The Grammar Logs -- Number Eight

The
Grammar
Logs
# 8

Question Consider these three sentences:

I ate the jelly beans that were white.
I ate the jelly beans which were white.
I ate the jelly beans, which were white.
I know that the third sentence has a different meaning from the first two, but for the first two sentences, which is correct--"that" or "which"?
Source & Date
of Question Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania
4 May 1997
Grammar's
Response The answer to this question depends on how formal your writing is going to be. Most sticklers for proper form, like Bill Walsh and other good copy editors, will argue that which should be used for parenthetical elements (stuff you can remove from your sentence without changing its essential meaning) and, therefore, you'd have a comma with it. Some good writers, however, will say that the distinction between that and which is weakening and either of those first two sentences will be correct. The distinction still feels worth remembering to me. I say go with Walsh.

Question My question is concerning the forming of possessives. Which is correct?
She is a friend of Harry's.
She is a friend of Harry.
I think "of Harry" is correct (no apostrophe).
Where can I find a reference book that deals with the forming of possessives? I haven't been able to find any information on line. Perhaps I'm too impatient.
Source & Date
of Question Clearwater, Florida
4 May 1997
Grammar's
Response You're right. The "of phrase" creates the possessive, so you don't want to show possession twice with the apostrophe. In casual speech, this would probably not be noticed. The authority I list here is a great resource:
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.

Grammar's
Response To the person who wrote me about the error in #4 of the First Punctuation Quiz, thanks. It's been fixed now. If you'd provided your name and email address, I'd've sent you a car.

Question If someone asks the question "did you mow the lawn?", which of the following is the correct response:

I don't know if I mowed the lawn
I don't know whether I mowed the lawn or not.
Thank you.
Source & Date
of Question San Jose, California
5 May 1997
Grammar's
Response When the dependent clause expresses an alternative, use whether. (And we don't need the or not.)
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 This question is about "like" and "as." Which of the following is correct?

He does things like his mother did.
He does things as his mother did.
"Things" in either sentence can mean anything, such as cooks, reads, watches television, etc.
Thanks!
Source & Date
of Question San Jose, California
5 May 1997
Grammar's
Response In formal speech and writing, both like and as can function as a preposition, but only as can function as a dependent word, a word that creates a dependent clause (which is what's happening in this sentence). As, then, would be preferred. If, however, you meant something like "He does things like those things his mother did," then you'd be using like as a preposition, and it would be perfectly acceptable.

Question We have a rule of thumb around here that states when using a number larger than ten use the numeric symbol and when the number is less than ten, spell it out. However, we now need to put a number at the beginning of a sentence and there is some confusion as to whether or not to spell the number or use the symbol. Some of us feel that it looks awkward to begin a sentence with numerals. Which is right?

28 people responded to the survey.
Twenty-eight people responded to the survey.
Thank you.
Source & Date
of Question Crystal City, Virginia
6 May 1997
Grammar's
Response I think it's strictly for aesthetic and typographical reasons, but the rule on this states that when you begin a sentence with a number, spell it out. The other important rule about numbers is that you represent numbers consistently within your text. This might mean that you'll have to re-word your sentence so that your number appears within the flow of the sentence instead of at the beginning. Also, you don't want to begin a sentence with something like Five thousand, three hundred and twenty people attended the basketball game. So you would write, instead, something like There were 5320 at the game.

Question How can you tell what the pronoun's antecedent is and where can you find it?
Source & Date
of Question Fort Polk, Louisiana
6 May 1997
Grammar's
Response The pronoun's antecedent is the thing or person to which or whom the pronoun is referring. Most pronouns refer to something. (We all know how annoying it is when someone tells us that "They say this or that is so. . . ." We're not satisfied until we know the antecedent of "they" (i.e., who are they, anyway). There's no one way of finding the antecedent, however. Usually, you shouldn't have to look too far (and remember that ante means before), but in any case it's the thing or person, named, that the pronoun stands for. (What's the antecedent of it in the preceding sentence?)

