The
Grammar
Logs
# 346

QUESTION
When do we use may or might?
Exampl: I might finish my homework or I may finish my homework
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Charlotte, North Carolina Sun, Sep 5, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Those two words, nowadays, when expressing possibility, are virtually interchangeable. The only difference is that "might" expresses a bit more tentativeness.

Authority: The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996. Used with the permission of Oxford University Press.
QUESTION
Our question is: Which is correct and why?
  • You can come to the costume party as WHOEVER you want to be.
    or
  • You can come to the costume party as WHOMEVER you want to be.
Thanking you in advance
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Unknown Mon, Sep 6, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
"Whomever" is correct. The question really is whether you want the subject or the object form of the clause that follows "as." You would say, "You want to be him," which means you're looking for the object form in that clause, which means you want "whomever." Even if it weren't for the clause following "as," you would still want "whomever." We would say "You can come to the costume party as Lincoln," and we would ask "You're going to the party dressed as him?", right? So even there you're looking for the object form.

[E-Mail Icon]I would certainly like to hear from others on this question. I do not have great confidence in this response—mostly because "whoever" still sounds better to me.

The person who originally posted this question writes back with the following:

The correct answer is: whoever. Notice that there is the being or linking verb to be. This renames the subject, so the correct choice is whoever since it is a predicate nominative. You is the subject of the clause. Whoever is a subject complement. It is not a direct object because it follows the linking verb to be, so the nominative case is used. Only action verbs can have objects.
I agree, now.

QUESTION
A student of mine is having a hard time understanding that the word "like" is a preposition. I gave her the standard definition of a preposition with examples, but she still seems to be in the dark. Is there a simple way to clarify this concept to her? Explanations of prepositions have always been, at best, vague and imprecise. I would like to know if there are any simple and clear ways to define and identify prepositions.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Morehead, Kentucky Mon, Sep 6, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Prepositions are hard to define because they don't mean anything. (How's that for overstatement?) That is, in themselves they're hard to figure out, but in a phrase with other words they perform functions and establish relationships that are fairly obvious. It's like defining conjunctions: try defining "and" or "however" without tying yourself in knots. Prepositions only become meaningful when they are connected to other words in prepositional phrases. Then you can see them doing something, showing what something is like, where it is, when it is. And prepositional phrases, for all their variety, are remarkably similar: the preposition, a modifier or two, and the object of the preposition. More often than not, they behave as adjectives; sometimes, they're adverbial; very occasionally nouns. It's probably no more difficult to explain how "John is like his father." than it is to explain "John is in the kitchen." They function in the same manner. So my advice is to forget trying to explain prepositions; explain prepositional phrases instead.

See, also, our section on Prepositional Phrases.


QUESTION
How would you punctuate a series of questions:
ex:
I asked personal questions along the lines of "What was it like getting married before going to medical school?" "Are you happy with your family life?" and "Knowing what you do now about the practice of medicine in the 1990's, would you recommend pursuing a career in medicine?"
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Van Alstyne, TexasUnknown Tue, Sep 7, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Putting a comma after the quotation marks makes for a bit of a mess, doesn't it? I suspect that would be correct, but I would recommend making a vertical or display list of the sentence and avoiding the problem:
I asked personal questions along the lines of
What was it like getting married before going to medical school?
Are you happy with your family life? and
Knowing what you do now about the practice of medicine in the 1990's, would you recommend pursuing a career in medicine?
QUESTION
is this correct:
  • I feel fortunate to have found a profession that I love and believe this will lead to a fulfilling and successful career.
    or
  • I feel fortunate to have found a profession that I love and believe that this will lead to a fulfilling and successful career.
(if both are correct, is one better?)
(I don't want to put another 'I' in the sentence)
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
New York, New York Wed, Sep 8, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
You don't have to repeat the "I," but you do have problems with that sentence. No matter how you write it, the "this" is unclear. What will lead to a fulfilling and successful career? Perhaps I'm confused by your use of "profession" and "career." (How does a profession lead to a career?) And, finally, without the repetition of "I" you run together the two verbs "love and believe" and end up saying something silly. Perhaps something simpler would improve on things:
I feel fortunate to have found a job that will lead to a fulfilling and successful career in _________ .
[And, incidentally, use your spellchecker!]

QUESTION
In the sentence "He ran home.", is the word "home" an adverb? Could you please explain to me why it is or is not an adverb?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
West Haven, Connecticut Wed, Sep 8, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I rather imagine it's a prepositional phrase with the preposition left off. That truncated prepositional phrase is, however, acting like an adverb, telling us how (or where?) he ran.

QUESTION
The dictionary shows that the word "freshman" is only to be used as a noun yet I see it used as an adjective all the time (i.e., freshman class). Is it okay to use the word as an adjective? If so, would you say "freshman members of the board" or "freshmen members of the board"?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Beltsville, Maryland Wed, Sep 8, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Actually, I wouldn't recommend either. For reasons that one might dismiss as political correctness, "freshman" has become a word that most writers will avoid for its apparent gender bias. You're much better off with "first-year members of the board." As far as its being an adjective is concerned, many nouns can be attributive in nature, sometimes to the point of turning into a compound word, as in bookcase. If you have to use "freshman," write it as "freshman members. . . ." but try not to use it at all.

QUESTION
I think my question is a subject/verb agreement question with a collective noun. Is it correct to use "is" or "are" in the following question?
"In what state are/is the Black Hills located?"
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Coleman, Texas Wed, Sep 8, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Geographical areas with pluralized names can act in strange ways. When they are being regarded as a singular political entity, they take singular verbs: "The Virgin Islands was once occupied by . . . ." But then, as a geographical construct, they take plural verbs: "The Virgin Islands are beautiful." In the sentence you give us, the subject, the Black Hills, comes after the verb, and they are behaving as a plural entity: they are located. . . .

QUESTION
I do not understand the difference between
  • I forgot to study for a econmics test.
    and
  • I forgot studying for a economics test.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Monterey, California Wed, Sep 8, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
The first sentence means that you didn't do it—like one of those bad dreams in which you have to sit for a final exam that you forgot to study for. The second sentence means that you did, in fact, study for the exam, but you can't remember doing so (either because it was so long ago or because you're really slipping). "Forget" is one of those weird verbs that can lead to quite different meanings depending on whether it's followed by an infinitive or a gerund.

QUESTION
When and why did the practice arise of prefacing certain gerunds with the letter "a" among various sects of the British Isles?
eg. "I'm going a-milking Sir, she said."
"Daddy's gone a-hunting."
Is it still in vogue? If not, why not?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
San Diego, California Thu, Sep 9, 1999
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
I don't think we can classify the "-ing" form here as a gerund; I think it's usually part of the verb string, and the "a" prefix, if we can call it that, suggests engagement in an ongoing process (a practice going back to the early sixteenth century. You'll find it primarily in literary works and it's extremely rare now, although Bob Dylan used it to good effect (apparently) in "The times they are a-changing." And we all say "Times a-wasting" from time to time. But is it in vogue? I'd say no, it's not. Burchfield, though, says "it seems to be having a limited revival, imparting an element of informality or whimsicality to the present participle or gerund that it precedes."

Authority: The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996. (under "a") Used with the permission of Oxford University Press.


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