The
Grammar
Logs
# 273

QUESTION
While the following sentence may be a bit awkward, is it grammatically correct?
"It was as if he were there, but not really."
A friend insists I should substitute 'was' for 'were'... your thoughts?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Arlington, Texas Wed, Dec 23, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I'm a bit perplexed by the logic of it, but the grammar is fine. The "were" represents a perfectly acceptable (and preferred) use of the subjunctive mood.

QUESTION
I've read that a comma should not separate a subject from its verb. I've also read that a comma should set off a state from its city, the year (in a date), and several other conventional uses. I'm confused when two situations occur at once. Examples follow:
  • "Houston, Texas, is a great city" or "Houston, Texas is a great city"?
  • "December 25, 1998, will be the best Christmas ever" or "December 25, 1998 will be the best Christmas ever"?
  • "ABC, Inc., is a profitable company" or "ABC, Inc. is a profitable company"?
  • "Sally Brown, Ph.D., is the guest speaker" or "Sally Brown, Ph.D. is the guest speaker"?
Please assist. Thank you!
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Houston, Texas Wed, Dec 23, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
What you may have read is that you shouldn't have only one comma between a subject and its verb. The state, the year, the "Inc.," and the "Ph.D" are parenthetical elements coming between the subject and its verb in each case and will require a pair of commas (as you point out in your options). I imagine there are situations where you'll end up with only one comma between a subject and its verb, but they will be rare and these examples aren't among them.

QUESTION
Must an absolute phrase always have a subject?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Las Vegas, Nevada Wed, Dec 23, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Almost always, an absolute phrase will have a subject accompanied by a present or past participle: "The season finished at last, the players succumbed to fatigue." But there are commonly accepted structures in which there is no subject: "Putting it mildly," "roughly speaking," "to say the least," etc. These are absolute phrases -- rather formulaic in nature -- in that they modify the entire clause which is to follow (or which precedes them).

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


QUESTION
Consider the following:
  • P. Smith, Jr. the younger of two
  • P. Smith, III the third in the line
  • P. Smith, P.Eng. a professional engineer
  • P. Smith, MP a Member of Parliament
  • P. Smith, VC awarded the Victoria Cross
What is the word that describes "Jr.", "III", "P.Eng.", etc. in those examples? I'm looking for a word that completes the sequence:
Title, Given Name, Initial, Surname, X
and not for a word like "contraction" or "abbreviation".

Thanks! And compliments of the season. (At this time of the year, I guess rum and eggnog are the 'complements' of the season.)

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Toronto, Ontario, Canada Wed, Dec 23, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I can't find a word that fills the bill. My reference books call these things abbreviations (or something like "abbreviations that follow a name" -- handy, huh?). I think you're on your own here. What about nominal suffix? [E-Mail Icon] I'll leave an e-mail icon here in case someone knows.

QUESTION
Please help me state this sentence correctly:
Have you ever wished you could afford a personal trainer? Someone who would guide and motivate you. Someone with the knowledge and skill to help you achieve your fitness goals.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Lompoc, California Sat, Dec 26, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
You can write this as a serial sentence, putting a question mark where you would put commas if these were clauses:
Have you ever wished you could afford a personal trainer? someone who would guide and motivate you? someone with the knowledge and skill to help you achieve your fitness goals?
QUESTION
Hello!
I would so much appreciate an answer on this question. Is it right to write:
I'll take this one and he takes that one.
Or shall it be like:
I'll take this one and he take that one.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Somewhere, Sweden Sat, Dec 26, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
In a sense, the "will" of "I'll" carries over to the "he [will] take." (The "he takes" is inappropriate because it mixes the future of "I'll take" and the present of "he takes.")

QUESTION
Are Mr. Greene and Miss Gao _______teachers? Yes,they________.
  • A.all; all are
  • B.both; both are
  • C.all; are all
  • D.both; are both
Please tell me. Which is right? why?
thanks very much!
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Beijing, China Sat, Dec 26, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
The answer is "B." Quirk calls "both" (in this context) a segregatory marker, meaning (in this sentence) that the two people in question are teachers but they are teachers separately. I don't know what else to say; it's how "both" works.

Authority: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. Used with permission. p. 274.
QUESTION
Please explain the tenses of the following sentence, especially the end portion (didn't happen today):
An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.
Thanks a lot!
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Hong Kong Sat, Dec 26, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I assume you're having trouble understanding how we use the past "didn't happen" with the word "today," which would seem to demand the present tense? We frequently use the past when we talk about what happened today. In the evening news, for instance, the report is filled with the past tense for what went on that day. That's a very clever saying, by the way.

QUESTION
Is it correct to say "He paid good for the time." or must one say "He paid well." In Webster's New Encyclopedic Dictionary I have read that good can also used as adverb.

Thank you

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Somewhere, Austria Sat, Dec 26, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
In that context, it sort of makes sense. He didn't really pay well (which would mean that he did a good job of paying); he paid good, which means that he paid a good salary. Be very careful of this construction, though; it's going to be rare. The online Merriam-Webster's puts it this way: "Adverbial good is primarily a spoken form; in writing it occurs in reported and fictional speech and in generally familiar or informal contexts."

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


QUESTION
Do you use the word 'duo' with a singular or plural noun? For example, would one say:
  • The duo hit the ____
  • or The duo hits the ____
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
North Smithfield, Rhode Island Sat, Dec 26, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Like most collective nouns, duo can take either a singular or plural noun depending on whether we're regarding the entity as one unit, doing one thing, or as a collection of (two, here) individuals acting separately. Here, I imagine we're regarding their talents separately and we would use the plural "hit."

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