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The Grammar Logs # 373 |
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| QUESTION |
| If I italicize a foreign word in my essay once, do I have to italicize it every time I use it? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Hammond, New York  Wed, Feb 16, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| if the foreign word is something that your readers might well know — or even if they might have access to its definition in a standard dictionary — you can leave the word in standard Roman text, unitalicized. If, for example, the task of your essay was to define the Chinese concept of feng shui, you might italicize the phrase the first time it is used, and then leave it in normal font in subsequent uses. In other words, part of this decision — to italicize or not — is going to depend on how often you actually use the word or phrase. The Chicago Manual of Style seems to provide for this discretion: "the decision might be based on a blend of considerations — familiarity, inclusion in a dictionary, and sympathy with the reader." Authority: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed. U of Chicago P: Chicago. 1993. p. 212. |
| QUESTION |
| In the sentence 'Hundreds of soldiers faced each other' would the words 'each other'
be considered a pronoun acting together in reference to the subject hundreds; or
would other be a noun and each be a modifier? Thank you for your help. You have a neat, well organized website. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Greentown, Indiana Wed, Feb 16, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Merriam-Webster's lists "each other" as a pronoun unto itself, and that, I think, is how it's being used in this sentence. |
| QUESTION |
| Is it: "You should wear eye and hearing protection
whenever you use an electric tool" OR "...whenever you use an electrical tool'? Thanks. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Putnam, Connecticut Wed, Feb 16, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Nearly always, the word "electric" will suffice. When you mean "associated with electricity" in a more general way, as in "electrical engineering," you want the word "electrical"; also, you want to avoid ambiguity when you're using the word to mean "bright" or "exciting": "She was an electric speaker" and "The room was electric with tension." A storm can be either "electric" or "electrical." 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. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Electronic Edition. 1994. Used with permission. |
There's probably not a whole lot of difference, and you might well judge the usage here by what's going on in other regions. I would use "regional" myself. The Health Department in question here functions on a regin
| QUESTION |
I am trying to figure out the correct term to use:
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Ontario, Canada Wed, Feb 16, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| There's probably not a whole lot of difference, and you might well determine the usage here by what they've been doing in other regions. If the Health Department in question here functions on a regional basis, that's the word I would use. If it simply belongs or is based in that region, I'd go with region. |
| QUESTION |
I would like to know whether "much" or "many" is correct
in referring to a percentage, as in the sentence"The library is about to cut as much (many?) as 20% of the total periodical collection."Are percents individual units (therefore many) or parts of a continuum (therefore much)? Thank you. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Lawrence, Kansas Wed, Feb 16, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Your instincts are right: it depends on what you're measuring out in percentages. If it's countable, you would use many — "As many as 25 percent of the students are voting for Rodney." — and if it's a non-countable item (like your total periodical collection [as opposed to periodicals]), you'd use much. |
| QUESTION |
| I am a trainer at a national call center. We end every call asking "Is there anything else I can help you with?" Recently, people have been suggesting that this question is not gramatically correct because it ends with a preposition. We have changed it to "Is there anything else I can help you with today?" Would there be a better way to say this--without getting too awkward like "with which I can help you?" How about "Is there any other way I can help you today?" Our whole Quality Assurance Department is waiting for your response. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Des Moines, Iowa Wed, Feb 16, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Ending a sentence with a preposition is no longer the taboo it once was. I wouldn't worry about it. However, since there are people out there who do worry about it, I think the way you ended the sentence with "today" is a marvelous solution (and far more elegant than "Is there any other way. . . "). You should remember Churchill's rejoinder about sentence-ending prepositions: "That is nonsense up with which I shall not put." |
| QUESTION |
| Dear Grammar: Instinctively I believe that there is a difference between (and a proper use for both) "anytime" and "any time." However, I'm not sure how to describe the difference and uses. My own "grammar" is rusty. Can you help? The first, anytime, is a simple adverb answering the question "when" as in the following. "Anytime you need help, just ask." Correct? The second is an adjective that modifies "time" as part of prepositional phrase, which also answers the question "when." "I'll help at any time you say." Yes? I'd love your clarification of this niggling little problem. I'm tired of weasel-wording my way around it. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Concord, Massachusetts Wed, Feb 16, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
I don't think there's an easy way of explaining the difference, although your examples seem to suggest that you understand the difference — the difference between anytime the adverb and the modifer + noun — quite well. "At any time" (which is what "anytime" means, essentially) requires separation. In "Do you have any time to work with me this afternoon," we also need separate words. How about "Do you have any time anytime this afternoon"? ![[E-Mail Icon]](../gif/email.gif){kind=small} I'll leave an e-mail icon here in case anyone else can explain the difference more clearly than giving an example seems to do.
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| QUESTION |
| Please tell me and give some examples of Linking Vivid Verbs... |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Somewhere, New Jersey Wed, Feb 16, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
That's a new one for me. And I can't find the term in the indexes of my writing reference books (including a few ESL textbooks that I can usually rely upon). I'll leave an e-mail icon here in case someone can give us a definition. If I had to guess, I would say that the term is used to apply to linking verbs that use the senses in intransitive ways:
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| QUESTION |
Please tell me which of the following two sentences is
grammatically correct and why.
Thank you very much!
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Fair Lawn, New Jersey Thu, Feb 17, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I would write out the "twenty" and I would put an apostrophe after "year," so it would be "He is a man with over twenty years' experience. . . ." The first sentence is not wrong, though. Authority: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994. p. 273. Cited with permission.
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| QUESTION |
I don't understand how to use "as to". In what category do these
two words fall?
Is this example correct?
Counselors educate parents as to their child's next developmental level, and what steps to take next.This sentence seems incorrect to me. How can I make it better? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| San Francisco, California Thu, Feb 17, 2000
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Burchfield gives a couple of sentences in which as to is used, including this one: "[He] left no instructions as to whether you should write a second examination paper or not." And then he says, "In most other circumstances, though, as to is best left unused, especially when other constructions are available or when its presence is simply unnecessary." A simply "about" or "regarding" might substitute nicely for "as to" in the example you give. 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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