule for non-native speakers like me. Thanks for your help.
Source & Date
of Question San Francisco, California
14 January 1998
Grammar's
Response The use of attributive nouns, or nouns that act like adjectives (like "city government" or any of your good examples) may well be context dependent, but if there is a "universal rule" I have no idea what it is, I'm sorry to say. There's a great difference between a beautiful contest (which could describe a soccer game) and a beauty contest (which nearly always features beautiful women). However, there is no difference between an adverbial clause and an adverb clause.
This is also known as noun premodification (believe it or not). Whether or not it works has something to do with the relative permanence of the item (i.e., we can change "table in the corner" to "corner table," but we cannot change "girl in the corner" to "corner girl.") Frequently, there could be a prepositional relationship (i.e., "government of the city" becomes "city government'), but not always. Also, we can say that the premodifying noun is nearly always singular (but, again, not always -- see "arms race.")
Most of these observations are taken from A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum (Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993, (which I urge you to get your hands on if you can find it in the library.

Question Hello there. My questions are as follows:

I do the work___he gets the credits!
(a)then (b); (c)for (d)so
Why the answer is (b) not (a) ?
"Here there is wild nature." is this sentance ok! and why does the author write it in this way?
Thanks a lot :)
Source & Date
of Question Taipei, Taiwan
13 January 1998
Grammar's
Response In question 1, use the semicolon. "I do the work; he gets the credit." Or, you could add a coordinating conjunction: "I do the work, but he gets the credit." (But "for" wouldn't make sense there.) Most writers will say that you can't use "then" as a coordinating conjunction. You could use "then" if you added a semicolon in front of it or added "and" before it, but not by itself. Frankly, this is not universally subscribed to, and--especially in nicely balanced, brief sentences such as this -- you will often find "then" functioning as a coordinating conjunction.
In question 2, that sentence is fine. Putting the "here" at the beginning of the sentence tends to draw attention to the place itself. It's a nice effect, but you wouldn't want to do it all the time; people would think you were stuffy.

Question Dear Grammar,
My question is about the use of 'however' and 'but'. Is is OK to use 'however' in the following sentence? Or is it better to replace it with 'but'? (The passages I copied below are a part of my current research paper.)
Listener responses, so-called backchannels, have long been ignored in communication studies. Some researchers have tried to reveal their functions in discourse, however, they have not reached any agreement so far.

Source & Date
of Question Tokushima City, Tokushima, Japan
15 January 1998
Grammar's
Response Either "but" or "however" would be fine there, but if you wish to use "however" -- which puts a bit more emphasis on the contrariness of that clause -- you're going to need a semicolon before it and a comma after it. Transitional expressions such as however, moreover, neverthess, consequently do not connect independent clauses in the same way that the "little conjunctions" (and, but, nor, for, yet, so) do. Frequently (when the transitional expression comes between the two clauses), the pattern is semicolon + transitional expression + comma, and that's what you need here.
See our section on What Happens Between Two Independent Clauses.

Question If a word is enclosed in quotation marks in the middle of a sentence, does the comma come after the quotes or before the quotes? e.g. The Universal Service Program, popularly known as the "E-rate," was created as part of the. . . .
Please let us know!
Source & Date
of Question Miami, Florida
15 January 1998
Grammar's
Response Inside. It's not logical, but that's how it's done in the United States (as opposed to United Kingdom and elsewhere). See our section on Punctuation Marks Beside the Comma.

Question Since July 16, 1990 Richard J. Heckmann has led the investment group that purchased controlling interest in the United States.
My question--is there a comma after 1990?
Source & Date
of Question Riverside, California
15 January 1998
Grammar's
Response Yes, there is -- and for two reasons. When you give the whole date in that order (month, day, year), you always treat the year parenthetically. (If you left out the day, you wouldn't.) Also, you need a comma there to set off an introductory modifying phrase -- two for the price of one. In the international style of writing dates, you'd write 16 July 1990, but you'd still have a comma after the date (in your sentence) for the reason we just gave.
Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993.

