| QUESTION |
I am wondering if the following sentence is a either
of these two: Misplaced modifier or Lack of parallelism.
After he swept the floor, washed the dishes, and did the mending of the clothes,
Montgomery took a break.
|
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Murrayville, Georgia  Wed, Mar 21, 2001
|
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
There's nothing wrong with the modifiers in this sentence. The sentence might flow more smoothly, however, if we used a simple past tense in the third verb of the dependent clause:
After he swept the floor, washed the dishes, and mended the clothes, Montgomery took a break.
This way, we have a nice, rhythmical, and parallel form throughout the clause.
|
| QUESTION |
How can I rewrite this sentence to read better or is it
OK the way it is written.
The purpose of this list is to identify those Affirmative Action Officers
and like titled individuals with 5 years experience and education in the
area of equal employment opportunity, affirmative action compliance, regulatory
actions or other
ancillary experience.
|
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Mt. Laurel, New Jersey Wed, Mar 21, 2001
|
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
You might try something like
The purpose of this list is to identify those affirmative action officers and individuals with similar titles who have five years experience and education in the areas of equal employment opportunity, affirmative action compliance, regulatory actions, or similar fields.
You might put "and individuals with similar titles" in parentheses.
|
| QUESTION |
| Is there a difference between using the word
"forward" and the word "send"? I think of "forward" as delivering the one copy of
a letter to a person, who in turn "forwards" it to someone else. I think of "send"
differently, such as making
multiple copies of an original and "sending" them directly to the intended
recipients. Am I being too picky by trying to distinguish between the two?
|
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Minneapolis, Minnesota Wed, Mar 21, 2001
|
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| That's an interesting distinction, and it seems useful to me. Unfortunately, the dictionary — at least my dictionary — doesn't really back it up. It lists "send" and "transmit" as a possible meaning for "forward."
|
| QUESTION |
"We were a self-centered army without parade or gesture, devoted to freedom, the second of man's creeds, a purpose so ravenous that it devoured all our strength, a hope so transcendent that our earlier ambitions faded in its glare."
"Second" is an appositive. Is "purpose" also an appositive, and if not what is
it, and what about "hope"?
|
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Somewhere, Canada Wed, Mar 21, 2001
|
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| If "the second of man's creeds" (whatever that means) is an appositive for "freedom," then the noun phrases beginning with "purpose" and "hope" are (also) both appositives for "freedom." It's rather a piling up of phrases, isn't it?
The problem with this sentence (for me) is that phrase "the second of man's creeds." Since I don't know what it means (nor do I want to know, really, since I don't trust anyone trying to tell me what "man's creeds" must be), it's rather hard to say what it's an appositive for.
|
| QUESTION |
Preparing the minutes of a meeting, I have
to use indirect quotation, so that I am a bit confused about the correct
tense sequences in the dependent clauses. Are there special rules for tense
sequences within indirect quotation?
Would be the following sentence correct:
"The CTO stated that no action would be undertaken in this matter until
a definite business plan was available."
or has it to be:
"The CTO stated that no action will be undertaken in this matter until a
definite business plan is available."
Thanks
|
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| The Hague, The Netherlands Wed, Mar 21, 2001
|
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Your first sentence uses the "unreal conditional" mode (also called
contrary to fact or expectation): The CTO doesn't really expect the
business plan to be available, or at least there's a good chance that it
won't. Your second sentence uses the "real conditional" mode: The CTO
expects the business plan to be a available sometime in the future — no
serious doubt about it, just a question of time.
So both sentences are grammatically correct; they just show different shades of
expectation.
|
| QUESTION |
But what the examiner wants is/are only 3 of the
so-called "laws"
of Quality Meeting. Which is correct, "is" or "are"?
In this case, does "only" modify the number 3?
|
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Singapore Thu, Mar 22, 2001
|
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Yes, "only" modifies the number three. You want "is" in this sentence; the subject is a noun clause, "what the examiner wants," and that clause is a singular thing. The sentence might have been written, "But the examiner wants only three of the so-called . . . ." (But this is not to suggest that your sentence is incorrect.) Incidentally, I would avoid using quotation marks around the word after the phrase "so-called."
|
Previous Grammar Log