The
Grammar
Logs
# 272

QUESTION
Hi, I am an English teacher to primary school children in Sarajevo. Besides the regluar classes, I have a group of advanced children, for whom i give additional classes after school hours. I have promised to them that, after the holidays, we will work more on present participle. Would you happen to know where I can find some useful guidebook on use and all the functions of present participle in English?

So, question is: What are the functions of present participle?

Best wishes for the forthcoming holidays!

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina Mon, Dec 21, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Do you have some ESL textbooks that you can refer to. I would imagine you'll find some exercises on the present participle. You might ask the same question at Dave's ESL Cafe (online). It's not all that complicated, I don't think. It's used either as part of a verb string: "We are going to the movies with Dad." or as a modifying participle: "The yelping dog ran up to the fire hydrant." As a participle, it's not always immediately before the thing it modifies; in fact, it can be part of an extended modifying phrase: "Wondering whatever happened to my brother's gift, I ended up buying him another tie for Christmas."

Best wishes to you in Bosnia-Herzegovina (our 96th country in our list of countries heard from!


QUESTION
Hello.

Would you take a look at the following?

1. It really makes sense to recycle in Hofheim as the city charges for garbage disposal, so the more recycled, the less paid in garbage disposal fees.
I'm not sure about the sentence structure of the less paid in garbage disposal fees. Can I rewrite it as follows?
2. the less money is paid in garbage disposal fees
If not, would you let me know the correct structure of that part?

I'd greatly appreciate your help. Thanks in advance.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Sapporo, Japan Mon, Dec 21, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
No, you don't want to do that. "The more recycled, the less paid" is a very nice parallel structure. "The more" followed immediately by a past participle and then "the less" followed immediately by a past participle. Keep it the way it is.

QUESTION
Why we can't say, "It cost us only half an hour to get there." ?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Hong Kong Mon, Dec 21, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
The normal phrasing is "It took us only half an hour to get there." The phrase "It cost us" is certainly possible, however. It would be a complaint, though, that something took you that long, that it took such a big part of your day, so it wouldn't make a lot of sense to say that it cost you only half an hour, would it?

QUESTION
What's the difference between these two sentences?
  • Why isn't Smith here today?
  • Why is Smith not here today?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Huhhot, Inner Mongolia, P.R. China Mon, Dec 21, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Not much. The "Why is Smith not here today?" is a bit more formal (and elegant), but they mean the same. (Note the spelling of "isn't," by the way.)

QUESTION
I would ask you if the follwing sentences are correct.
  1. If it were fine tommorow, we would go for a drive.
  2. If it were to be fine tommorow, we would go for a drive.
According to a book, #1 is semantically incorrect. But I think both of them are fine and don't understand why #1 is incorrect.If it is not correct, could you explain the reason of it? Thanks in advance
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Hyogo, Japan Mon, Dec 21, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
In speech and informal writing, #1 is acceptable. In more formal usage, however, you would want an infinitive ("to be") to accompany the subjunctive "were" in this construction. "If we were to go for a drive tomorrow, Grandma would be happy."

[E-Mail Icon]I would be glad for a better explanation for this one, so I will leave an e-mail icon here in case someone has a better idea.


QUESTION
Is a comma needed in the following sentence after the word book?
"Now that you have this recipe book, I expect you to make me at least one batch of cookies every week for the next 80 years."
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Slinger, Wisconsin Mon, Dec 21, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Yes. That's a pretty substantial introductory, adverbial clause there, and it ought to be set off with a comma.

QUESTION
Please comment on the increasingly common substitution of the reflexive pronoun (i.e., "myself") for the object (is that what it's called?) pronoun (i.e., "me").

For example:

  • Present at the meeting were John Doe, Jane Smith and myself.
  • She assigned David Jones, Al Horowitz, Margaret Souder and myself the task of overseeing this effort.
Are these acceptable usages? Thank you.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
San Francisco, California Tue, Dec 22, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
The inverted first sentence presents difficulties. The pronoun has to be in the nominative because the subject comes after the verb, so wouldn't we want "John Doe, Jane Smith, and I."? In your second example, there's no reason to substitute myself for me. She assigned me the task.

I should point out, however, that Burchfield points out that "myself" is becoming more popular in constructions such as the ones you give us and that a sentence very similar to your second one is "beyond reproach." Sorry to waffle on this; I myself would go with "I" in your first sentence, "me" in the second.

Authority: The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996.


QUESTION
Help!
How do I make plural a proper noun ending in "s"? Would a Christmas greeting to the Williams family go to the Williamses or the Williams'? Thank you!
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Hamilton, New York Tue, Dec 22, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
To pluralize the Williams family name, use Williamses ("The Williamses joined us for dinner."). However, if you're talking about the house or residence that belongs to the Williamses, you need to form the plural and then the possessive: the Williamses' [house] ("We're invited to the Wiliamses' for a party.").

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


QUESTION
Something about the use of the infinitive in the following examples really bothers me, but I don't know why.
The proposal maximizes use of Bull Run water to meet the majority of water supply needs between today and 2050.

Portland has based its proposal on maintaining a high degree of reliability and certainty to deliver supplies based on the analysis of peak weather events that stress its water supply system most harshly.

Why exactly does the use of the infinitive in these two sentences seem so clutsy (even nonsensical) to me? Thanks
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Portland, Oregon Tue, Dec 22, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
In your second example, I'm not sure what the infinitive phrase means. Something like "based its proposal on an ability to deliver supplies." But then it's not clear whether "based" is modifying supplies or proposal or degree. I think I know what the sentence means, but I'm only guessing.

The first sentence would benefit from putting the infinitive phrase first. "To meet the majority of water supply need between today and 2050, the proposal recommends. . . ." (But then make sure you haven't created a dangling modifier! Does the proposal actually "meet the need," or something it recommends? Also, a proposal doesn't maximize, does it? It recommends? "Majority of needs?" Most needs?) For formal and logically complex purposes, it is sometimes helpful to use the more complex prepositional construction "in order to" instead of the simple infinitive. That certainly is not always true, but it might help out in some cases ("in order to meet the needs. . . ").

I have this awful feeling that I've made things worse. When sentences are messed up this way, it's often best to blow them to smithereens and start all over again.


QUESTION
How to use the word media correctly? Under what situations would it be used as singular and as plural? In particular, should I use Internet media or Internet medium?

Thanks a lot.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Hong Kong Tue, Dec 22, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Like data (another word whose singular form, datum, has virtually disappeared), the word media is nowadays frequently used as a singular entity. Many careful writers insist that it is a Latin plural and ought to be used that way: "The media are changing their attack plan." However, more and more people are writing things like "The media has changed the emphasis of its coverage." as if media can be regarded as a singular entity, which indeed is true.

Whatever you do, don't talk about medias or mediums. I can't say whether you want to write internet media or internet medium because I don't know if you mean the many ways that the internet serves as a medium -- newsgroups, chat rooms, online news publications, etc. (and then you could say "internet media"), or are you referring to it as a single means of communication ("internet medium" -- in which case, why not just refer to it as the internet?).


Previous Grammar Log

Next Grammar Log

Index of Grammar Logs

Guide to Grammar and Writing