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The Grammar Logs # 248 |
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| QUESTION |
| One English teacher tells me I must ALWAYS put a comma before the "and" in a sentence like "For dinner we're having hot dogs, french fries, and pop." Another English teacher says I really don't have to. Which one is right? Thanks. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Denver, Colorado  Sat, Nov 7, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The second one. If you put a comma before the last item in sentences such as your example (which has given me indigestion), you will always be right (as your first teacher has suggested); if you make it a choice, you will be right more often than not, but you run the risk of causing the last two items to feel like one, thus screwing up your list. In newspaper writing, you would never put the comma before "and pop" (the last item in a series), but newspaper writers are weird. |
| QUESTION |
| What are phoneme?
And how many are there. Many thanks |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Malvern, Worcestershire, England Sat, Nov 7, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
I can steal a good dictionary's definition for you: any of the abstract units of the phonetic system of a language that correspond to a set of similar speech sounds (as the velar \k\ of cool and the palatal \k\ of keel) which are perceived to be a single distinctive sound in the languageI suppose if you look in the front of any decent dictionary, at the pronunciation guide, you can get a sense of how many there are, although I don't know if the list will be absolutely complete. Authority for this note: WWWebster Dictionary, the World Wide Web edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, Tenth Edition. Used with permission. |
| QUESTION |
| What is the proper way to address a letter to a school provost? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Atlanta, Georgia Sat, Nov 7, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I used to have a provost for a boss, but I could never figure out what the title meant -- besides boss, that is. I'm not much into question of etiquette, but most reference manuals I own suggest that using the person's name is the way to go in such salutations. "Dear Provost Jones," however, would not be wrong. |
| QUESTION |
When using a proper noun in a sentence - should you always capitalize it - even when you use a shortened name. For example -
Dakota County is reviewing its mission statement. When Dakota County has finalized its mission statement it will great.If you wrote the sentence as follows, instead, would you capitalize county in the second sentence? Dakota County is reviewing its mission statement. When the County has finalized its mission statement it will great.I always thought that you capitalized the word - if you could replace the full "proper noun" name for the "shorter" word. Make sense? What's the rule? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Somewhere, Minnesota Sat, Nov 7, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| In the normal flow of normal text (whatever that means), you wouldn't capitalize that word, even when referring to a specific county (just as you wouldn't capitalize country when referring the the United States, say). However, in a document, especially a legal or quasi-legal document, it might be useful to capitalize such a word in order to distinguish between references to this particular County and a more generic use of the word -- the neighboring county, say. Consistency in such a document is a virtue. |
| QUESTION |
| Hallo! I am a student of the 0-level. I have one question. Do you write quizzes or quizes? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Somewhere, Austria Sat, Nov 7, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| We write quizzes. (Why? Did I misspell it somewhere?) I'm not sure what the O-level means, but you will need a decent English dictionary to help you with such questions. |
| QUESTION |
| I understand that causatives can be verbs. e.g., I had my watch fixed. But I'm trying to find out if other parts of speech can be causatives as well? Are there for example causative adverbs, etc? Also, I would be really greatful if someone could point me towardes a book that includes this topic. thxs for your help. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Vancouver, Canada Sat, Nov 7, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I'm not aware of such a thing as causative adverbs, but I've learned never to say never to such notions. There is such a thing as "prepositional verbs," which are also causative in nature: He arranged for Joe to get the money. He waited for Jill to fall down the hill. He called for/upon us to wait for him. But that doesn't really answer your question, does it? I would recommend Quirk's book (see below). Authority: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. Used with permission. See chapter 12.
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| QUESTION |
I can't convince my friends to use capital letters in the headings when
writing technical papers in English. Can you help me convince them?
Ex: The general agentI want them to write "The General Agent". |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Somewhere, Sweden Sat, Nov 7, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| If you pay for my airfare to Sweden, I'll see what I can do. 8-) I'm afraid you'll have to find some good technical documents that do what you want them to do, and show them to your colleagues as respectable examples of good form. Technical writers can get weird. The APA Publication Manual might only confuse them. That book says to capitalize the major words in all headings, but at level four (indented paragraph headings), you capitalize only the first word and proper nouns. But I don't know if the APA is the best source for guidelines on technical papers. Authority: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Assocation American Psychological Association. 4th ed. American Psychological Association: New York. 1994. p. 75.
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| QUESTION |
Please explain the difference in meaning between the following two sentences.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Yokohama, Japan Sat, Nov 7, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| You might use the first question when discussing with a colleague the fine art of bullying, when you are both well out of school. The second question sort of assumes that the person addressed is still in school. The present perfect (passive), have been bullied, provides the suggestion that the bullying could still still be going on. |
| QUESTION |
| 1) May I use unsure with that? ex: He is unsure that she really understands the situation. 2) Are would and bought correct in this sentence: Would it be OK if I bought him a cup of coffee? (Why not buy?) Eagerly awaiting your reply. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Tokyo, Japan Sat, Nov 7, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Yes, using that is appropriate and correct in that sentence. In the second sentence, the bought, which takes one step backward in time, is slightly more tentative or conditional than than buy. See the section on conditional verb forms. |
| QUESTION |
| What is a double predicate? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Easthampton, Massachusetts Sat, Nov 7, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
The predicate is whatever the sentence is saying about the subject, so if that gets doubled or compounded, you've got a double predicate. See the section on Sentence-Combining Skills. Coach Calhoun has confidence in his team's defense but is doubtful about their offense. |
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