| QUESTION |
| My Business English book has the word "than" as
being able to be used as a conjunction or a preposition, but it doesn't give an
example of both. No one in the class, including the instructor can think of an
example of the word being used as a preposition. Can you give me an example of the word "than" being used as
a preposition, or was this a typo in my book?
Thank You!
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Danville, Pennsylvania  Thu, Mar 22, 2001
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| In informal language, we will frequently hear a sentence like "He's taller than me." In that sentence, than is being used as a preposition, much as like would be used as a preposition in "He's tall like me." Many writers argue that we should be able to use than in that matter, but most careful writers use than as a conjunction, as in "He's taller than I [am]." So it's not a typo in your book, but your book might have pointed out that than is used as a preposition only in informal speech or writing.
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| QUESTION |
| Which is more correct, if either: "We at Acme Door
Company are pleased that you were able to attend our workshop." or "We, at
Acme Door Company, are pleased that you were able to attend our workshop.">P>
If the commas should be there, which rule is being applied? My instincts say that
the first is correct, because the prepositional phrase is rather brief and it defines
the "We" ,therefore making the phrase restrictive and the commas unnecessary, if
not wrong.(I have seen much written about restrictive v. non-restrictive clauses, but not
phrases. Is that an improper usage of the term?) On the other hand, "at Acme
Door Company" could be seen as parenthetic, therefore requiring the commas.
Thanks for your help. It's a GREAT site.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Somewhere, Massachusetts Fri, Mar 23, 2001
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Technically, I think you could regard "at Acme Door Company" as parenthetic, but that would be quite strange; it's a definite help in defining the nature of "We." So I wouldn't want a comma between "We" and "at," and since you never want only one comma between a subject and its verb, you don't want any commas. (That was a tedious way of saying that your instincts are right: no commas.)
|
| QUESTION |
Please check this sentence. Is it correct:
To meet training and licensing requirements, the following minimum standards
apply:
Does the above sentence have "a subject verb agreement " problem?
Is the correction like this... To meet (trainng and licensing) requirement(No S), the
following minimum standards apply:
Thank You for the help.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Somewhere, California Fri, Mar 23, 2001
|
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
There is no subject-verb problem in that sentence. You do, however, have a modifier problem. The initial infinitive phrase, "to meet training and licensing requirements" is trying to modify the next thing that comes along, "standards," which doesn't make any sense. You need something like To meet training and licensing requirements, the applicant must meet the following minimum standards.
Now that initial phrase is modifying something, the "applicant," that it can actually modify. I hope that helps.
|
| QUESTION |
Recently an attorney in my office gave me revisions
to a document in which he put a comma as follows (after 1997):
between May, 1997, and June, 1998.
I thought this was incorrect, because I would not write, for example:
between dawn, and dusk.
What do you think?
Thank you.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Denver, Colorado Fri, Mar 23, 2001
|
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
You're right. When you have only the month and the year, you do not treat the year as parenthetic. You don't need any commas in that construction. If you added the date, however, you would:
between May 14, 1997, and June, 12, 1998.
Whether you want to delete the commas, however, depends on your relationship with this attorney.
|
| QUESTION |
Which is correct:
- The class has finished their project.
or
- The class have finished their project.
We think the former but the teacher is saying the latter.
|
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Sugar Land, Texas Wed, Mar 28, 2001
|
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| What if I don't like either choice? I'd write "The class has finished its project." Sometimes you'll see a collective noun like "staff" or "jury" acting like a collection of individuals and you'll use a plural verb, as in "The staff have put on their jackets." But I can't quite imagine this happening with "class," for some reason. I think class is always a singular entity, acting singularly. With all due respect to your teacher, I'll go along with "has finished," but I would dearly love to change "their" to "its." If you need to consider the individuals acting separately within the class, that's why we have words like students.
|
| QUESTION |
| The series of tests (is, are) helpful. Do you use "is" or
"are"? I know the verb is describing the word "series", but is "series" a singular word, as
in a collective noun, or a plural word?
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Cincinnati, Ohio Sun, Apr 1, 2001
|
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| In most contexts, you'll use a singular verb with the word "series"; it is a collective noun made up of several individual things. It is possible, however, for the same word to be regarded as a plural thing — when you're talking about the series of World Series, for example, between 1955 and 1962. Or a scientist could have a series of tests, each one of which is made up of a series of tests. You might, then, have a sentence like "These series are important for . . . ."
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