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The Grammar Logs # 280 |
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| QUESTION |
| What, in English grammar, is a mutated plural? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Birmingham, UK  Wed, Jan 13, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| A mutated plural is a plural formed by means of something other than the normal addition of an "s": mouse -- mice, child -- children, goose -- geese, etc. Sounds rather awful, doesn't it? Authority: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. p. 88. Used with permission.
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| QUESTION |
Prepositional phrases and whether they modify verbs
or nouns. How do you determine what a prepositional
phrase is modifying. EX. The Grand Canyon was created by the current of the Colorado River."by the current" modifies what word and why? "of the Colorado River" modifies what word and why? Is there an easy "rule of thumb" to following to determine the correct word being modified? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Dublin, California Wed, Jan 13, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Try to figure out what the prepositional phrase is telling you about. "By the current" tells you how this thing "was created": it's telling you about a verb, so it's acting as an adverb. "Of the Colorado River" tells you which "current" you're talking about; it's telling you about a noun, so it must be an adjective. |
| QUESTION |
Question about verb/noun agreement. This is a recent headline in a local newspaper:
"Are the media responsible for Clinton's Troubles?"I think subject (the media) is a singular noun. Therefore, the line should read: "Is the media...."I am confused, because MS Word spell/grammar check often tries to make me change from "is" to "are" when I'm using a singular noun. Have I been doing it wrong all these years, or is MS Grammar check looking at the wrong word to determine singular versus plural? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Unknown Wed, Jan 13, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Technically, the newspaper is correct: "media" is a plural word, meaning more than one "medium" or means of communication. Like the word data (whose singular form is virtually lost), however, the media are often regarded collectively and the word is used with a singular verb (as you would have it). When in doubt, use a plural verb (the media are); it will also be correct. |
| QUESTION |
| What are the correct prepositions to use with the verb assist (both present and past tense forms of assist)? For example, should I use "in", "with", or neither in the following sentences?
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| New York, New York Wed, Jan 13, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| "Assisted in" is probably the preposition of choice, and "assisted in the" is probably the construction we use most. However, "I assisted with the preparation of . . . ." seems acceptable. "I assisted with creating" seems clumsy to me. If I were you, I'd stick with "in." |
| QUESTION |
Is it correct to use "and/or" in sentences?
Here is an example (in a very long sentence...):
Position assignments of BACs and PACS in the contig were based on various informations including Genbank (BACs or PACs) record's neighboring sequence information, hits with BACs' extremity's sequence and/or hits with STS sequence (including microsatellites) and/or hits with ESTs' sequence (mapped by PCR on YAC contig) and/or hits with known gene's sequence.Many thanks! |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Paris, France Wed, Jan 13, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The options you give are going to be extremely confusing. It would be confusing enough if you listed them only with "and" or with "or," but with the "and/or" it's almost impossible (in fact, it might well be impossible) to figure out what options would be relevant. You should use "and/or" only when you've got two elements, and then only if it's absolutely necessary for legalistic reasons and neither "and" or "or" will suffice for logical reasons. Given your sentence, I would rebuild the entire construction into a vertical list, and allow the introductory clause to introduce the fact that these are various options. Incidentally, "information" is usually regarded as a singular non-count noun; it probably shouldn't be pluralized. |
| QUESTION |
| Provided something makes me happy and doesn't make me feel too crappy, I'll go along. What is the grammatical term for "provided" in the above? Is there a grammatical term for the entire first clause? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wed, Jan 13, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| That whole construction -- from "provided" to "crappy" -- is an absolute phrase. The word "provided" within that construction is a past participle. |
| QUESTION |
What is the correct comparative and superlative form of "fun"?
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Boston, Massachusetts Wed, Jan 13, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I think most writers and speakers use "more fun" and "most fun," but the "funner" and "funnest" constructions are acceptable (although I, personally, wouldn't use them in formal prose). Burchfield says that fun, as an adjective, lacks a comparative and superlative, but I think he's wrong.
Authority for this note: WWWebster Dictionary, the World Wide Web edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, Tenth Edition. Used with permission.
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| QUESTION |
| When should one use the subjective case following the word "than" and when should one use the objective case? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Miami, Florida Thu, Jan 14, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I take it you're asking why we say, "He's taller than I." as opposed to (sometimes saying) "He's taller than me." Technically, the "taller than I" is an elliptical clause: "He's taller than I [am tall]" in which the second predicate is simply omitted -- which is good practice, by the way. Some writers, however, tell us that there's no reason that the word "than" shouldn't be allowed to act like the preposition "like." (We say, "He's tall like me," right?) And they have a good point. In formal, academic prose, however, I would stick with the subject form in a comparative clause introduced by "than." |
| QUESTION |
Is it incorrect to use the following statement?
"I would like another information on that subject."It does not sound correct, but I am not sure what rule makes it incorrect. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Highland, Illinois Thu, Jan 14, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The word "another" tells us that the word following it can be regarded as a countable entity (i.e., you can have an information here and another information there), but "information" is a non-count noun. (We don't have informations.) You can have another piece of information, but not another information. |
| QUESTION |
My friend and I are debating the correct usage of the word "that".
My friend states that the following example is grammatically correct:
John said that on 01-01-99, at approximately 0000 Hrs., he was at Mark's house.I believe the following example is grammatically correct: John said on 01-01-99, at approximately 0000 Hrs., he was at Mark's house.Is the word "that" properly placed in the sentence? Why or why not? Thanks |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Tracy, California Thu, Jan 14, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| We sometimes leave the "that" out of a clause that way: "He said [that] he was hurt." Your sentence, however, is hard to read without it. Did he say what he said on the first of January or was he at Mark's house on the first of January? Without the initial "that," we can't immediately tell. For the purposes of clarity and readability, put the "that" in there. Why are the date and hour written that way, by the way? Is this some kind of military talk? |
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