Question When do you use periods between the letters in an acronym? Why are some acronyms, such as U.S.A. separated by periods and others, such as URL not?
I'm writing an article on acronyms and could use some good source material. Do you know of any good books? In the future, I'll be writing articles on using a hyphen. For example, is it online or on-line? I could use source material for that too. Thanks!
Source & Date
of Question Mitchellville, Maryland
15 January 1998
Grammar's
Response More and more, it is becoming the habit of writers to use acronyms and abbreviations without the periods. There is, however, no hard and fast rule governing such things, other than consistency within text. With the United States, however, you'd want to be careful never to leave out the periods when you use U.S.; in fact, it's probably wise not to use U.S. in formal prose anyway.
There are probably, somewhere, more thorough guides to the matters of abbreviation and hyphenation, but the Chicago Manual of Style (14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993) should more than suffice for most purposes. For words such as e-mail and online, however, it's surely much too early to tell what the "authoritative" spelling might turn out to be (unless you want to ask me), although the way that such things become entrenched in our lexicon is, in itself, an interesting process.

Question Could you kindly tell me the difference between "you're gone and you've gone"? Thank you very much
Source & Date
of Question Naples, Italy
15 January 1998
Grammar's
Response When we "uncontract" those words, we've got "You are gone" and "You have gone." So what is the difference between those? It's probably best to see them as part of a larger statement: "You have gone to college and this is all you've go to show for it?" When I try to put "You are gone" into a larger structure, I get stuck. I can imagine, though, some lover complaining that his beloved is gone: "I look for you, but you are gone." The "have" describes the action more; the "are" is more a description of the condition of being gone, absent. Does that make sense?

Question I recently learned about an available Media/Communications Specialist position in your department.
I would welcome the chance to meet with you or a member of your unit to explor available opportunities. I look forward to a mutually beneficial discussion.
What is wrong with these two sentences? Thanks
Source & Date
of Question Urbana, Illinois
15 January 1998
Grammar's
Response Is this a trick question? Which two sentences? The ones you've set apart? Are you looking for something wrong with both of those sentences? In the first of those two, don't you have a logic problem with "you or a member of your unit"? Perhaps it would be better with "you or another member of your unit"? (I'm assuming, I guess, that the "you" is a member of his/her own unit, whatever that means.) The second sentence might be altogether unnecessary anyway. As opposed to what, one might ask, an argument? We also could use an "e" at the end of explore, but I don't think that's what you're looking for.

Question (What is the linking verb? What is the simple subject , and predicate noun?)

Hiwatha became a peacemaker.
Hiwatha was the hero of a poem by Longfellow.
This poem is "The Song of Hiwatha."

Source & Date
of Question Morton Grove, Illinois
15 January 1998
Grammar's
Response The linking verbs here are "became," "was," and "is." Your simple subjects are "Hiawatha," "Hiawatha," and "poem." Your predicate nouns are "peacemaker," "hero," and "The Song of Hiawatha."

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Question	Here is a sentence that I need feedback on, i.e. whether to use who or whom: "It is one that has been recorded less on paper, but more in the hearts of the many who(m) have continued the legacy of Stella Hardin."
Source & Date of Question	Austin, Texas 13 January 1998
Grammar's Response	Use "who" in that sentence. I hope it is clear what "it" is, and I wonder if it's possible to "continue a legacy." Doesn't it make more sense to inherit a legacy? There's a brief section on choosing who/whom in our digital handout on pronouns. Don't forget to take the quizzes!

Question	Hello there. My questions are as follows: I do the work___he gets the credits! (a)then (b); (c)for (d)so Why the answer is (b) not (a) ? "Here there is wild nature." is this sentance ok! and why does the author write it in this way? Thanks a lot :)
Source & Date of Question	Taipei, Taiwan 13 January 1998
Grammar's Response	In question 1, use the semicolon. "I do the work; he gets the credit." Or, you could add a coordinating conjunction: "I do the work, but he gets the credit." (But "for" wouldn't make sense there.) Most writers will say that you can't use "then" as a coordinating conjunction. You could use "then" if you added a semicolon in front of it or added "and" before it, but not by itself. Frankly, this is not universally subscribed to, and--especially in nicely balanced, brief sentences such as this -- you will often find "then" functioning as a coordinating conjunction. In question 2, that sentence is fine. Putting the "here" at the beginning of the sentence tends to draw attention to the place itself. It's a nice effect, but you wouldn't want to do it all the time; people would think you were stuffy.