Question When using an acronym where the letters are said rather than trying to pronounce it as a word, (i.e. FTC pronounced ef-tee-see rather than FICA pronounced as it is spelled) do you use "an" as the article if the acronym starts with a vowel sound as in "S" (es)?
Source & Date
of Question Crystal City, Virginia
7 May 1997
Grammar's
Response The answer to this question is yes. Please understand that a true acronym is a pronouncable word, so FTC is not really an acronym; it's an abbreviation. Still, if you were saying or writing something about an FTC representative, you would use the "an" for exactly the reason you suggest: the "eff" sound. On the other hand, you would introduce us to a FICA representative. Good work.

Question When using dollar amounts in a sentence, I have always (old school) put a space between the $ and the numbers, ie, $ 100.00, $ 15.50. Is this still correct?
Lately I have seen the saluatation with a comma (i.e., Dear Mary,) rather than a colon (i..e, Dear Mary:). Is this changing?
Thanks for your assistance.
Source & Date
of Question Flagstaff, Arizona
7 May 1997
Grammar's
Response This must be a very old school, indeed, for I have never seen the space between $ and the number that follows it -- except in some tabular formats for purposes of alignment. Regarding the salutation, I believe the rule was (when I was in school, which was, indeed, the old school) and still is that in formal or business letters, use a colon after the salutation, and in more casual correspondence, use a comma.

Question I was trying to help my son diagram a simple (I thought!) sentence, but I'm stumped; what part of speach is "run" in the sentence "See Jane run."?
Thanks.
Source & Date
of Question Lilburn, Georgia
8 May 1997
Grammar's
Response When in doubt, go to someone who teaches English as a Second Language! My ESL teacher-friend has given us the right answer, I think. This is what she wrote me:
Certain verbs take infinitive or gerund objects, some take either, and some take hidden infinitives (the infinitive without the "to"). Among the latter are as in "Let me (to) call you Sweetheart," as in "She made me (to) eat tofu," "I had him (to) shave my head," and many sense verbs: "We watched the telephone pole (to) fall and heard it (to) break. Then we saw Jane (to) run out on the roof."
So what you've got here, in "run" is part of an objective complement. "Jane" is the object, and the hidden infinitive, "to run," is modifying Jane. (An infinitive form can act as an adjective, as in "This is your chance to shine.")

Question Italics -- where to put them, when to use them?
Source & Date
of Question Somewhere, North Carolina
10 May 1997
Grammar's
Response Thanks to modern word-processors, we can use italics nowadays where we used to use underlines. We can italicize the names and titles of books, magazines, plays, television programs, encyclopedias, ships -- all kinds of things; we can italicize words that we want to stand out because we are using them in some special or peculiar way; and we can italicize words that we want to draw attention to because we are talking about words as words. And we can italicize foreign words. Having said all that, I point out that the operative word here is can, for authorities such as the MLA Handbook suggest that although modern word-processor make creating italics quite easy, sometimes those italics are not adequately discernible from regular type, and underlining is to be preferred. In academic discourse, then, it might be wise to use underlines when in doubt or at least to confer with one's instructor on the matter. One further point: don't mix italics and underlines in the same body of text.

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Question	Consider these three sentences: I ate the jelly beans that were white. I ate the jelly beans which were white. I ate the jelly beans, which were white. I know that the third sentence has a different meaning from the first two, but for the first two sentences, which is correct--"that" or "which"?
Source & Date of Question	Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania 4 May 1997
Grammar's Response	The answer to this question depends on how formal your writing is going to be. Most sticklers for proper form, like Bill Walsh and other good copy editors, will argue that which should be used for parenthetical elements (stuff you can remove from your sentence without changing its essential meaning) and, therefore, you'd have a comma with it. Some good writers, however, will say that the distinction between that and which is weakening and either of those first two sentences will be correct. The distinction still feels worth remembering to me. I say go with Walsh.

