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The Grammar Logs # 204 |
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| QUESTION |
| HI MY NAME IS SAVANNAH AND I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT WRITING ESSAYS. COULD YOU PLEASE HELP ME. THANK-YOU |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Unknown  Mon, Sep 14, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Yes. Never write anything except telegrams in ALL CAPS. Other than that, you can consult the section of our guide called Principles of Composition where you will find much advice, sample essays, etc. |
| QUESTION |
Humanities Telecourse Professor requests the following of me...
Paper should be 1000+ words,(double spaced) and include bibliography and Standard Modern Language Form.What is Standard Modern Language Form? I can not find any reference in my English books, Creative Writing books, or by doing a search on the Internet. First paper due September 23. Thank you |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Orange Park, Florida Mon, Sep 14, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
Sorry, but I've never heard of "standard modern language form." Do you you might have misunderstood and he or she meant "Modern Language Association format"? If so, consult our mla-style Guide to Writing Research Papers. If not, I'm afraid I can't help you. ![[E-Mail Icon]](../gif/email.gif){kind=small} I will leave an e-mail icon here just in case someone else has heard of this.
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| QUESTION |
| When should nicknames be capitalized? For example, if I write to my girlfriend and call her "sweetheart," should sweetheart be capitalized? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mon, Sep 14, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| When the nickname is actually used in place of the person's name, you'll want to capitalize it: "Please, Sweetheart, write back to me." But if it's used in other ways, you won't: "Please be my sweetheart." -- Unless she says she wants it always capitalized, and then you will always capitalize it, regardless of what anyone else says. |
| QUESTION |
| When do you use "less" in a sentence and when do you use "fewer"? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Charlotte, North Carolina Mon, Sep 14, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| We've addressed this before. Use "less" in situations in which you're talking about things not countable; "fewer" in situations in which you're talking about things countable. |
| QUESTION |
Either one of the following people at XYZ can be contacted. Which one is correct?
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Fairfield, Connecticut Tue, Sep 15, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I would go with the second one. The first could mean that you're not sure which one is the contact person; the third one has a problem with a plural subject ("people") being linked to a singular predicate ("Mary or John"). Number "a" is fixable: "You can contact either John or Mary at XYZ." |
| QUESTION |
| My question is below: I learned that the past tense of had better is 'had better have + past participle'. Did I learn it correctly? If correct, can I say 'I had better have let him go'? Thank you |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Hyogo, Japan Tue, Sep 15, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Yes, you've learned it correctly. And now that you've learned it, I want you to forget it, because that "had better" construction is a clumsy substitute for "should" or "ought to": "I should have let him go." or "I ought to have let him go." |
| QUESTION |
Which is correct?
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Baltimore, Maryland Tue, Sep 15, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| When used in this context, the word savings is plural, so "the additional savings are. . . ." |
| QUESTION |
| I am confused about the usage of toward and towards... For example, As seen in the previous chapter, Mike and Sue are currently saving towards the purchase of a cottage when they retire. Is this correct? I don't think it is. Help! |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Tue, Sep 15, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The preference of toward or towards is strictly an "ear thing." Use whichever sounds better to you -- but I would recommend consistency within a document. |
| QUESTION |
| I need to write a paper in third person. Can you please explain to me how to go about doing this. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Unknown Tue, Sep 15, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I think your instructor wants you not to use the first-person in your paper (i.e., don't refer to what I think, how I read things). What this means is that you'll be referring to what the reader thinks or feels and what is suggested to the reader, the audience (all third person). It's really not hard once you get into the swing of things; it also provides for a nice tone of objectivity. Frankly, I prefer for students to take ownership of their opinions and feelings and use the first-person, but the third-person essay has a great tradition and a fine sense of authority about it. |
| QUESTION |
| How many spaces should follow a colon, one or two? Where is the reference for this rule? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Middletown, Pennsylvania Tue, Sep 15, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| When you're using proportional spacing (which is the case in virtually all word processing, unless you're purposely using a monospace font such as Courier), use only one space after a colon. I think that most reference books just take this for granted nowadays, but you can still find the rule in the APA's Publication Manual. Authority: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Assocation American Psychological Association. 4th ed. American Psychological Association: New York. 1994. p. 244.
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