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The Grammar Logs # 265 |
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| QUESTION |
| It seems I remember an old grammer rule on vowels that listed the vowels as a,e,i,o u and sometimes y and sometimes w! No one else seems to remember a "w". Any ideas? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Dover, New Hampshire  Sat, Dec 5, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I remember that, too, but I don't remember ever hearing a word that used "w" as a vowel. I think it's limited to some archaic (Old & Middle English) words and Welsh place-names. |
| QUESTION |
| I am working on a catalog for a client and would like to know how chemical compounds should be correctly listed. If, for example, they list carbon dioxide should it be CO2 or should the "2" be shown as a subscript or in the inferior position? Thanks in advance for your help! |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| St. Louis Park, Minnesota Sat, Dec 5, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
The numeral for the number of atoms in a molecule is set in the inferior position after the symbol for the element:
H2SO4, O3Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993. p. 280. |
| QUESTION |
| How do you know where to put the commas when you write poetry?
Thank you |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Cuba, Missouri Sun, Dec 6, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| That's going to depend on how you feel about using punctuation in your poetry at all. I would guess that most poets use commas pretty much in the same way that they use commas in prose -- perhaps a bit more sparingly, sometimes allowing a line-ending to do the work of a comma. But there are many fine poets who never use commas -- or other forms of punctuation -- at all. Make sure you really want to call attention to the device of non-punctuation before you indulge yourself that way, though. Punctuation well done is far less instrusive than no punctuation at all (my opinion). |
| QUESTION |
| My wife and I have a disagreement. I believe that there are plural forms for these words: hair, and money. Also 'scissors' I believe has a singular, (i.e., scissor). Could you please help us? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Dallas, Texas Sun, Dec 6, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The plural of hair is hairs, as in "There are three white hairs on my head." The plural of money is moneys or monies, as in "He became an expert in the monies [currencies or economic systems] of the world." We don't use the singular form of scissors very often; scissor refers to the same cutting implement as the more common plural-form word, scissors. Authority for this note: WWWebster Dictionary, the World Wide Web edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, Tenth Edition. Used with permission. |
| QUESTION |
This is my sentence : "The college itself appeared to foster the ideals of social justice."Do I need to place a comma before and after "itself" or is the sentence correct as it is written? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Lancaster, Pennsylvania Sun, Dec 6, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| We don't need to set off the intensive pronoun itself in that sentence. |
| QUESTION |
| going to-future: Do we have to say "I'm going to go to the cinema", or will "I'm going to the cinema" suffice, seeing that the second sentence could also have a different, more definite meaning.
Correct would be e.g. "I'm going to come to your party." wouldn't it? I am an English teacher and haven't found any clear indication concerning the practical use of my question so far. Thank you for your anwer! |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Landschlacht, Switzerland Sun, Dec 6, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| "I'm going to go to the cinema" and "I'm going to the cinema" can mean the same thing, but can also mean something slightly different. "I'm going to the cinema" (without any other time clues) could mean that you're headed out the door, getting into the car, and off you go to the movies. "I'm going to go to the cinema" could mean that, but it could also mean that you're announcing your intention to go to the movies later that evening. |
| QUESTION |
| I am disappointed with your Dec. 5 response to a question from Montreal about a company being a collective noun. You said the questioner's "boss's usage of the plural pronoun to refer to the company is not uncommon." That really didn't answer the question. The questioner, I'm certain, is aware that such usage is not uncommon. We want to know what's correct. I deal with this in my job in a large metropolitan daily newspaper sports section every day. We have decided that singular pronouns are appropriate for second references to teams with singular names. So, if a team is stupid enough to call itself Jazz, Heat, Fire or some other similar name, it will have to read us referring to "it" and not "them." Can you disagree? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mon, Dec 7, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
I prefer to think that "the company" functions like a collective noun. Almost always, it will function as an impersonal, singular entity, and we will use "it" when referring to its products, policies, etc. Surely, though, there are situations in which the employees of this company (including the boss) (or people writing about the company) want to refer to "our/their" product, "our/their" policy: Subaru has produced a fine all-wheel drive vehicle. They market it as a family car, not a sports vehicle.In my first sentence, I use a singular verb for Subaru; in my second sentence, preferring to think of Subaru as a plural entity, as a group of marketers or manufacturing people, I've used a plural pronoun. The only way to avoid the clumsy "It markets it as a family car" is to repeat the corporate name. I would think that sports writers must run into the same situation when writing about a team. "The Heat has secured the services of its first two draft choices." But then, when writing about the team: "The Heat has climbed into first place in the Eastern Division. They have not lost a game since early December." We run into the same situation at the college. In "The college has changed its policy on withdrawal," we refer to the impersonal, singular entity. But in the next sentence, we might say "We have decided to follow the pattern of our sister colleges." In the same way that a collective noun can take on a plural aspect -- "The crowd rose to their feet." "The subcommittee proposed their various plans for redesign." "The jury voiced their opinions." -- a corporate noun, I think, can take on plural aspects. If newspaper sports writers have decided that they have to refer to the Jazz and the Maple Leaf and the Heat consistently and perpetually as singular entities, so be it, but I think they've boxed themselves into an unfortunate position.
