| QUESTION |
| When using the abbreviation for "incorporated"--Inc.--in a technical report, is it always followed by a comma? As an example: "Whirligigs, Inc. produced three million units."
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Seattle, Washington  Wed, Oct 28, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| According to the Chicago Manual of Style, the Inc. is simply dropped in straight text. Yes, the "inc." is preceded by a comma -- usually -- but there are companies that do not put a comma there, and your use of the comma ought to be consistent with company policy (if you're going to use it at all). (Rather like the comma that sometimes comes between a last name and Jr., but sometimes doesn't.)
Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993. p. 464.
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| QUESTION |
| Dear Grammar,
Here I am again.
In our business, we use something called "pre-authorized" wires. My question is: does it need a hyphen? I've been arguing against it, but have not seen a compelling argument for or against it. All our corporate literature uses the hyphen. This leads to some awkward usage, particularly when we refer to "non-pre-authorized wires." Agghh! Too many hyphens for my taste.
Thanks in advance.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| San Dimas, California Wed, Oct 28, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| That's a lot of hyphens, but what are you going to do? The hyphen in pre-authorized is necessary because the word is initially difficult to recognize without the hyphen (with all those vowels stacking up there). (Perhaps not to you, but that's just because you use it all the time.) If you didn't have the vowels beginning "authorized," you could get away without the hyphen, as in prelatency, prepubescent, premalignant; but with the vowel, as in pre-adolescent, we need the hyphen.
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| QUESTION |
| Is it true that affect is always used as a verb and effect is always used as a noun? These are very confusing, as you have noted by including them in your list of "notorious confusables." However, I'm still confused.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Franklin, Massachusetts Wed, Oct 28, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Well, it's almost true: always is a bit of stretch. We use effect as a verb in the usage "The college effected a change in its withdrawal policy." And psychologists use affect as a noun when they talk about the way the human body takes on a certain expression: "the typical affect of the juvenile delinquent." But 99% of the time, you're right: effect is a noun and affect is a verb.
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| QUESTION |
Which word _ "of" or "about"_ is correct in this sentence:
"I hate it," he said of/about the wallpaper.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Unknown Wed, Oct 28, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I'm not too keen on either; I think I'd prefer "I hate it," he said, referring to the wallpaper. Given the choice you give us, though, I think of is preferred. He doesn't really say this about the wallpaper, he says it of the wallpaper (as in "Tears in his eyes, he spoke of home.").
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| QUESTION |
I need an explanation on adverbial clauses. An example is Some geysers shoot water into the air, while others just bubble up from the ground.
I need to know what the adverbial clause is and what it modifies.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| San Francisco, California Wed, Oct 28, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| See the section on Clauses. An adverbial clause usually modifies the verb of the dependent clause, telling us when, where, why, under what conditions that verb happens or is. In your sentence, the adverbial clause (beginning with "while") is telling us under what conditions "some geysers shoot water into the air." So it's modifying the verb shoot. (It's not exactly the same thing as telling us when they shoot water into the air, but almost.)
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| QUESTION |
Which sentence is correct?
- The theme that is expressed is people need to respect others.
- The theme expresses people need to respect others.
- The theme is expressed when the dog jumps over the barn.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Taegu, Korea Wed, Oct 28, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Grammatically, the third sentence is fine, but I'm not sure it makes sense. The first sentence is a bit wordy, but it would be OK if we added "that" after the verb "is." Perhaps we could say that "The theme [of this story ?] is that people need to respect others." Since a theme is an expression (or what the piece of art expresses), it seems a bit redundant to say that a theme expresses anything.
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