The Grammar Logs
#537

Is this a correct use of the word 'fitted:'

'He slipped the ring on her finger. It still fitted.'

OR would this be correct?

'He slipped the ring on her finger. It still fit'

The question here is the tense. is 'fitted' appropriate for a past tense form?

I was surprised to learn that the role of "fit" as the past tense form is a relatively recent phenomenon. I would definitely use "fit" in your sentence and would never even have considered "fitted." But apparently this is a new usage, dating back only to the 1950s. Already, though, according to Garner, "fitted" is all but obsolete except as an adjective — for things like "fitted sheets" and "fitted pipes," etc.

From The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Styleby Bryan Garner. Copyright 1995 by Bryan A. Garner. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., www.oup-usa.org, and used with the gracious consent of Oxford University Press.

I transcribe medical tapes, and I have a few questions that my friends couldn't even agree on the correct answer. I have checked websites, books, etc., with no luck. Would you e-mail me and let me know the correct words to use in the following sentences?

1. She has a sensation in both the right and left hand OR hands?
2. His complaints in the right and left hand OR hands appear to have deteriorated.
3. In regard to treatment recommendations specific to the right and left elbow OR elbows, I feel…
4. I feel he has suffered a disability to both the right and left wrist OR wrists.

The word both connects two like things, and the like things, in this case, are hands, but one is connected to the other, so you want to use the singular. She doesn't have a left "hands," she has both a left and a right hand. (It's as if there is an understood "hand" after the word "left.") Make sure, by the way, that the word both is actually required for the sentence to make sense or that, if both is used, the other parts of the description are also required. Can't we say, for example, that "she has a sensation in both hands" and "… a disability to both wrists"? (The requirements and conventions of medical transcription might vary from regular usage in this regard.)

Is it correct to say, "eat healthy'? This expression is used frequently on local television. Thank you!

"Healthy" and its sidekick "healthful" (whatever is conducive to good health) are both adjectives; neither should be used in that sentence. "Healthily" would be an appropriate substitute — or "well."

Webster's 10th lists "rest room" as the correct spelling of the noun but I've seen numerous signs and references with the spelling "restroom." Would the latter spelling be considered accurate because of current common usage and supersede the Webster's 10th version as outdated? Would you know when Webster's 11th Edition is scheduled to be published and if it still is considered the preferred dictionary reference of book publishers for their freelancers? If not, which dictionary would be? I'm a freelance proofreader and would appreciate your feedback.

Thank you for your assistance. May you succeed in all your endeavors.

I was surprised to discover "rest room" as the only spelling listed in Merriam-Webster's 10th (just as you said I would). I'm not sure what they have in mind on that one. You can find "restroom" spelled as one word in places like Atlantic Monthly and the New York Times Book Review — not to mention innumerable signs throughout the country. The 11th edition is expected sometime next year — so you need to write to them in a hurry about "restroom"; in the meantime, spell it as one word and consider yourself in very good company.

First question:
Is the following sentence correct?:
The only person who'd showed him any sympathy was his mother.

Or should it instead be?"
The only person who'd shown him any sympathy was his mother.

Second question:
Is the following correct?
The Niagara Falls quarterback dropped the ball.

Or should it instead be?:
The Niagara Falls' quarterback dropped the ball.

The past participle of "to show" can be either "shown" or "showed," but "shown" is much more frequent and is preferred. In fact, it is mandatory in the passive voice: "The results were shown to be false."

From The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Styleby Bryan Garner. Copyright 1995 by Bryan A. Garner. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., www.oup-usa.org, and used with the gracious consent of Oxford University Press.

Bill Walsh would describe "Niagara Falls" in your clumsy quarterback sentence as a label, not a possessive. Use just "Niagara Falls" (no apostrophe). You will use a possessive in a construction such as "Niagara Falls' quarterback, Jack Jones, dropped the ball."

Two of us are editing an anthology. We are unclear on use of exclamation mark. Nancy says it is never used as part of story telling no matter how emphatic the statement..."The bear turned toward her and Essie was outta there!" That it is used only in dialog. "Stop!", he said. I am unsure but would have the story teller use it if it conveyed a startling and abrupt message. Please your thoughts. Found nothing under punctuation for this.

Thank you. … I am a long time user. Love this site … I've learned so much.

I pawed through some online stories by Mark Twain and Joseph Conrad and found several instances of exclamation marks (of course, it isn't easy to find a spot in Conrad that isn't in quotation marks, either). And in Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour," same deal. And Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" (but, of course, that narrator is crazy). Surely, a good writer will keep exclamation marks to a minimum, allowing the urgency of the situation, not his punctuation, to convey excitement. But when exclamation marks are genuinely called for and there aren't too many of them peppering the page, use them.

In asking a question on a survey form, from our company, would we say, "Were our personnel knowledgeable?" or "Was our personnel knowledgeable?"

"Personnel," like "staff," can be either singular or plural, depending on whether or not the group is acting as one or as a group of singular, countable individuals. I rather imagine that in this situation you're talking about a number of distinct encounters between individuals and the various personnel of a department, so I'd go with the plural "were."

Two related questions … Is it best to use "firm wide" or "company wide"? And, what is the correct spelling of both terms? (i.e., firmwide, firm wide, firm-wide ... companywide, company wide, or company-wide)

When wide can be combined with another word and still be readable, we use it without a hyphen or break, as in statewide referendum or countrywide phenomenon. With firm or company, however, we would use a hyphen with the compound when it appears before whatever it modifies and an open compound when it appears after: "a company-wide survey and a survey that was company wide."

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

In the former Soviet Union's English textbooks, numerals are considered as a part of speech while in western textbooks numerals are omitted as a part of speech. Can you comment on this fact?

That's interesting. Frankly, I think recognizing numerals as a part of speech would be useful. Someone recently asked if a date should be regarded as a concrete or an abstract noun, and it's a tough question. I can see how numbers of all kinds are hard to label as nouns, but that's how we regard them. It would be a good solution to put them into their own little category as a separate part of speech.

Which sentence is correct?

• Some of the fruit look inedible.
• Some of the fruit looks inedible.

"Some of the fruit" represents a singular quantity, a lump "sum" of things. This means we want the singular "looks." If we said "Some of the fruits," we would want the plural "look."

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