Question	We have a rule of thumb around here that states when using a number larger than ten use the numeric symbol and when the number is less than ten, spell it out. However, we now need to put a number at the beginning of a sentence and there is some confusion as to whether or not to spell the number or use the symbol. Some of us feel that it looks awkward to begin a sentence with numerals. Which is right? 28 people responded to the survey. Twenty-eight people responded to the survey. Thank you.
Source & Date of Question	Crystal City, Virginia 6 May 1997
Grammar's Response	I think it's strictly for aesthetic and typographical reasons, but the rule on this states that when you begin a sentence with a number, spell it out. The other important rule about numbers is that you represent numbers consistently within your text. This might mean that you'll have to re-word your sentence so that your number appears within the flow of the sentence instead of at the beginning. Also, you don't want to begin a sentence with something like Five thousand, three hundred and twenty people attended the basketball game. So you would write, instead, something like There were 5320 at the game.

Question	I was trying to help my son diagram a simple (I thought!) sentence, but I'm stumped; what part of speach is "run" in the sentence "See Jane run."? Thanks.
Source & Date of Question	Lilburn, Georgia 8 May 1997
Grammar's Response	When in doubt, go to someone who teaches English as a Second Language! My ESL teacher-friend has given us the right answer, I think. This is what she wrote me: Certain verbs take infinitive or gerund objects, some take either, and some take hidden infinitives (the infinitive without the "to"). Among the latter are as in "Let me (to) call you Sweetheart," as in "She made me (to) eat tofu," "I had him (to) shave my head," and many sense verbs: "We watched the telephone pole (to) fall and heard it (to) break. Then we saw Jane (to) run out on the roof." So what you've got here, in "run" is part of an objective complement. "Jane" is the object, and the hidden infinitive, "to run," is modifying Jane. (An infinitive form can act as an adjective, as in "This is your chance to shine.")

Question	How can you tell what the pronoun's antecedent is and where can you find it?
Source & Date of Question	Fort Polk, Louisiana 6 May 1997
Grammar's Response	The pronoun's antecedent is the thing or person to which or whom the pronoun is referring. Most pronouns refer to something. (We all know how annoying it is when someone tells us that "They say this or that is so. . . ." We're not satisfied until we know the antecedent of "they" (i.e., who are they, anyway). There's no one way of finding the antecedent, however. Usually, you shouldn't have to look too far (and remember that ante means before), but in any case it's the thing or person, named, that the pronoun stands for. (What's the antecedent of it in the preceding sentence?)

Question	When using an acronym where the letters are said rather than trying to pronounce it as a word, (i.e. FTC pronounced ef-tee-see rather than FICA pronounced as it is spelled) do you use "an" as the article if the acronym starts with a vowel sound as in "S" (es)?
Source & Date of Question	Crystal City, Virginia 7 May 1997
Grammar's Response	The answer to this question is yes. Please understand that a true acronym is a pronouncable word, so FTC is not really an acronym; it's an abbreviation. Still, if you were saying or writing something about an FTC representative, you would use the "an" for exactly the reason you suggest: the "eff" sound. On the other hand, you would introduce us to a FICA representative. Good work.

Question	Italics -- where to put them, when to use them?
Source & Date of Question	Somewhere, North Carolina 10 May 1997
Grammar's Response	Thanks to modern word-processors, we can use italics nowadays where we used to use underlines. We can italicize the names and titles of books, magazines, plays, television programs, encyclopedias, ships -- all kinds of things; we can italicize words that we want to stand out because we are using them in some special or peculiar way; and we can italicize words that we want to draw attention to because we are talking about words as words. And we can italicize foreign words. Having said all that, I point out that the operative word here is can, for authorities such as the MLA Handbook suggest that although modern word-processor make creating italics quite easy, sometimes those italics are not adequately discernible from regular type, and underlining is to be preferred. In academic discourse, then, it might be wise to use underlines when in doubt or at least to confer with one's instructor on the matter. One further point: don't mix italics and underlines in the same body of text.