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The Grammar Logs # 232 |
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| QUESTION |
| What is a noun absolute and please provide an example? Thank you. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Indiana, Pennsylvania  Thu, Oct 15, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
A noun absolute or nominative absolute is a structure that stands independent of the rest of the sentence. It's usually a noun phrase that contains a modifer that comes after the noun (usually a participle):
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| QUESTION |
Please tell me which is the correct word in the following:
How does that (effect or affect) our commitments?Thanks. Your help will be sincerely appreciated. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Pottstown, Pennsylvania Thu, Oct 15, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Those are both good uses of the verb affect. See the notorious confusables item on these words. |
| QUESTION |
| Hello, Which is correct?
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Houston, Texas Thu, Oct 15, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Generally, it won't make any difference: none can be either singular or plural. In this sentence, however, that none seems to suggest not one of us, so I would go with the singular is. (I'm not sure what the sentence actually means, but that's OK.) |
| QUESTION |
| What's a body to do? The example below is from your online guide: In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, the narrator is one of the few truly successful characters in terms of moral development. However, she is also seriously flawed in some ways."Reading (http://www.cc.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/strunk/strunk3.html) Strunk & White, however, I found the following use of the word however at the beginning of a sentence is a no-no. The following examples were given: "However. In the meaning nevertheless, not to come first in its sentence or clause." Wrong... "The roads were almost impassable. However, we at last succeeded in reaching camp."Right... "The roads were almost impassable. At last, however, we succeeded in reaching camp."When however comes first, it means in whatever way or to whatever extent. Examples... However you advise him, he will probably do as he thinks best. However discouraging the prospect, he never lost heart.Thank you! |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Houston, Texas Thu, Oct 15, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
Well, I dearly love The Elements of Style. I couldn't have gotten through college without it, and you are welcome to take Strunk's dictum as gospel if you wish. I've changed my mind on that one, however, and tend to go along with the New York Public Library's Writer's Guide to Style and Usage (which sides with Theodore Brernstein's The Careful Writer on this matter): The placement of however depends on which ideas are being contrasted; there is no hard and fast rule in grammar that prohibits placing however at the beginning of a sentence. The same goes for and and but, by the way. Preceded by a semicolon, the word however frequently appears at the beginning of an independent clause in a compound sentence. If it can appear at the beginning of an independent clause internally, it should be able to appear at the beginning of a sentence, period. If you choose to side with Strunk and White, however, you're siding with the angels, as far as I'm concerned. Authority: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994. Cited with permission. p. 196.
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| QUESTION |
I have two questions as follow:
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Unknown Fri, Oct 16, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
We use myself as an intensive or reflexive pronoun:
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| QUESTION |
The specific sentence I am stuck on is:
I wish the election was/were tomorrow.I suspect the correct form is "were" A subjunctive. Have I become so accustomed to, "I wish it was tomorrow," that that sounds correct? While I have you, when does one use forward vs forwards. Likewise with toward and towards. Thank you. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| San Diego, California Fri, Oct 16, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Perhaps you've become accustomed to "I wish it was tomorrow," but the subjunctive were really should be used in that sentence. Forwards is a variant spelling of the adverb (not the adjective) forward. (e.g., We moved forward/forwards in the forward [not forwards] compartment.) Towards is a variant spelling of toward. Use whichever sounds better to you, but be consistent. |
| QUESTION |
Is there anything wrong with this sentence?
What does the word afraid means, it means,"to fear something." |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Rex, Georgia Fri, Oct 16, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
The word afraid ought to be underlined or italicized (word as word), and the verb that goes with it should be mean, not means. Then, of course, we want to end the first sentence with a question mark. The comma after "means" in the second clause is not only unnecessary; it's wrong. We could write it this way:
What does the word afraid mean? It means "to fear something."(And it's probably not a good idea to define an adjective with a verb form.) |
| QUESTION |
| I would like to know about "must to","have to" and "need to". When do the Americans choose to use them in everyday speech? How can I use them gramatically correct? Thanks |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Unknown Fri, Oct 16, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| There is no infinitive form with "must": I must get some sleep. The "have to" construction suggests a bit more urgency than the "must," I suppose, although that would depend on the stress put on the word must. The "need to" suggests the necessity of the action more than the urgency of it, but a statement such as "I need to get some sleep" is not without a sense of urgency, depending on context. I guess all of this is to say that there is not a great difference among these these three expressions. |
| QUESTION |
| When asking a question about two people, which do you use - is or are? For example, "Is/are John and Joan at home? Which is correct? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Chicago, Illinois Fri, Oct 16, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Are. You have a compound subject there and need a plural verb. |
| QUESTION |
| I am a volunteer weekend ESL instructor. I am currently teaching the present participal; I work with ESL grammar books. However, I am having problems explaining why the book uses the verb TO DO when negating and TO BE when expressing
some affirmative action. For example, I AM watching TV, but my parents DON'T watch it vs. I AM watching TV, but my parents AREN'T watching it. I am confused because the homework sheet uses the TO DO form while I used the TO BE form. Thanks. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Unknown Fri, Oct 16, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| When we say that my parents "don't watch TV" that means that they never (or seldom) watch television. In the second version of your sentence -- "I am watching TV, but my parents aren't watching it." -- that simply means that your parents are doing something else at the time. The "don't watch" is a much more definite statement, then, that means that you'll probably never catch them watching the television. |
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