The
Grammar
Logs
# 249

QUESTION
I'm having trouble describing people in a story that I'm writing fo school, could you give me a list of descriptive words? (Hair, eyes, facial features, clothes, ect.)
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Fremont, New Hampshire Sat, Nov 7, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
That would be a very messy list, indeed. It sounds to me like your text is going to be quickly drowned in adjectives. It's much better to describe people as they're doing something. But check out the beginning of Ernest Hemingway's "Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," and see how nicely those people get described for you as they're sitting around the campfire.

QUESTION
I would like to know the difference between at school and in school and the difference between relation and relationship. thanks
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Hong Kong Sat, Nov 7, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
When we say someone is at school that means that they are in the school building; when we say someone is in school that means that they attend school. In other words, someone can be in school (attending college, say) and not be at school (because they're really at home). A relationship is a connection between two people, often a romantic or passionate one; a relation is "a person connected by consanguinity or affinity." The phrase "having relations," however, is often taken to mean a sexual relationship.

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


QUESTION
I need to know what a reasoning speech on domestic violence looks like.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Roanoke, Virginia Sat, Nov 7, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I'm not sure that a speech ever looks like anything, but if it's anything like a well argued essay, you might try our section on the Principles of Composition, the sub-sections on logic and the argumentative essay.

QUESTION
What are the differences between the word "few" and "a few"
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Bangkok, Thailand Sat, Nov 7, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
There's a brief treatment of this difference (and the difference between "little" and "a little" in the section on Determiners. Read that and get back tous if you still have questions.

QUESTION
I would like to find out which verb to be I should use in the following sentences:
  1. There is/are juice, milk,a cake and some sweets on the table.
  2. Wood and glass is/are useful.
  3. milk and ice-cream is/are my favourite.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Hong Kong Sat, Nov 7, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
In the first sentence, the plural subject follows the verb, so we want a plural verb, "are." It is not uncommon, however, to hear, in casual speech, a singular verb in a sentence that begins with that construction.

In #2, we assume that wood and glass are two separate things, so we need a plural verb, "are."

In #3, the milk and ice-cream are eaten together, which suggests that we could use a singular verb; they are, however, still two separate foods (unlike macaroni and cheese or rice and beans), and I would use a plural verb.


QUESTION
Is it improper to end a sentence with the word 'is'?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Houston, Texas Sat, Nov 7, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Since is is almost always a linking verb, it's rather rare, I'm sure, to find it at the end of a sentence, where there's nothing to link to. But I don't think it's really improper. I don't know what the difference is. (I think even that statement we would end with "could be," wouldn't we?) Odd that I had never thought about this before!

QUESTION
Should Noah's Ark be capitalized and underlined, since it is the name of a specific ship? What about the word "ark" in" Noah and his ark"?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Griffin, Georgia Sat, Nov 7, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Was it really the name of Noah's boat or simply what it was? Not a very imaginative name, really, as ship's names tend to be. No, I don't think it's necessary or appropriate to capitalize or underline the word ark.

QUESTION
Was there ever a time when the pronominal possessive of it was its' as well as its? I'm 50 years old and seem to remember my fourth grade teacher saying that was also the correct form.

Many thanks in advance.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Chicago, Illinois Sat, Nov 7, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
There was a time in typographical history when the rules governing the use of apostrophes were not well adhered to -- but I'm sure your fourth-grade teacher wasn't that old. [E-Mail Icon] Many a good writer -- like Twain -- has virtually ignored the difference between the two words. I don't have the resources to comment on the history of the distinction between these two constructions, so I will leave an e-mail icon here in case someone else cares to add something.

QUESTION
Events in a story is organized in different ways. Could you please define the ff. and give a story as an example for each? Please. I desperately need it today.
  1. chronological order
  2. flashback
  3. exposition
  4. foreshadowing
  5. juxtaposition
  6. media res
Thank you very very much.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Unknown Sun, Nov 8, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
This doesn't have much to do with grammar, does it? Tell you what, I'll give you one story as an example of all of them: Ernest Hemingway's "Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." The story begins IN MEDIA RES -- something has already happened before Hemingway's telling of the story begins. There is a FORESHADOWING of something that will happen later even in the title of the story, but within the first couple of paragraphs we're aware of tension between Francis and his wife. When Francis falls asleep we get a FLASHBACK to the episode with the lion, and when he wakes up the story proceeds in CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, the order in which things happen in "real time," one after the other. I'm not sure what your instructor has in mind with EXPOSITION, although the beginning of the story is probably a good example of that -- simply the way things are laid out and described for you. And there's a lovely JUXTAPOSITION between Francis and Wilson as Margaret looks at them (although that doesn't have much to do with plotting).

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