The
Grammar
Logs
# 402
QUESTION Which is correct: or some other combination?
- Dos and Don'ts
- Do's and Don't's
- Do's and Don'ts
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE Phoenix, Arizona Sun, Sep 3, 2000
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE Go with "Dos and don'ts." It looks odd until you get to the "don'ts" part; then people know what you mean. Authority for this note: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Electronic Edition. 1994. Used with permission.
QUESTION When writing a letter on legal letterhead (e.g., name of firm on top with names of attorneys on upper left hand side), after very truly yours, we usually say the name of the firm (e.g., Jones & Jones, (on the next line) A Professional Corporation and then skip a few lines and say By: and under that line for the signature, what is correct? Is it John J. Jones, Esq. or is John J. Jones sufficient, particulary since we know this is a law firm and the only names listed are those of attorneys. I know if someone other than an attorney signs, we say Jill Johnson, Legal Assistant, but specifically my question is do we have to type in the name followed by Esq. under the signature. Thank you. SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE Denver, Colorado GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE It certainly seems unnecessary, but I think it would be wise to see what other firms do. Burchfield says that only in America do attorneys use this bit of heraldry after their names, and only when they're writing to each other. It seems particularly odd to the British to see Esq. appended after a woman's name (since it comes from a term that originally signified a young man of gentle birth). It is a bit of social signification and has no legal import; I'd leave it out, but I have no outside authority to back me up on this matter. 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 I have never been sure how to write the following words. Hope you can help me with the correct form. Is it correct to write: grandaddy, grand-daddy, or granddaddy? Also grandaughter, grand-daughter, or granddaughter. It's pretty clear on compound words that have different letters, but I'm not sure about words where the letter is repeated in the middle of the word. Thanks!
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE Durham, North Carolina GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE My dictionary lists "granddaughter," but then it lists both "grandad" and "granddad." That doesn't seem very consistent, does it? I'd use both d's if I were you. Authority for this note: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Electronic Edition. 1994. Used with permission.
QUESTION Which sentence is correct? Thank you in advance for your response.
- Enclosed for your convenience are a job announcement, city map, and visitor's parking permit.
- Enclosed for your convenience is a job announcement, a city map, and a visitor's parking permit.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE San Francisco, California GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE Inverted sentences (in which the verb appears before the subject) are not exactly rare in English, but they don't happen that often. You've got one here, and the subject is clearly three separate things (it's not a package, really). So you want the plural verb, "are." If the speaker or writer is thinking of the three items as a singular package, one can certainly see why the singular "is" would come to mind, and I would not regard the singular verb as an egregious error.
QUESTION Can "act" be used as a linking verb? (yes or no). If yes, please give me an example sentence. Can "doing" or "having" be used as linking verbs? (yes or no). If yes, give me an example of each.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE Austin, Texas GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE I don't see any allowance in the dictionary for these verbs to behave as linking verbs. "To act," however, functions as a linking verb in sentences like "He acts stupid" or "Don't act dumb" or "Act your age!" "To act stupid" does not mean the same as "to act stupidly," although I would have a hard time defining the difference. "To act stupid" means "to behave stupidly," right? I don't think we'd use "act" in this way in formal text.
We sometimes hear that someone "does good," meaning that they do good works, they perform community service, etc. That's not a linking verb, though, because "good" is acting as an object there, not a predicate adjective. If "good" were acting as a predicate adjective (We tell our heroes after a game, "Hey, you done good!"), it's strictly in a casual and slangy context. I can't imagine do and have being used as linking verbs, but I'll leave an e-mail icon here in case someone else can shed more light on the question.
QUESTION Are the words Grim Reaper and Mother Nature capitalized? I did so in this sentence, but why? SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE Medina, Ohio GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE I suppose because these are two individuals you definitely don't want to slight with lower-case letters! Besides, they're easily identifiable personifications — not necessarily persons you want to invite over for lunch, but we think of them as people nonetheless.
QUESTION My question concerns collective nouns and "that/who." Should you say "The team that..." or "The team who..."? Similarly, should you say "The company that doesn't know how to change will go out of business" or "The company who doesn't k now how to change..."? Is there a specific rule of grammar to cover this? I have searched many reference sources and have never found any specific discussion of this issue--Chicago Manual, Words into Type, Strunk and White, Hodges' Harbrace College Handbo ok, and Question You Always Wanted to Know About English. SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE Boston, Massachusetts GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE I don't think I've ever seen it written that "who" would be incorrect in that situation, but we know that "that" is correct, so I'd stick with that. It probably has something to do with the relative impersonality of the collective entity.
QUESTION Dear Ask Grammar: Could you please let me know if the following sentence is proper grammar. I think something is wrong:
Ben Smith drove across the A. Murray MacKay Bridge, the taste of eggs and bacon still in his mouth.Thank you for your help.SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE Halifax, Canada GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE As a general rule, it's a good idea to position a modifying phrase or clause as close as possible to the thing it modifies. If we put "the taste of eggs and bacon still in his mouth" at the beginning of this sentence, Ben (and the reader) will be happier (issues of oral hygiene aside).
QUESTION What is the best way of writting a date in order Day, Month, Year? Where should I put the comma? Is it correct to write it the following way: 31 August 1981? Thank you very much!
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE Limassol, Cyprus GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE In the United States (outside the military, anyway), it is common practice to write the month before the date: December 21, 1944, with the comma separating the day from the year. Frankly, it doesn't make a lot of sense. At our college, for example, where there are many international students, confusion results when native students write a date such as 4/1/2000 (meaning April 1, 2000), and international students read it as the fourth of January. I have no evidence to back me up on this, but I think that more and more people, even in the U.S., are writing dates as 31 August 1981 (with no comma).
QUESTION If you have a compound subject which uses "or" as the conjunction to join two singular nouns (ie, Joe or Bill), is it considered a singular or plural subject? Which is correct:
- "When Joe or Bill report a mistake . . . "
-OR-- "When Joe or Bill reports a mistake . . . "
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE Abilene, Texas GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE When your subject is compounded with "or," the number of the verb is determined by the number of the subject closer to it. (In this case, it doesn't matter, since both Bill and Joe are singular.) We need a singular verb, "reports."
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