The
Grammar
Logs
# 206

QUESTION
Which is correct:
....to stop the wolf from eating the sheep...or to stop the wolf eating the sheep....
Please give the sentence pattern.

Thanks a bunch!

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Thu, Sep 17, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
One pattern (the first) uses a prepositional phrase to modify the infinitive "to stop," and this is the most common. The second pattern uses a participial phrase, "eating the sheep," to modify the noun "wolf." In the second, the language suggests the wolf is already eating the sheep and you're trying to stop it from doing so. In the first, the language suggests you're doing your best to stop the wolf from getting to the sheep where it will do its awful deed.

QUESTION
Do you use a comma between the county and state, such as in the sentence: We went to visit a park in Clark County Nevada.

Thanks.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Las Vegas, Nevada Thu, Sep 17, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Yes, we use a comma to separate political entities: Clark County, Nevada.

Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993. p. 176.
QUESTION
The verbal and the subject in the following sentence need correcting.
"Looking at several search engines, they seem to be complicated to use."
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Morgantown, West Virginia Thu, Sep 17, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Is that a question? You're right, something's amiss. We have what's called a Dangling Modifier. The participial phrase "looking at several search engines" cannot modify "they" (the search engines themselves). It has to modify us, or whoever is looking at the search engines. We need something like
Looking at several search engines, we found them to be very complicated.
QUESTION
Should commas be used in a sentence with a multiple list of bullet points between each bullet point? EXAMPLE: Mary had a choice of going:
  • to work,
  • to the bank,
  • running errands, or
  • sleeping in late today.
Is the above correct use of commas or is the following: Mary had a choice of going:
  • to work
  • to the bank
  • running errands, or
  • sleeping in late today.
This is for a manual with bulleted sentences.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Justice, Illinois Thu, Sep 17, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
The NYPL Writer's Guide recommends using a dash at the end of the introductory statement, and then not using any punctuation at the end of each bulleted item (but capitalizing the first word of each item). That guide would also approve of the use of the comma at the end of each item. The fact is that this is a typographical matter and whatever way you choose is probably acceptable as long as you're consistent.

Authority: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994. Cited with permission. p. 318.
QUESTION
WHICH SENTENCE IS CORRECT?
  • I want to update you on John Smith, who I saw for an examination yesterday.
  • I want to update you on John Smith, whom I saw for an examination yesterday.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Westport, Connecticut Thu, Sep 17, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
You want "whom" in that sentence; it's the object of "I saw."

QUESTION
Could you please tell me which is correct?
  • small-to-medium size companies
    or
  • small-to-medium sized companies
thank you!
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Lexington, Massachusetts Thu, Sep 17, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
The participle "sized" is appropriate in that construction.

Authority for this note: WWWebster Dictionary, the World Wide Web edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, Tenth Edition. Used with permission.


QUESTION
I understand that one should not split an infinitive. One example of a split infinitive would be: "Their mission was to boldly go where no man has gone before." (sound familiar?) The infinitive, of course, is "to go" and "boldly" was used to split it.

Infinitives, however, do not always use the word "to." An example would be "everyone saw him leave." In this case, "leave" is an infinitive. My question(s): Can the latter type of infinitive be split? How would I recognize such a split? How would such a split be corrected?

Another type of infinitive without "to" is: "The fans would like to have seen some improvements this year." (your own example). Again, can this type of infinitive be split? How would I recognize such a split? How would such a split be corrected?

Any other information you can give me on "split infinitives" would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you very much!

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Augusta, Maine Thu, Sep 17, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
See our note on the split infinitive. Nowadays it is not regarded as a terribly important rule -- in fact, many writers about language wonder how it came to be regarded as a rule at all. Be that as it may, the split infinitive can, in fact, be a clumsy construction and sometimes it's worth paying attention to. The infinitive of causative verbs that you mention cannot be split because there is no "to"; any modifiers to that infinitive will probably end up coming after the infinitive: "everyone saw him leave on his bike" although "everyone say him quietly leave" is possible. Splitting a perfect infinitive "to have won," for example, would not be a good idea: "I would like to have finished quickly" would be better than "I would like to have quickly finished."

QUESTION
My daughter is studing prepositional phrases. Somehow I think there are 40 propositions that are used most often. Is there somewhere I can get a list of these Prepositions? Thank you for your help.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Great Falls, Montana Thu, Sep 17, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
There is a considerable section now on Prepositions, which includes a hyperlink to a list of about fifty prepositions. I imagine every text has a different list of the basic prepositions, but this contains most of the most often used prepositions.

QUESTION
Here are two sentences:
  • Paris is one of the places where I'd like to live.
  • Paris is one of the places which I'd like to visit.
I think both sentences are correct, but each sentence has a different relative (where and which). Why? In the second sentence, can I say 'Paris is one of the places where I'd like to visit'?

What is the proper usage of the words 'where' and 'which'?

Thank you very much in advance.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Hyogo, Japan Thu, Sep 17, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
You can avoid this question by not using either: "Paris is one of the places I'd like to visit." (or just "Paris is one place I'd like to visit." Or, best of all, "I'd love to visit Paris.") But if you must choose between them, I think you want "which." The use of "where" suggests that there is someone within the boundaries of Paris with whom you would like to visit (associate socially).

Sorry, but I didn't read this question very carefully. With the verb "live," where seems to be appropriate. Again, though, you'd be much better off writing, "I'd love to live in Paris." or even ending in a preposition: "Paris is one of those cities I'd love to live in." ("in which I'd love to live"? -- naah!)


QUESTION
I need help with hyphenation.

I'm a member of an organization called "Team Fun Glutton" -- we are the Fun Gluttons. We started a project and named it the "Fun Glutton Mountain Retreat".

My question is this: Is there supposed to be a hyphen in our project title between the words "Fun" and "Glutton" (e.g. Fun-Glutton Mountain Retreat)? Does "Fun Glutton" become a compound modifier and if so, do I have to hyphenate? Thanks.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Denver, Colorado Sat, Sep 19, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
If you don't put a hyphen between "fun" and "glutton," people are going to think there is a place called "Glutton Mountain" (which actually sounds like a good name for a resort, come to think of it).

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