The
Grammar
Logs
# 257

QUESTION
All the castle was bathed by a warm sun, except a strangely crooked tower almost covered by dark clouds.

Is this sentence correct?

Is the comma necessary?

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Charlottesville, Virginia Wed, Nov 18, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I hate to make a sentence more wordy, but I don't think we can use "except" that way. I would have written "except for a strangely crooked tower that was almost covered by dark clouds." Or I might put the end focus on the sunshine: "Except for a strangely crooked tower almost covered by dark clouds, the entire castle was bathed by a warm sun." Yes, the comma is necessary.

QUESTION
Are the names of offices within a university capitalized? For example:
  • "I called the Office of Financial Aid."
    or
  • "I called the office of financial aid."
Should the name of the office be capitalized in office publications?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Cincinnati, Ohio Wed, Nov 18, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I would definitely capitalize the title of offices in publications. Whether you capitalize it in your sentence is up to you; it depends on you're thinking about it. I can work in the financial aid office or I can work in the Office of Financial Aid. Does that make sense?

Authority: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994. Cited with permission. p. 223.
QUESTION
In the following sentence, do we have a singular or plural subject and therefore, what would the subject be?
A number of my friends have already signed the petition.
I teach a developmental English class, and I told them it was a singular subject, "number," but then I said maybe it was plural. One of my students said, "But it has an "a" in front of it, indicating it is singular." So, help me please.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Fort Valley, Georgia Wed, Nov 18, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Your student has an interesting point, but "a number" followed by an "of" phrase is plural; "the number" is singular:
A number of students are in the president's office. The number of students present is increasing by the hour.
QUESTION
What is the plural form for the noun: Miss Todd? The example given in class: More than one single girl, each bearing the last name of Todd. Is it Misses Todd or Miss Todds?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Wed, Nov 18, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I don't know why, but the plural of Miss Todd is "the Miss Todds."

Authority for this note: Oxford American Dictionary: Oxford University Press, New York. 1980.


QUESTION
Subject: interrogative pronouns
Question: Is "Why" an interrogative pronoun, as in: "Why are there so many types of pronouns?"
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
West Hartford, Connecticut Wed, Nov 18, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
No, the interrogative pronouns are "which" and the various forms of "who." (A pronoun has to stand for something else: "We have two horses. Which will you ride today? or You have two instructors. Whom do you like better?")

QUESTION
Is "collective negotiations" singular or plural?
Example: ...regarding the nature of collective negotiations as it (they?) has (have?) evolved over time.
Thanks as always for your insight.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Lantana, Florida Wed, Nov 18, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Collective negotations is one process, but the phrase is often used as a plural, as in collective negotations are going on in the lobby. In the example you give us, however, I think you're talking about the process itself, in the singular.

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


QUESTION
I am a Student attending Katharine Gibbs School, a business college. In my English class I had questioned the usage of the word " Fun". The English teacher stated that it can never be used as an cdjective. Is that so?

Example sentence that was used "Dancing is fun." The Webster Dictionary states it can be used as an Adj. but when? Could someone please explain or give me an example and explain. Thank you.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Middletown, Rhode Island Thu, Nov 19, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
With all due respect, I disagree with your English instructor. We use phrases such as "It was a fun party." and "He's a fun guy to be around." all the time. In "Dancing is fun," I suppose one could argue that the word "fun" is either a predicate noun or a predicate adjective.

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


QUESTION
Why study grammar? (I'm needing to prove three main points and have examples to prove them!)

Do you have any articles about grammar? Please be specific in telling me who wrote these articles.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
West Monroe, Louisiana Thu, Nov 19, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
So you can grow up to become an English instructor! It's a good question, actually, and the debate over how much the study of grammar rules helps a student to be a better writer has been going on for a long time now. I think there is some level at which the study of grammar helps a writer to create better, clearer sentences and paragraphs. But I think one argument you might make is that the study of grammar is interesting in and for itself -- even fun. After all, when we're talking about grammar we're talking about the patterns in which our thinking finally finds expression. What could be more important?

There are probably a lot of articles on grammar online. I just read one by Diane Haugen, "Ah, But You Can Teach Grammar," that you might find useful for your class.


QUESTION
What is the term for the use of a double negative?
  • He is not untrustworthy.
  • She is not unattractive.
  • They were not unassuming.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Chicago, Illinois Thu, Nov 19, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
A double negative is something like "He doesn't do nothing for his parents." The examples you give us are not double negatives. Although "unnecessary" might be the opposite of "necessary," that doesn't necessarily make it a negative, does it? "Unbleached" is certainly not a negative. "Un-" words are simply adjectives created by taking a root word and adding a prefix. [E-Mail Icon]The constructions you mention are often used to pay faint praise: "not untrustworthy" is not exactly the same as "trustworthy." If there is a name for such constructions, however, I don't know what it is. I'll leave an e-mail icon here in case someone else does.

QUESTION
My college grammar book ("Doing Grammar" written by Max Morenberg, 1997), Max states "Many style manuals now recommend that writers replace who, whom, and which with that whenever possible." Is this true in all cases? Please explain. Also, when do you know when "that" has been omitted from a sentence? Thank you.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Erie, Pennsylvania Thu, Nov 19, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Although that can refer to people, especially when the reference is not specific ("Students that use this book are well prepared for life."), it is simply nonsense to say that we should substitute that for the other relative pronouns on some kind of wholesale basis. We use that to introduce restrictive clauses, but it would be simply wrong to use that to introduce nonrestrictive clauses (such as "The College of Wooster, which was founded in 1866, has become one of the premier liberal arts colleges in the country.").

You can say that we've omitted "that" from a sentence when you can insert a "that" (at the beginning of a modifying clause or, in this sentence, at the beginning of a noun clause) and it doesn't change the meaning of the sentence: "The examples that he gave only confused the class."

See the Notorious Confusables article (and quiz) on that-which.


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