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| QUESTION |
What is the correct usage of "instruct"? Is it,
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Dayton, Ohio Tue, Dec 8, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| We usually instruct people in something, although the final version you give us is acceptable, I believe. The how can also be left out, as in "The judge instructed the jury to ignore the accused's outbreak." |
| QUESTION |
| A variety of techniques have (or has?) been employed to investigate these materials. I feel "have" is correct. But I see some people use "has". Can you explain. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Unknown Tue, Dec 8, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Don't let the plural word "techniques" confuse you; the subject here is variety, a singular noun, so we want the singular verb, "has." |
| QUESTION |
| Dear Grammar, I was wondering if there is a difference between 'various' and 'different'? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Hong Kong Tue, Dec 8, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| In some respects, they're very similar: "We invited various people to dinner." would mean almost the same thing as "We invited several different people to dinner." But various would put the emphasis on the "differentness" of the people you've invited (and some people would say that different is redundant in "several different people"). Being different often draws attention to the contrast between one thing and something else; unlike is a good synonym for different.Various calls attention to a pattern of differences and indicates diversity within a category: "They sold various [a variety of] Christmas cookies." Your best guide to such matters, of course, is a good dictionary. Authority: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994. p. 105. Cited with permission.
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| QUESTION |
| We have a debate going on about when to use "bring" and "take." If, for example, two of us are speaking in the kitchen, and we're about to go to the living room, would it be incorrect to ask "are you going to bring your drink with you?" And if I'm talking to you on the phone, and I'm about to leave for your house, is it better to say "I'll bring my basketball," or "I'll take my basketball?" Thanks for your help. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Flemington, New Jersey Tue, Dec 8, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
Usually, it's enough to know that bring denotes action toward someone or something and that take denotes action away from a speaker or event. The ideas of "towardness" and "awayness," however, can be slippery (as you prove in your examples). With the basketball sentence, you're telling the listener that the basketball is coming toward him/her, so you're bringing your basketball. I would tell my friend who is staying at home that I'm taking my basketball to a friend's house. In the drink sentence, the point of reference, as it were, is in the living room, and you are going to bring the drink with you. (If I were staying in the kitchen, I would say to someone going into the living room, "Are you going to take your drink with you?") ![[E-Mail Icon]](../gif/email.gif){kind=small} I will leave an e-mail icon here in case someone has a difference of opinion or can explain this more clearly.Authority: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994. p. 42. Cited with permission.
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| QUESTION |
| I am writing a paper comparing the use of superlatives among a few scientific authors: Stephen Jay Gould, Lewis Thomas, and Carl Sagan. I, however, cannot make a judgement as to whether they are used too often or not enough. I would like to know how many superlatives and comparisons in a given writing are concidered normal. I don't need exact numbers, but I would like to get somewhat of an understanding. Thank you very much, and I hope my request is clear. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Ithaca, New York Wed, Dec 9, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Your question is clear enough, but I don't know how to establish what is normal among scientific writers -- or among writers in general, for that matter. I suppose you could do some statistical study on the matter by scanning some representative pages from some representative writers (how you'd establish what constitutes a representative writer is quite beyond me, though) and having the computer count superlatives and comparatives (-er and -est endings). Then you'd have to compare that number to the same count with your scientific writers. I assume you'll find an abundance of superlatives in sci-fi writers, but that's just a guess. Good luck with your research -- and just be happy you've got a computer to help you with this kind of work. |
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