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# 300

QUESTION
How do you alphabetize proper nouns when they are hyphenated? An example would be "Donna Smith-Brown." Is it alphabetized under Smith, or Brown?

Thanks! None of my grammar books addresses this question.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Santa Rosa, California Wed, Mar 17, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Use "Smith" as the beginning of your alphabetized word. If you do a lot of this kind of thing and run into this kind of question again and again, get a copy of the Chicago Manual of Style and check out Chapter 17. It goes on and on and seems to cover every possible eventuality -- how to alphabetize Arabic names (with "al" and "el"), names beginning with "van," "de," "mac," "St.," etc.

Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993. p. 743.


QUESTION
When you have numbers as percents (ie 4% or four percent, 40 percent or forty percent or 40%), what is the correct way to show them?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Somewhere, Arizona Wed, Mar 17, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Use the figure -- 40 or 4 -- and use, consistently, either percent or %. In scientific or technical text, you're more apt to use the symbol %.

Authority: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994. p 435. Cited with permission.


QUESTION
Out of the following three sentences, which is best? Also, if the other two are grammatically incorrect, why?:
  1. "We are studying XYZ, an enzyme produced by the liver in response to toxin exposure."
  2. "We are studying XYZ, an enzyme that is produced by the liver in response to toxin exposure."
  3. "We are studying XYZ, an enzyme that the liver produces in response to toxin exposure."
My guess is that sentence number 3 is the best choice, but I'm not sure about what's going on in version number 1; is this an acceptable variation of the passive voice?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Boston, Massachusetts Wed, Mar 17, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
All three are correct, but the first sentence does the same amount of work with fewer words; it's more efficient, more elegant; it's the teacher's pet. It's not really the passive voice; it turns a whole subject-verb clausal relationship ("that is produced" or "that the liver produces") into a slick little past participle, "produced."

QUESTION
WHen are abbreviations used for degrees or designations (i.e., Ph.D. versus FACHE?) We do not want to use unknown abbreviations but if one is used, all are! Thank you very much!
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Abington, Pennsylvania Wed, Mar 17, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I would certainly not recommend an all-or-nothing attitude toward abbreviations. There's no point in writing out Doctorate in Philosophy when Ph.D. is a perfectly acceptable, conventional abbreviation. I don't know what FACHE means, but I assume it's some kind of degree or certificate or license I'm not familiar with. I would go ahead and use it, but I might also explain it in a footnote at the bottom of my document -- especially, say, if I were compiling a list of people who have earned such designations.

QUESTION
Hello, Would you please tell me if a hyphen is required when using these terms?
  • time sensitive
  • well intended
  • broad range
  • cross section
  • large scale
Many thanks!!!
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Los Angeles, California Wed, Mar 17, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Sometimes it will depend on whether you're using these terms as modifiers (pre-noun position) or not. For instance, we would write "These documents are time sensitive," but then we would write "These time-sensitive documents must be delivered today." The dictionary is usually (but not always) helpful in deciding whether or not to use a hyphen, and the Chicago Manual of Style has a considerable chapter devoted to just this issue.

Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993.


QUESTION
When using directions in a sentence do you capitalize the words? Do you capitalize the direction if it is in reference to a street address?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Boise, Idaho Thu, Mar 18, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
No, in directions, you don't need to capitalize the words -- unless it's part of the street's name, and then you'll capitalize it, of course: 1032 West 8th St.; 66 SE 53rd Ave.

QUESTION
How do you know when to use Maya versus Mayan? Does one refer to people, specifically, and the other to objects (as a descriptive)? If so, which is which? Please cite your source. Thank you.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Helena, Alabama Thu, Mar 18, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I don't think these words have much to do with one another. Maya is a sanskrit term used to designate the world of appearances, that which hides true reality from us. Mayan is an adjective used to describe all cultural aspects and artifacts of the Mayan-speaking peoples of Central America.

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


QUESTION
I'm assuming that the names of the languages are capitalized in the following but not math:
Spanish, French and math will be taught in the Staff Lounge
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Larkspur, California Thu, Mar 18, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Generally, you're right. You'd capitalize the names of the languages but not the general names of disciplines. If these were the names of actual courses, however, you'd capitalize all three words. It's unlikely, however, that "math" is the name of the course. Why don't you call it Math 101 so it won't feel bad.

QUESTION
I recently wrote a letter describing someone. I listed this person's qualities. I included the following sentence:
And Brenda is very sensitive to the needs of others.
A colleague claims that this is a "sentence fragment". I contend that this is indeed a sentence. I read this as the equivalent to the following:
In addition, Brenda is very sensitive to the needs of others.
Can you settle this argument?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Morristown, New Jersey Fri, Mar 19, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Your first version is not a fragment; it's an independent clause beginning with the word "and," which some people are allergic to. Whether or not it really ought to begin with a conjunction depends on its context and the attention you wish to focus on the beginning of this sentence. Your use of "in addition" might, in fact, be an improvement -- or consider not using a conjunction at all in that sentence. But it's not a fragment.

QUESTION
Could you explain the factitive verb in detail?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Pusan, South Korea Fri, Mar 19, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
A factitive verb is one that takes two objects, or seems to:
  • "They judged Philbert's dog Best in Show." (where "dog" is the direct object and "Best of Show" is the second complement).
  • "The faculty named Dogsbreath the new Academic Dean." (where Dogsbreath is the direct object and "Academic Dean" is the second complement).
Some factitive verbs are make, choose, judge, elect, select, name.

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


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