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The Grammar Logs # 281 |
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| QUESTION |
| I have a question about direct and ind. objects. If I say..... "He decided to call Lisa in order to ask her if she wanted to go for a walk," what is the direct object, "Lisa" or "if whe wanted to go for a walk"? any more info. about dir. and ind. objects would be greatly appreciated. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Quakertown, Pennsylvania  Thu, Jan 14, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| He decided something, and what is the "thing" that he decided? "to call Lisa." So that infinitive phrase is the object of your main clause. The rest of the sentence tells us why he did that. |
| QUESTION |
| This question concerns the proper name for a church. What is the grammatically correct usage of a saint's name in the name of a church? For example, a church named after Saint Andrew. Please me which ones of the following are correct: Saint Andrew's Ukrainian Orthodox Church, or Saint Andrews Ukrainian Orthodox Church, or Saint Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Bethesda, Maryland Fri, Jan 15, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
I was raised Presbyterian. What do I know of such things? The art book I just consulted (Janson's History of Art) refers to edifices as St. Peter's of Rome, St. Paul's of London, St. Michael's, etc. Certainly Saint Andrews Ukrainian would be wrong. ![[E-Mail Icon]](../gif/email.gif){kind=small} I'd go with the possessive form, but I'll leave an e-mail icon here in case someone -- someone with a more catholic background -- has a better idea.
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| QUESTION |
| Dear Grammar, What does "makes no representation" in the following sentence mean? The publisher makes no representation that it is absolutely accurate or complete.Thanks. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Bangkok, Thailand Fri, Jan 15, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| That's lawyer talk for "the publisher never said" (or implied or suggested or wrote or hinted in any way, shape, or form). |
| QUESTION |
I'm hoping I have come up with a compound-complex sentence, consisting of at least two main clauses and one subordinate clause. Would you please take a peek at it and let me know if it is correct? If not, could you please show me where my errors are and suggest a way to fix it? Thank you, Thank you !!!
Inasmuch as the rooster was loud, his crowing rarely disturbed the neighbors, and he was allowed the grace to remain in our coop. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Unknown Fri, Jan 15, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| That's fine, except I'd use "although" instead of that clumsy "inasmuch as." (In fact, I think the "inasmuch as" violates the sense of your sentence.) "The grace" is a bit of a stretch, too. The although clause is subordinate, and then you've got two independent clauses connected with a comma and a coordinating conjunction. |
| QUESTION |
| Is block style in paragraphs now the accepted rule? Or should I still indent my paragraphs? If I am required to indent, how many spaces should I set my tab for? Thanks |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Ooltawah, Tennessee Fri, Jan 15, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| In single-spaced text, block style works fine, especially in correspondence. In academic text, where you've got double-spacing, indents work much better (the double-space blocks between double-spaced paragraphs come out really big and clumsy). The tab is set for half an inch, which, on an old-fashioned typewriter, is five spaces (if I recall what I learned in my high-school typing class correctly). |
| QUESTION |
| Hi there, I'm gathering information on "topic sentence" to use with elementary teachers. How can we avoid 'announcement' sentences, and teaching gimmic/generic sentences to use as topic sentences. Thanks |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Westminster, Maryland Fri, Jan 15, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| How, indeed. I don't necessarily recommend avoiding "announcement sentences"; instead, embrace the evil. When the writer says, "The purpose of my paper is to reveal the hypocrisy of congressional leadership in bringing charges against the president." or "The purpose of this paper is to reveal. . . ." that helps the writer see what he or she is about to do. It's OK. She should go ahead and write it that way. But then, when she rewrites the paper, she must get rid of the "announcement" part of it. It's done its job; it has helped her focus -- and assured her that she does, indeed, have a focus. But it's not necessary, really, for the reader. What the reader needs is the real topic sentence, which might begin "The hypocrisy of the congressional leadership in bringing charges against the president can be demonstrated in four ways." Well, something better than that, I hope. But I find it helpful to allow students to write the gimmicky, announcement-type thesis statement -- and then go back to get rid of the announcer's tone, the gimmick. For this to be effective, of course, students have to know what we mean by an "announcement of the thesis." |
| QUESTION |
Could you please explain the following sentences to me?
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Somewhere, Maryland Fri, Jan 15, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I think those infinitives (infinitive phrase, in the first sentence) are acting as predicate adjectives. If you said "The girl was tall," the word "tall" is clearly the predicate adjective. I think the infinitive phrase operates in the same way. We know that infinitives act as adjectives all the time -- "The person to ask is Paula Jones." -- where "to ask" modifies "person." In your sentences, the modifying element comes after the verb, which makes it a predicate modifier. I'll leave an e-mail icon here in case someone has a better idea or can explain it more clearly.
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| QUESTION |
| Here is an example I came across: "I know the thief to be him." The reasoning goes that since the pronoun is linked to the direct object in the sentence, it should be in the objective case. The usual rule, I believe, is that a pronoun following a linking verb is in the nominative case. What do you think? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Unknown Fri, Jan 15, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Tough question. If we put a verb there instead of the infinitive, would we say, "I know the thief is he."? In all but the most formal prose, the use of the nominative after a linking verb is losing ground fast. (When someone comes to the door, we say, "It's him!" and very few people would say [albeit correctly], "It's he!") I would use "him" at the end of your sentence. Of course, we're better off saying, "I know he's the thief." to begin with. Authority: The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996. in the article on "be"
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| QUESTION |
| We use the abbreviation EPS (earnings per share) in almost every financial report. Which is correct: KNDL's 3Q EPS were $0.12, OR KNDL's EPS was $0.12? Our readers would not say in their minds "earnings per share" but rather "EPS." Thanks! |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Nashville, Tennessee Fri, Jan 15, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I think the test is this: can you talk about a single EPS, an EPS? I don't think so, because EPS is plural because "earnings" is a plural noun (even though it's talking about one thing). We would say, "My earnings were wiped out in the bank failure." I guess the question then, is whether people's tendency to think of EPS as a singular entity overcomes that logic. The only analogy I can think if RPM, revolutions per minute, but we tend to pluralize that when we say something like "the motor's RPMs were cut in half." (I'm not saying it makes sense to pluralize it, but we do.) I suppose you could do the same thing with EPSs? I'd go with the plural verb, but I think you're on your own on this one. I'll leave an e-mail icon in case someone has a better idea.
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| QUESTION |
Which sentence is correct?
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Hyogo, Japan Fri, Jan 15, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| We'd use "as much as ten dollars" because we're thinking of the ten dollars as a lump sum, a singular quantity of money. |
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