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# 263

QUESTION
My textbook says:
(1) What would you recommend a ten-year-old boy?

My dictionary says: (2) They recommended the book to the boy.

Is it correct to say What would you recommend to a ten-year-old boy?

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Yokohama, Japan Wed, Dec 2, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
It's not only correct, I would prefer it to what the textbook says is correct. Your rewrite is an improvement. You could also write "What would you recommend for a ten-year-old boy?" but that would mean that the boy is not present and someone is recommending something (a book, say) for a boy to someone else (his parents, say). I hope this last sentence doesn't confuse you further.

QUESTION
What is the difference between 1 and 2 ?
  1. The boy who repaired my car is good at his job.
  2. Mary, whom you met in my house yesterday, is my best friend.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Hong Kong Wed, Dec 2, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
In the first sentence "who" is the subject of the adjective clause "who repaired my car." In the second sentence, we need the object form, "whom," because we need to the object of "you met." See our section on who-whom choices and take the relevant quizzes.

QUESTION
Is the sentence: "Either he or they is here." correct?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
East Lansing, Michigan Wed, Dec 2, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
No. When two subjects are connected with the correlative conjunctions either-or and neither-nor, the subject closer to the verb ("they," in this case) will determine the number of the verb. In this case, then, we need a plural verb, "are." If you switched positions of "he" and "they," you would use "is": "Either they or he is here." (which sounds really awful, doesn't it?).

QUESTION
Hello,

Can I use the prefix re- in front of any verb I like, e.g. measure, so I get the word re-measure?

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Arhus, Denmark Wed, Dec 2, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Most of the time you don't need a hyphen, but you want to consult a good dictionary to be sure. If you can't find a re-_____ in your dictionary, that might mean that it isn't appropriate or it hasn't been done before and then, I suppose, you can get away with adding a re- to your verb. I wouldn't get in the habit of it, though. Check out all the re words (no hyphen) in the online Webster's, for example (where you will find remeasure).

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


QUESTION
The following sentence seems at least awkward, and possibly grammatically incorrect. However, I can't quite put my finger on the precise problem. Can you help me? I'm advising a student and want to be as clear as possible.
By cutting classes in order to enjoy a more extended Spring Break, they missed work and thus lost out in the end.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Muncie, Indiana Thu, Dec 3, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I don't know whether it's a matter of cramming too much information into the sentence or what, but it is rather clumsy. I wonder if getting the subject closer to the beginning of the sentence wouldn't help:
They tried to extend their spring break by cutting classes, but ended up losing out in the end when they missed important classwork.
(You might make that "work" more specific; otherwise, it's not terribly convincing to us lazy people.)

QUESTION
I'd like to know about the word order.
  1. You are old enough to stand on your own feet.
    You are enough old to stand on your own feet.

  2. He looks older than he really is.
    He looks older than he is really.
Are the above sentences gramatically correct? If so, they each have same meaning? If not, could you explain to me what is wrong?

Thank you

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Hyogo, Japan Thu, Dec 3, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
When the word enough is used as an adverb (here modifying "old"), it takes a post-modifying position (comes after the word it modifies). Is that flag high enough? Is she tall enough to play basketball? In #2, we would use "really is." I suppose if you set off the the "really" with a comma, in order to emphasize the word, it would be possible to write "He looks older than he is, really." but that changes the meaning. You want the adverb before the verb in that sentence.

QUESTION
I'm editing a technical document. In this document is a sentence that includes a series of possible selections from a menu. Each selection, a question, is followed by a comma. This, I believe, is correct. For example:
You may answer NO to all of the prompts, including "Selecting a new option?", "Return to previous screen?", "Condense the record?", etc.
What I'm unsure about is how to end this sentence. As it's written now, the last item ends with the question mark and the quotation marks. In other words, like this:
You may answer NO to all of the prompts, including "Selecting a new option?", Return to previous screen?", Condense the record?", "Rebuild main pages?"
Should there be a period after that last item? I don't think so, but on the other hand this entire sentence is a statement, not a question. What do you think?

Thanks very much for your help.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Portland, Oregon Thu, Dec 3, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
You're going to have to decide, first of all, if the quotation marks are necessary -- and if they are, you'll have to use them consistently to begin and end each prompt. You can avoid the problem of the end mark by using a colon before the list -- including the following: "Selecting. . . . " In either case, though, the question mark at the end of the last prompt will suffice to end the statement.

Authority: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994. p. 277. Cited with permission.


QUESTION
A friend of mine often says stuff like "Jason likes tea, so doesn't Mary." Is this correct?

I would say, "Jason likes tea, so DOES Mary"... Which is correct?

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Rochester, New York Thu, Dec 3, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
You'll have to stop your friend from saying things like that. Your version is a big improvement, but if you were writing it, you would want a semicolon or a period after "tea."

QUESTION
In English, we have to write as paradox the following phrase:
There are three twos in the English language -- to, too, and two.
How would I write this?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Marlboro, Massachusetts Thu, Dec 3, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
It's a paradox all right. In fact, it's quite impossible to write (although it's easy to say, and I guess that's the paradox). I think you'd have to write something like "There are three words that sound like too in the English language: to, too, and two.

QUESTION
Which one is correct:
  • "I'll leave Hong Kong for Japan."
    or
  • "I'll leave from Hong Kong for Japan."
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Hong Kong Thu, Dec 3, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
They're both correct. The second one we would use if we were describing an airplane itinerary, say. The first one we would be more apt to use if were were leaving Hong Kong, permanently, to go live in Japan.

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