The
Grammar
Logs
# 267

QUESTION
While studying quotation marks, my students asked me if there was ever a case of quotations within quotations within quotations and how it would be punctuated. Does this type of situation exist? If so, how would it be punctuated?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Nashville, Tennessee Thu, Dec 10, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
It's not exactly the kind of thing you meet on a stroll through the park, but it can happen. In the United States (the practice is different elsewhere, in the UK, say), we would put the quote-within-a-quote inside single quotation marks, and if quoted language (or other need for quotation marks) exists within those single quotation marks, we would use a set of double quotation marks. This happens frequently, for instance, in the novels of Joseph Conrad, when virtually his entire story is a quotation, as the writer (Conrad) sits listening to someone (Marlow) telling the tale. Then the narrator quotes somebody speaking, and then that quoted speakers starts reading from a letter -- and then someone speaks within that letter -- so you'll end up with a quote within a quote within a quote within a quote. But Conrad's markings would be just the opposite of an American writer's. God help us.

QUESTION
When using the word "annual" in a program, is it correct to identify something as the "first annual" program, for example, the First Annual Holiday Concert? My husband says a professor told them that annual refers to something that has been happening each year and since it's the first instance, it can't be identified as "annual." However, I think the word "annual" signifies that it will happen every year and, thus, the "first annual" is appropriate.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Hampton, Virginia Thu, Dec 10, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
The professor probably has a point. If "annual" means "yearly" or "happening once a year," how can we say that the first one is an "annual" anything? What if the second one never happens? The title would be a lie. It only becomes annual after it has happened in an annual way. (Some would even say that the second performance, a year from now, is actually the first "annual" concert!) On the other hand, we call a plant that completes its life cycle in one year an "annual," and I assume we call it that from its inception as a plant. I see nothing wrong with implying the intent of its becoming an annual event by calling it "the first annual concert," but it's probably not worth the argument you're going to get. I'd just go with "Hampton's Holiday Concert."

QUESTION
Rules for using shall or will in a sentence, and is there a time when it is a demand or a promise that shall or will is to be used.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Bridgeport, West Virginia Fri, Dec 11, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Please check out the section on Auxiliary Verbs. In the U.S., we don't use "shall" for much more than very polite questions: "Shall I get you some lemonade?" It's more apt to be used in first-person (I and we) expressions of the future in British English.

David Eason writes the following about the uses of shall and will:
Another use of "shall" is when writing a document in which the provisions are legally enforceable in a court of law or other jurisdiction that can assign a penalty for failure to comply. I learned this when rewriting the Design and Construction Manual for the city of Boulder; the shalls and shall nots meant that noncompliance could result in the contractor being fined, but the wills and will nots were nonpunitive instructions.

I think legislation also uses that form. But, if this is formalized somewhere, I do not know where that might be.


QUESTION
What is the rule for using a semicolon as opposed to a colon to divide a sentence.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Nutley, New Jersey Fri, Dec 11, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
To connect two independent clauses, you will use either a comma plus a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, etc.) or a semicolon by itself or a semicolon along with a conjunctive adverb (however, morever, therefore, etc.). Remember that where you used a semicolon, you could have used a period, except you somehow felt that these two clauses were so nicely related and balanced that they ought to go into the same sentence -- and they didn't need a coordinating conjunction to go with them. So you used a semicolon. See the section (including the poor-man's slide-show) on Semicolons.

QUESTION
I am confused about gender issues regarding either/or neither/nor possessives. Example:
Neither Maria nor Fred will bring his/her/their/the car.
I know to avoid confusion one can use the article, as above. But what if one needed to show/use the possessive pronoun? Would one still make the pronoun agree with the noun that is closer to the verb?

Please advise, as my students are driving me crazy about this. Thanks.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
New York, New York Fri, Dec 11, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Your impulse to avoid the problem by using "the" is a good one. If they insist on a possessive pronoun, you'll have to choose the gender which reflects the noun closer to the the pronoun -- "his," in this case.

Authority: The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers by Maxine Hairston and John J. Ruszkiewicz. 4th ed. HarperCollins: New York. 1996. p. 340.
QUESTION
Can I begin a sentence with "Because"?

Thank you.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Southampton, UK Fri, Dec 11, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Yes. Because I said so.

You're welcome.


QUESTION
Please tell me the proper capitalization of the name and title in the following sentence - "For questions call jennifer adams, director of membership services, at 555-1234." I say the name and title should be capitalized because the comma says that the title is part of the name, but is there to emphasize the name instead of the title. Please get back with me on this. The person who edits our newsletter capitalizes the name only and leaves the rest uncapped. It looks weird. I need to know if it is correct. Thanks!
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Bee Spring, Kentucky Fri, Dec 11, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I would write "Jennifer Adams, Director of Membership Services," but I have to add that the Chicago Style Manual wouldn't capitalize the job title -- unless it were written in a list of acknowledgments. So it's you and me against Chicago -- and your editor. (The New York Public Library Writer's Guide lines up with Chicago, by the way, so we're taking on the big guns here.)

Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993. p. 240-242.


QUESTION
We are a mineral exploration company and have a specific named area we are exploring. The zone is called Hueves Verdes. Do we capitalize the word "zone" in the title? As in the following sentence:
The Hueves Verde Zone has shown high minerlization.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Spokane, Washington Fri, Dec 11, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Is this zone something like the San Andreas fault? or the Cascade range? I think it depends on what the actual name of the thing is. If it's called Hueves Verde and people know what you're talking about when you say "Hueves Verde," then I don't think you capitalize the word zone. The Chicago Manual of Style says that when a generic name is used descriptively rather than as part of the name, it is lowercased, as in "the Hudson River valley" or "the Indian peninsula" (it says). Quoting Chicago further might help:
Geographical terms commonly accepted as proper names are capitalized. Other descriptive or identifying geographical terms that either are not taken to apply to one geographical entity only or have not become commonly regarded as proper names for these entities are not capitalized.
Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993. p. 247.

QUESTION
I came across the following question in a test:
Use the past tense.
....Two weeks (were/was) too short, but I ....
I checked "was" and I know I'm right; however I don't know why. My teacher said that "were" is the right answer.

Could you please clarify this for me? Thanks a million

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Caxias do Sul - RS - Brazil Sun, Dec 13, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
With all due respect to your teacher, I agree with you. "Two weeks" in this sentence is a lump of time, a singular quantity (just as we would say that five minutes is not enough time or that twenty thousand dollars is a lot of money). The correct answer is "was."

QUESTION
Please tell me what I did wrong in this paragraph
Betty was selected Computer Whiz for exceptional performance in Exploratory Business. She is a very conscientious and hardworking person. Last marking period Betty received no grade lower than a 95 on all of her classwork.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Wilmington, Delaware Sun, Dec 13, 1998
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
The phrase "last marking period" seems to be missing a preposition -- like "During the last marking period." You might be able to omit the preposition in casual speech, but I certainly wouldn't leave it out in writing. (It's not the same as saying "Last week, Betty received no grade. . . .)

Previous Grammar Log

Next Grammar Log

Index of Grammar Logs

Guide to Grammar and Writing