The Grammar Logs
#593

Can we consider some mass (non-count) nouns to be abstract nouns as well? For example, would "age" or the word "week" be considered abstract? If we use the definition of abstract as a concept that can not be acknowledged with the senses, then they would be abstract but my friend says that they are not abstract because they do not connote the quality of something. I truly need to understand what an abstract noun is because I need to count abstractions in a piece of writing.

Abstract nouns are generally non-count nouns, which means they can't be pluralized, like "peace" and "happiness" and "warmth." The words you suggest can, in fact, be pluralized: we sometimes speak of "ages" and often speak of "weeks." Your definnition of something that cannot be acknowledged with the senses doesn't account for things like "happiness" and "warmth." You need to combine that notion with the idea that you can't count abstract nouns. And I'm sure you'll find exceptions even to this. (Frankly, it's not the most useful distinction in grammar you can learn to make.) I'm sure your accounting for abstractions in a piece of writing will lead to some interesting debate.

Authority: Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects by Martha Kolln. 3rd Edition. Allyn & Bacon: Boston. 1996.

Does one use a period and a colon when the word before the colon is abbreviated?

• example: RE.:
• ID.:

You sort of pretend that the period that ends the abbreivation isn't there — unless the abbreviation ends the sentence, and then the period that ends the abbreviation will suffice to end the sentence, also. For instance (with a comma), you would write "The sailors were up by 5 a.m., and they gathered around the flagpole by five-thirty." A colon would work the same way. For instance, "The following steps must be accomplished before 11:30 a.m.: first, the bilge must be pumped …" Most writers, however, would not use periods with either "RE" or "ID" — "The following forms can be used as a proper ID: a driver's license, a passport, a birth certificate, …"

These two indefinite pronouns are virtually interchangeable. Someone left the lights on. Somebody left the lights on. Use whichever sounds better to you in a given sentence (and, in the last hundred years or so, there is a slight tip of the balance toward "someone" on that scale).

From Garner's Modern American Usageby Bryan Garner. Copyright 2003 by Bryan A. Garner. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., www.oup-usa.org, and used with the gracious consent of Oxford University Press.

Ability versus Capacity. What's the difference?

The words are used interchangeably in casual circumstances, but there is an important, worthwhile distinction. You can learn or cultivate an ability, but you are born with a capacity. We say that a child has a capacity for wonder, but, in time, he will develope an abilty to distinguish the real from the fantastic.

In the following sentence, should the verb "bring" agree with "line" or "handbags and accessories"? (I believe the latter but am being challenged.)

Maxx New York is a line of handbags and accessories that bring attitude to virtually every outfit.

I hate to answer this way, but it depends. Your reading of the sentence is that it's the two discrete things, the handbags and the accessories, that bring attitude. Someone else, apparently, likes to think that it's the line that brings attitude. Either can be correct, but you're probably right in making the "that" to refer to the thing it is closer to (the "handbags and accessories"). This is an example of notional agreement, and your notion is slightly stronger (in my opinion) than your colleague's.

I know that one of these is correct, but not both. Please let me know if both are correct.

• I don't understand how people can write so badly.
• I don't understand how people can write so poorly.

In that context, either of those words would work. It's only when you're talking about someone's health that you need to be aware that some folks will object to the use of "poorly," as in "He felt poorly last week." The word does have a long and well established history in that context, though. Jane Austen writes that "…poor little Cassy is grown extremely thin and looks poorly" and "She was still very poorly."

By permission, From Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage © 1994 by Merriam-Webster, Inc. (www.Merriam-Webster.com).

I have a question about using "has" versus "have" in the following:

Please call me if you or your staff have any questions.

• Or is it "Please call me if you, or your staff, have any questions.
• Or: "Please call me if you or your staff has any questions.

Forget the commas: the "or" is capable of connecting the two parts of your subject. When "or" connects two subjects, the subject that is closer to the verb will determine the number of your verb. So the question is whether "staff" is singular or plural. In England, it would invariably be plural, and you'd want "have." In the U.S., "staff" is almost invariably singular, and you'd want "has." (It is possible in the U.S., but somewhat rare, for the members of the staff to act as individuals, and then you'd want the plural "have.") If your resulting sentence sounds clumsy to you, you can usually avoid the problem by putting the thing that requires the plural verb to come last, as in "if your staff or you have any questions." (That's a bit of a cheat in this sentence because the singular "you" (which is what you're using) and the plural "you" take the same verb.)

I would like to ask the use of passive voice of the word "broadcast". I read a book some time ago that the pp form of this word should be "broadcast" but I found the form of "broadcasted" in most of the dictionaries. Then, when can we use "broadcasted" and should "broadcast" be the confirmed pp form of this word?

Some dictionaries will list "broadcast" as an acceptable variant of "broadcast," but "broadcast" is by far the more often used past tense form (and past participle) of this verb. (Garner says the preference is "staggeringly in favor" of "broadcast" over "broadcasted.")

From Garner's Modern American Usageby Bryan Garner. Copyright 2003 by Bryan A. Garner. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., www.oup-usa.org, and used with the gracious consent of Oxford University Press.

In the example below should it be express or expressed written permission

No part of this may be reproduced without the express(?) written permission of...

You want "express" there. The word means both "for that special purpose" or "explicitly stated."

By permission. From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 11th edition © 2003 by Merriam-Webster, Inc. (www.Merriam-Webster.com).

recurrence vs reoccurrence

"What problem solving methodologies would be used to prevent reoccurrence?"

The difference between these words is that "recurrence" suggests that something happens over and over again or at regular intervals. There's no such implication in "reoccurence." Your sentence probably means to ask what you would do to stop something from ever happening again, so you'd want "reoccurence."

From Garner's Modern American Usageby Bryan Garner. Copyright 2003 by Bryan A. Garner. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., www.oup-usa.org, and used with the gracious consent of Oxford University Press.

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