Question	Dear Grammar, My question is about the use of 'however' and 'but'. Is is OK to use 'however' in the following sentence? Or is it better to replace it with 'but'? (The passages I copied below are a part of my current research paper.) Listener responses, so-called backchannels, have long been ignored in communication studies. Some researchers have tried to reveal their functions in discourse, however, they have not reached any agreement so far.
Source & Date of Question	Tokushima City, Tokushima, Japan 15 January 1998
Grammar's Response	Either "but" or "however" would be fine there, but if you wish to use "however" -- which puts a bit more emphasis on the contrariness of that clause -- you're going to need a semicolon before it and a comma after it. Transitional expressions such as however, moreover, neverthess, consequently do not connect independent clauses in the same way that the "little conjunctions" (and, but, nor, for, yet, so) do. Frequently (when the transitional expression comes between the two clauses), the pattern is semicolon + transitional expression + comma, and that's what you need here. See our section on What Happens Between Two Independent Clauses.

Question	If a word is enclosed in quotation marks in the middle of a sentence, does the comma come after the quotes or before the quotes? e.g. The Universal Service Program, popularly known as the "E-rate," was created as part of the. . . . Please let us know!
Source & Date of Question	Miami, Florida 15 January 1998
Grammar's Response	Inside. It's not logical, but that's how it's done in the United States (as opposed to United Kingdom and elsewhere). See our section on Punctuation Marks Beside the Comma.

Question	When do you use periods between the letters in an acronym? Why are some acronyms, such as U.S.A. separated by periods and others, such as URL not? I'm writing an article on acronyms and could use some good source material. Do you know of any good books? In the future, I'll be writing articles on using a hyphen. For example, is it online or on-line? I could use source material for that too. Thanks!
Source & Date of Question	Mitchellville, Maryland 15 January 1998
Grammar's Response	More and more, it is becoming the habit of writers to use acronyms and abbreviations without the periods. There is, however, no hard and fast rule governing such things, other than consistency within text. With the United States, however, you'd want to be careful never to leave out the periods when you use U.S.; in fact, it's probably wise not to use U.S. in formal prose anyway. There are probably, somewhere, more thorough guides to the matters of abbreviation and hyphenation, but the Chicago Manual of Style (14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993) should more than suffice for most purposes. For words such as e-mail and online, however, it's surely much too early to tell what the "authoritative" spelling might turn out to be (unless you want to ask me), although the way that such things become entrenched in our lexicon is, in itself, an interesting process.

Question	Could you kindly tell me the difference between "you're gone and you've gone"? Thank you very much
Source & Date of Question	Naples, Italy 15 January 1998
Grammar's Response	When we "uncontract" those words, we've got "You are gone" and "You have gone." So what is the difference between those? It's probably best to see them as part of a larger statement: "You have gone to college and this is all you've go to show for it?" When I try to put "You are gone" into a larger structure, I get stuck. I can imagine, though, some lover complaining that his beloved is gone: "I look for you, but you are gone." The "have" describes the action more; the "are" is more a description of the condition of being gone, absent. Does that make sense?

Question	I recently learned about an available Media/Communications Specialist position in your department. I would welcome the chance to meet with you or a member of your unit to explor available opportunities. I look forward to a mutually beneficial discussion. What is wrong with these two sentences? Thanks
Source & Date of Question	Urbana, Illinois 15 January 1998
Grammar's Response	Is this a trick question? Which two sentences? The ones you've set apart? Are you looking for something wrong with both of those sentences? In the first of those two, don't you have a logic problem with "you or a member of your unit"? Perhaps it would be better with "you or another member of your unit"? (I'm assuming, I guess, that the "you" is a member of his/her own unit, whatever that means.) The second sentence might be altogether unnecessary anyway. As opposed to what, one might ask, an argument? We also could use an "e" at the end of explore, but I don't think that's what you're looking for.

Question	(What is the linking verb? What is the simple subject , and predicate noun?) Hiwatha became a peacemaker. Hiwatha was the hero of a poem by Longfellow. This poem is "The Song of Hiwatha."
Source & Date of Question	Morton Grove, Illinois 15 January 1998
Grammar's Response	The linking verbs here are "became," "was," and "is." Your simple subjects are "Hiawatha," "Hiawatha," and "poem." Your predicate nouns are "peacemaker," "hero," and "The Song of Hiawatha."