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The Grammar Logs # 261 |
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| QUESTION |
In the sentence,
We all had a good time.Is WE the subject or is ALL the subject? What is ALL? What part of speech as used in this sentence? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Somewhere, Oklahoma  Tue, Nov 24, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Good question. In "All of us had a good time," "all" is called a predeterminer, but it is the subject of the sentence. It is followed by an "of" phrase except when you're talking about nouns naming people ("all the people," "all the players"). The same, incidentally, is true of "both" and "half." For "all" and "both," however, it is possible for the predeterminer to slip into a position after the subject: "We all had a good time," "My cousins both had a good time." Authority: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. 63-64. Used with permission.
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| QUESTION |
In a series of superlatives, which is more correct?
We want to be the safest, most flexible, and most innovative company. Or what?(This isn't for just a throw-away memo; it's for a vision statement, so we want it to look and sound correct. Thank you!) |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Aloha, Oregon Tue, Nov 24, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
"Most safest," as you point out, would be really bad. I prefer your last rewrite, but if you really don't want "safe" to be the first feature considered, you could try this: "We want to be the most flexible, the most innovative, and the safest company in America."I hope that someone does a vision check on your vision statement before you're done. (I dislike the idea of vision statements being written by committee, and I think most vision statements should be written from a historical perspective -- but what do I know?) |
| QUESTION |
| I teach English to Chinese students, and in one of my classes the students told me that they were taught to use "anyone" when using a negative: such as "Won't anyone open the door for the teacher?" versus "Won't someone open the door for the teacher?" Is there a rule on this? I am unable to find this in any of my books. Thank you. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Tianjin, China Tue, Nov 24, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
I think they're both correct, although the someone would be more common. There is a difference in meaning, however. For instance, in "Did someone knock?" there is the assumption that somebody did, in fact, knock; in "Did anyone knock?" the assumption is far less certain. In fact, one could ask "Did anyone knock?" without the slightest notion that someone had, in fact, knocked. In the sentences you give us, the ![[E-Mail Icon]](../gif/email.gif){kind=small} question "Won't anyone open the door?" suggests a great uncertainty about someone rising to open the door, a kind of desperation. "Won't someone open the door?" is looking for someone to open that door, and there is a greater expectation that someone will. If someone else wants to weigh in on this one, I shall leave an e-mail icon to make it easy.
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| QUESTION |
Here are two unrelated questions:
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Ushiku City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan Tue, Nov 24, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| 1. Such past participles will probably always be coordinate adjectives and will require commas between them. (That's kind of a guess on my part, but it goes with the nature of the participles, I believe). 2. It's in the nature of a word's development that open modifiers such as self mocking can become hyphenated modifiers such as self-mocking and then, someday, they might become closed modifiers (no break, no hyphen), but I don't see that happening with any of the examples you give us. When in doubt with such constructions, look to the dictionary. |
| QUESTION |
| Dear Grammar, My husband and I have been arguing about the use of semi-colons for several years. We've read that it is correct to use semi-colons if two statements within a sentence are intimately related. Recently, I wrote the following sentence as part of an e-mail to a colleague: I think some of the terms I've chosen will have to be altered a bit later on; is that something I should spend time on, or would you prefer to do that yourself?My husband read this, and insists that I have used the semi-colon incorrectly, since the statements are not intimately enough related in his opinion. He feels strongly that I should have made those two statements separate sentences. I am trying to argue that while he may not like my writing style, I have broken no grammatical rules. But now I'm not so sure. Does this make sense? Thanks for any help you can give |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Laramie, Wyoming Wed, Nov 25, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| See what happens when your husband reads your e-mail. Nothing good can come of it. Now I have to save your marriage. The semicolon can connect two independent clauses all by itself when the two clauses are nicely balanced and truly belong in the same sentence. I have my doubts about that sentence of yours because one clause makes a statement and the second one has other work to do -- it even asks a question. I'm not saying this conjunction is impossible, but I don't think it's a very good idea. Good try, though. |
| QUESTION |
| What is the proper abbreviation for "continued"? I've been using cont'd and now I'm told
that cont. is correct. Thank you. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Detroit, Michigan Wed, Nov 25, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The Chicago Manual of Style uses cont. Simpler is better, I guess. Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993. |
| QUESTION |
| Hello,
I would appreciate if you could explain the following question further : Under what conditions do we pluralize NON-COUNT NOUNs.Thank you |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Singapore Tue, Dec 1, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Technically, I suppose you can't. There are certain nouns, however, which are regarded as non-count nouns nearly all the time but which can become countable in certain contexts. For instance, water is noncountable, but we can speak of "the waters of the Mediterranean" when we speak of the different areas of that body of water, and we can speak of specialized kinds of commercialized waters. Normally, sugar is noncountable, but my sister, a nutritionist, often speaks of different sugars and how they break down differently, etc. What's really happening, of course, is that a noun that is normally noncount has become a countable noun. |
| QUESTION |
| When using double negatives, for instance...I don't have no money (the meaning is I do have some money) Is this grammatically correct? My boyfriend and I are having a huge argument over this. Please help me? I think it sounds stupid. Why wouldn't you say "I do have some money"? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Somewhere, New Jersey Tue, Dec 1, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Some writers will argue that the double negative is not, in fact, a positive, and in other languages (I've been told) a double negative is a more intense negative. That is surely true in a popular sense, as in "Can't get no satisfaction." But the tendency to be algebraic about English and turn a double negative into a positive argues against its effective use. I don't know if it sounds stupid, as you say, but I would certainly not use a double negative in anything other than the most informal speech. |
| QUESTION |
| Which is correct? An Associates Degree with 1 to 3 years' experience. or- An Associates Degree with 1 to 3 years experience. (years being the questionable word to punctuate) |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Tempe, Arizona Tue, Dec 1, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| You could avoid the question and write "three years of experience." But in the construction you're using, there is a sense of personification, as if the years owned the experience, and we would write "three years' experience." (Most writers would not punctuation associate's degree in this context.) Authority: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994. Cited with permission. p. 273.
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| QUESTION |
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Los Angeles, California Tue, Dec 1, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Although we would say the job pays well, it's a good paying job. It's in the nature of the word good to form such constructions -- good natured, good looking, etc. |
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