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The Grammar Logs # 284 |
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| QUESTION |
Would you please clear to me whether the following sentences mean the same?
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Bangkok, Thailand  Wed, Jan 20, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| High praise in either case. The first sentence means simply that you are someone else, someone other than Mike Tyson. However, it could be said to someone who, somehow, thought that he was Mike Tyson or was very much like Mike Tyson. The second means that you don't measure up to Mike Tyson, that you're not nearly as good as he is (as a boxer, I would guess). Whether that's good or bad, I'd leave up to the speaker. |
| QUESTION |
| What is the difference between persons and people, and when do you use each? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Norman, Oklahoma Wed, Jan 20, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| People seems to be taking over. Most dictionaries will tell you that we use persons when referring to more than one person, but the number is countable; we use people when referring to a mass of uncountable individuals. At least in American English, however, the distinction is blurred, and persons is slowly but surely dying out. Authority: The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996.
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| QUESTION |
| My question is on use of a comma in a formal name. My name is
Thomas S. Finkelmeier Jr. Should it be written Thomas S. Finkelmeier, Jr.? I always used to put a comma in. Somewhere I read that the use of a comma in a formal name was incorrect. Now when I wish to verify that rule, I cannot find it again! Please help! |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Wapakoneta, Ohio Thu, Jan 21, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The Chicago Manual of Style recommends that such names (with Jr., Sr., II, III, etc.) be written without the comma. But if you choose to use the comma, it's certainly not wrong. Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993. p. 207. |
| QUESTION |
Which is the correct usage - "as yet" or "as of yet"?
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Long Beach, New York Fri, Jan 22, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Either phrase will do. The phrase "as of yet" (or "as of now" or as of anything) is a relative newcomer, but it's widely accepted in both American and British English. I don't think the comma is necessary in either case, is it? Authority: The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996.
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| QUESTION |
| "They resorted to a cacophony of disparate parts to complete a homologous solution."
Is cacophony a noun? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Santa Clara, California Fri, Jan 22, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Cacophony is definitely a noun. I don't know what would be better. Are you sure either one is what you want to say -- or conveys the tone you want? There has to be a simpler way of saying this. |
| QUESTION |
What's the difference in meaning between these two?
Now Michael Jordan must decide whether he will retire or return to the Chicago Bulls for a shot at a seventh championship.In short, please give me an insight into the usage of the ordinal number and a/an + ordinal number. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Seoul, Korea Fri, Jan 22, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| You can't use "the seventh championship" for the Bulls because it can't be named specifically. The sixth championship happened last year, so it can be referred to specifically, with the definite article the. A seventh championship could happen this year (though it's exceedingly unlikely without Jordan) or the next year or the one after that -- you get the idea. When it does happen -- if it ever happens -- we can talk about the seventh championship. |
| QUESTION |
| When forming a comparative or superlative with the word common, what is the correct form? Your site says that adjectives longer than one syllable should have more or most in front of them; however my dictionary says -er and -est. I'm confused! If I said "This is the commonest malfunction of the gallbladder" would I be correct? Thanks. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Anchorage, Alaska Fri, Jan 22, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| That sounds dreadful to me. I would say "This is the most common malfunction of the gallbladder." The online Merriam Webster's does have "commonest" in it, but I still wouldn't use it. I guess it's up to you. |
| QUESTION |
| My third grade student stumped me with a question. She was wondering why the pronoun "I" should always be capitalized, and I told her it was used to replace her name. So then she wanted to know why the pronoun "me" wouldn't be capitalized. Help! |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Shepherd, Montana Sat, Jan 23, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The reason for our capitalization of the first-person pronoun nominative, I, has much more to do with the history of typography than with the history of grammar. As the English version of "ich" and "ic" got shortened to merely "i," it was either attached to verb forms or it got lost sitting out there all by itself. It would be, after all, the smallest piece of type that sits by itself, right? I have a hunch that its being capitalized had more to do with the vulnerability of the type-piece itself (being set askew or being broken) or with the typesetter's facility in handling it than anything else. At any rate, since sometime in the seventeenth century, the little "i" disappeared and big brother/sister took its place. Any contemporary efforts to reverse the practice only draws even more attention to the "i." Authority for some of the above: The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996.
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| QUESTION |
Just like to check which structure is correct
Many Thanks |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Singapore Sun, Jan 24, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| It's not logically consistent for you to have believed (past) that something is correct (present). It is not impossible, providing you are talking about some kind of general truth, but then you would probably qualify it in some way: "I mistakenly believed that the earth is flat." Even there, you'd be better off with "the earth was flat." The "I believe" is probably what you want. |
| QUESTION |
| Our local TV weatherpersons overuse the words "as well" when the simpler "too" would serve their purpose. One fellow, my favorite abuser, has used "as well" more than fifty times without once using the word "too". The other day he said:
"As well, tomorrow will be a nice day." I don't object to the usage, it is just that they seem to be thoughtless, and annoying too. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Bakersfield, California Tue, Jan 26, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Maybe your weather is just too nice in California, causing your weatherpeople to become boringly repetitive? I don't know what to say. Write them a nice bit of fan-mail and point out this one grammatical distraction. I'll be on the lookout for this usage; perhaps it's rampant here in the east, too (as well), and I just haven't noticed. Not that one can do much about this kind of thing -- but it is interesting, how a phrase or a word can take over that way. |
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