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The Grammar Logs # 368 |
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| QUESTION |
| In the sentence "The building is located in the shopping district," is "is" acting as a helping verb, with "located" as the main verb, or as a linking verb, with "located in the shopping district" as an adjective predicate? I'm an editor, and I could really see the argument for either case. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Canandaigua, New York  Thu, Jan 13, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I think you're right. One could call it either, and it wouldn't make much difference, especially since the past participle form is sometimes a verb, sometimes clearly an adjective (as in "the interested parties"). In that particular construction, however, the word "located" is part of what is called a finite verb phrase, consisting of an auxiliary and a past participle to form a passive structure. I think it might be helpful to think of the difference between "He is interesting," in which the present participle is acting as a predicate adjective, and "He is interested in stamps," in which the participle is part of a verb string. Authority: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. p. 39. Used with permission.
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| QUESTION |
Say you have the following sentence: The students and teachers at the high school, who are very hard-working, have won an award.How can you tell whether the "who" clause refers to teachers AND students or just teachers? I believe that in this particular example it does refer to both. But if you wanted it to refer only to teachers, does putting the definite article in front of it help? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Rochester, New York Fri, Jan 14, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Putting "the" in front of "teachers" definitely changes things, but it's still not very clear. For one thing, "who are very hard-working" is trying to modify "high school," which you don't want it to do. Why not turn "hardworking" (and let's get rid of the hyphen and the intensifier "very") into a simple adjective and put it in front of whichever word or words you want to modify? "The hardworking students and teachers" or "The students and hardworking teachers" (the second option seems to slight the students, by the way). |
| QUESTION |
| "A friend such as I" is acceptable in a subject position in a sentence. Am I right in thinking that at the end of a sentence starting with "You are lucky to have a friend such as..." the appropriate form of the first person pronoun is " me" and not "I" as the pronoun is still part of the object of the verb "have"? I suppose that one way of getting around the difficulty is to use the preposition "like" which can only take a pronoun in the object form. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Somewhere, France Fri, Jan 14, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Whether you stick with such as or switch to like when introducing examples of a class seems to be a matter purely of taste. Burchfield recommends using such as when referring to more than one example: "Romantic composers such as Chopin, Schubert, and Tchaikovsky. . . ." But when referring to a single example (thing or person), either like or such as is acceptable: "A Romantic composer like Tchaikovsky. . . ." Burchfield also allows for the object form of the pronoun after such as (in sentences such as the one you suggest). Some writers insist that the such as is introducing a kind of understood clause, which would demand the subject form: "You don't often find a friend such as I [am]." But Burchfield takes note of sentences like Macaulay's "They were not bad, for such as her." Having said all this, I guess it's up to you. 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.
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| QUESTION |
| Which is correct? Mary's 40th Surprise Birthday Party or Mary's 40th Birthday Surprise Party? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Manhasset, New York Sun, Jan 16, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Technically, the problem with the first option you give us is that it appears we have give Mary forty surprise parties on each of her birthdays. That's unlikely. It really is her 40th birthday and a surprise party, which is how it ought to be worded. You could drop the 40th (maybe not a bad idea, anyway!) and say "Mary's Surprise Birthday Party," and that would work. I think people would know what is meant even if you used the second option, and they would show up on time anyway. If it's important, you could avoid the problem and invite people to a birthday party and say it's a surprise. |
| QUESTION |
| Is it now no longer necessary to use the preposition "on" when referring to a place that's an island? I always say, "I live on Guam." More and more, I hear people saying or writing "in Guam." Thanks for your help. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Dededo, Guam Sun, Jan 16, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I think it depends, for some reason, on the size of the island. We would say, for instance, that "I live in England" or "I live in Australia" (not on, in either case). With smaller geographical entities, we use "on": "She has a house on Stave Island" [in the St. Lawrence River]. When people leave off thinking of themselves as being on an island and begin to reside in it, instead, I don't know, and it would probably be folly for me to say. |
| QUESTION |
When should I use the word direct versus the word directly:
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Atlanta, Georgia Sun, Jan 16, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| According to Burchfield, direct and directly can both serve as adverb forms and direct would be correct for the sentence you give us (as it is in most cases when you mean "without deviation"). You have to watch out for directly because it can also mean "immediately." 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.
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| QUESTION |
| I would like to know the rule with writing out "percent". I see you
have it written out for two percent.
But what about numbers over 10? Is the proper way to write it 80% or 80 percent (or are they
both acceptable?) Thanks |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| McLean, Virginia Mon, Jan 17, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The Chicago Manual of Style makes a useful distinction between scientific/technical and statistical writing and what they call humanistic writing. In the former, use the numeral and the percent symbol: "Our study showed a 24% decrease in attention skills." In the latter, write out "percent" instead of using the percent symbol: "Thirty percent of the population has never read a novel." Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993. 299. |
| QUESTION |
| Is "premises" considered plural? eg: Which is correct? "The premises is soundly constructed." or "The premises are soundly constructed." |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Wed, Jan 19, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| In the sense in which you're using the word (a tract of land or the building(s) on it), premises can refer to a singular thing, but it's used as a plural: "The premises are in bad shape." Used to describe the proposition of a syllogism or a logical argument, the singular form would be "premise" and the plural would be "premises." |
| QUESTION |
In medical transcription, I am always coming across the terms
"followup" and "follow up". I always confuse the two.
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Arlington, Washington Wed, Jan 19, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| My dictionary doesn't include "followup" (as a single word). We would use the hyphenated compound as an adjective, "Schedule him for a follow-up visit" and as a noun, "He forgot to schedule a follow-up." Generally, for a verb, we use the two words: "Let's follow up this medication with two weeks of rehab." So you can follow up with a follow-up. |
| QUESTION |
| Which is correct?
Your presence and the part you played on the program (was or were) very warmly received. Thank you for your help. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Peekskill, New York Wed, Jan 19, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| It looks to me like you've got two separate things there; this person's presence and the part that he or she played can be held as two separate entities. Therefore, we want the plural verb were. If I'm wrong about this, and these two things are so interfused that they're one entity, then you want the singular verb. I vote for were. |
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