The
Grammar
Logs
# 230

QUESTION
Are television programs underlined or in quotations? I seem to get different answers from different books.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Alexandria, Virginia Wed, Oct 14, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
If you're talking about the names of the shows themselves, use underlining or italics. If you're talking about the name of an episode (of a weekly drama series, say), use quotation marks.

QUESTION
I would like to know what the word is for when the tone/mood is reflected by the weather (e.g. if it is a tense scene and the atmosphere is overcast and raining) as I know there is a phrase to describe it but am going insane trying to remember what it is. Thought it was pathethetic fallacy but now know this is different.

Thank you

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
London, UK Wed, Oct 14, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
When a writer ascribes human passions to inanimate objects, that's called (in a peculiar misnomer) the pathetic fallacy -- after John Ruskin so labelled such attribution in Modern Painters (1856). Ruskin's complaint was against widespread animism in Romantic poetry, and maybe that's the word you're looking for, although I doubt it. [E-Mail Icon] I highly recommend Gideon Burton's (Brigham Young University) website Silva Rhetoricae. If you can't find the term you want there, it doesn't exist. I'll leave an e-mail icon here in case someone has a better idea.

QUESTION
What is the concept of form classes? i.e. nouns, adverbs, verbs and adjectives. My book says that each has derivational and inflectional morphemes that distinguish its forms. What does that mean in layman terms? Please give me some examples.

Thanx for your help!

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Washington, D.C. Wed, Oct 14, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
The form classes of words (and you name them accurately) contain the meaning of language; the structure classes of words (such as determiners, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, etc.) provide the grammatical relationships among words. The "inflectional morphemes" that characterize form classes are the endings that can be appended to such words: the -s and -ed and -ing endings on verbs, for instance; the -er and -est endings on adjectives; the -ly ending on adverbs, etc. (Structure words don't take such endings.) The biggest difference, though, is in terms of sheer numbers. There is no end to the form classes; new nouns and adjectives are invented daily (mostly by advertisers, physicists, and teenagers). But what's the last time you read about the discovery of a new conjunction or preposition? I highly recommend Martha Kolln's book for her lucid explanation of these terms.

Authority: Understanding English Grammar by Martha Kolln. 4rth Edition. MacMillan Publishing Company: New York. 1994. p. 262.
QUESTION
In the spelling of "afterschool" would you put a dash (-) between the "after" and "school," or just spell as if one word?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Arlington, Massachusetts Thu, Oct 15, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I think you mean a hyphen, not a dash, and yes, I would use a hyphen when I use that phrase as a modifier, as in after-school programs, after-school activities, etc. It's probably only a matter of time until the phrase becomes a single, closed word, but I don't see it in the dictionaries yet.

QUESTION
Please advise me which is the correct use of "does"
  1. Does Ana has a book?
  2. Does Ana have a book?
I think the correct answer is number two, does Ana have, but my son's English teacher insists that it is Does Ana has.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Somewhere, Paraguay Thu, Oct 15, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I think there must be some kind of misunderstanding between your son and his teacher -- or at least I hope so. It's "Does Ana have a book?" The auxiliary "does" carries the present tense "-s" ending for you; it is joined, then, by the base form of the verb, "have."

Greetings to Paraguay, 87th in the List of Countries we've heard from!


QUESTION
Which is proper to say:
  1. She was promoted in 1985 to a position as Vice President, Marketing
    OR
  2. She was promoted in 1985 to a Vice President, Marketing position.
    OR
  3. She was promoted in 1985 to Vice President of Marketing.
NOTE: If none of the above are correct, which would be the proper way to type that sentence?

Thanks

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Chicago, Illinois Thu, Oct 15, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I like the third version best because it eliminates the redundancy of "position." What if you wrote, "In 1985, she became Vice President of Marketing."? Is that really a title, by the way, or is she Vice President in charge of marketing?

QUESTION
What is wrong with the following sentence:
They will carry fully automatic weapon and flashbang grenades.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Huntsville, Alabama Thu, Oct 15, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I have no idea what "flashbang grenades" means, but I do assume you mean weapons (the plural), don't you. Other than that, I see nothing grammatically wrong.

QUESTION
What is wrong with this sentence:
Yet, what if there not fast enough you might ask.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Coppers Cove, Texas Thu, Oct 15, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I wouldn't put a comma after yet, I would change there to they're, and I would put a comma after enough.

QUESTION
Which is correct (for a headline on a conference brochure)
  • Who Will You Meet?
    or
  • Whom Will You Meet?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
East Lansing, Michigan Thu, Oct 15, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Whom will you meet? You need the object form of the pronoun in that question.

QUESTION
A foreign student asked me about the following situation. He said that an instructor had told him that any time one was writing an "if/would" clause with a past tense verb, that it is not necessary to use the participial form of the verb. For example, in the sentence:
If I played yesterday, we would have won the game.
I say that it should be: If I had played, we would have won.

The confusion is that he wants a definitive rule regarding the use or non use of "had" with the first condition. I have looked in several texts. I can find the rules for conditionals and the rules for two actions in the past. I have not found this specific circumstance in my texts. Can you help me?

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Panama City, Florida Thu, Oct 15, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
See our section on Conditional Verb Forms. To create the conditional we take one step backward in time. Since the situation is already in the past ("yesterday"), we step further backward by using the past perfect tense, "had played."

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