| QUESTION |
I've found the following passage:
The "lifetime" position rarely occurs. Nor does having years of seniority always protect one's job. It is not surprising when a worker who has less experience than a coworker, but is more productive, is chosen first for promotion.
What does "It" refer to? If "It" refers to the clause "when a worker ... promotion", then should "when" become "that"?
I'd appreciate your comment on this.
Thank you very much in advance.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Unknown  Sun, Mar 14, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Yes, I think you're right: the "it" refers to a clause that comes later in the sentence. However, it's probably not important that the "it" in that idiomatic expression refer to anything in particular: it's just another way of saying "We are not surprised when. . . " or "We should not be surprised when . . .." If you substituted "that" for "when," it would suggest that this happens all the time, as a matter of principle; the sentence means to suggest that this happens rarely, but when it does happen, we should not be suprised.
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| QUESTION |
In the following sentence should "mummy, daddy, mum, dad & Avon" be in capitals or lower case?
"Jane from a manor house in Dorset; daddy a novelist and mummy fairly old money. Samantha from pre-gentrified Clapham; dad an insurance clerk and mum an Avon lady."
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Norwich, Norfolk, England Mon, Mar 15, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I would capitalize those words because most of them are substitutes for actual names in this context. (But they would not be capitalized if they were modified in any way -- "my daddy," "his mum.") Avon, of course, is capitalized because it's a proper noun.
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| QUESTION |
| If you say "In teen choices class..." should the class be capitalized? I thought that the only time you capitalized a course is if it was a language, or had a number after it. If it is capitalized, has the rule about that changed with
in the last five years when I would have learned it? Thank you very much.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| South Charleston, Ohio Mon, Mar 15, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I don't think the rule has changed. We would capitalize, "I passed Biology 101." because it's the name of a specific course; on the other hand, we would write, "I barely passed my first biology course." The problem with your Teen Choices course is that it probably isn't easily recognized as the name of a course unless it is capitalized. It's not exactly the name of a well recognized discipline.
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| QUESTION |
Does the following sentence need a "to" between sport and sign?
"The district implemented a Student Athlete Drug Policy, which required
that all students wanting to participate in a sport sign an agreement
allowing the school to drug test that student with or without notice."
Thanks!
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Nogales, Arizona Wed, Mar 17, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
Yes, if for no other reason than to keep the reader from wondering what a "sport sign" is. May I suggest a couple of other revisions:
"The district implemented a Student Athlete Drug Policy requiring each student who wants to participate [or just "participating"] in a school sport to sign an agreement
allowing the school to drug test him or her with or without notice."
An alert reader has pointed out that although the suggested revision is OK, the comment about inserting the "to" yields an unfortunate sentence. The "to sign" makes sense only if you drop the "that" earlier in the sentence; otherwise, the infinitive is inappropriate. We still think the suggested revision is an improvement. Perhaps breaking the sentence in two would make it even better:
The district implemented a Student Athlete Drug Policy. The policy required
all students wanting to participate in a sport to sign an agreement
allowing the school to drug test that student with or without notice.
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| QUESTION |
Hi!
My question relates to the use of indefinite article. Here's the example:
A woman's eggs are more fragile than a man's sperm, and over the years, attempts to freeze and thaw them have almost always ended in failure.
Why is the indefinite article used before the two noun phrases? In the first case, the headword is a plural noun, and in the second an uncountable noun. I need a thorough explanation and if possible, whether there are other cases of such use of the indefinite article.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Ljubljana, Slovenia Wed, Mar 17, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| First, the word "sperm" can be either singular or plural. (Although "sperms" is a possible spelling, you're much more apt to hear or read "sperm" as the plural -- sort of like "fish.") And the indefinite article is modifying the words "woman" and "man" in this case. We use this construction all the time: "a truck's weight," "a bird's feathers," "a building's features," etc. See the section on Articles for further help.
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| QUESTION |
When a subject applies to both verb-noun clauses, is a comma between the two still required, or has this rule gradually changed in say, the last five years? I say no comma is OK, my boss says comma, The Gregg Reference Manual says comma but hasn't been updated lately.
Example:
- The brown fox has quite grown up and can be expected to have babies this spring.
OR
- The brown fox has quite grown up, and can be expected to have babies this spring.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Dallas, Texas Wed, Mar 17, 1999
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I don't know about the evolution of the rule, but the reference manuals I use wouldn't put a comma there unless it contributed to the sentence's readability -- or unless the second verb phrase (I don't know what a "verb-noun clause" is) takes the sentence in an unexpected or contradictory direction. You might want a comma there, also, if you regarded the information introduced by the second verb to be kind of an afterthought. I don't think any of those conditions prevail here, and I wouldn't use a comma. On the other hand, if you feel that the sentence is more readable with a comma there, I wouldn't insist that the sentence is wrong.
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