The
Grammar
Logs
# 456

QUESTION
I'd like to ask about (3). We can interpret (1) either as (2a) or (2b). But do you think that the same holds true even if we reverse the order of the 'before-clause' as shown in (3)? To put it differently, Does (3) mean both or either of (2a) and (2b) , or neither?
  1. Hurry up before you miss the train.
  2. a. Hurry up so as not to miss the train.
       b. Hurry up, or you'll miss the train.
  3. Before you miss the train, hurry up.
I've appreciated your help.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Tokyo, Japan Thu, Oct 4, 2001
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
This is an interesting question. You could probably get away with #3 as a hurried expression in casual speech, but it is ambiguous. Because the act of missing the train comes first, the third sentence (#3) might suggest that you're going to miss the train and that you ought to hurry during that period of time before you miss the train (i.e., it doesn't really make you hurry to avoid missing the train).

QUESTION
What is correct:
  • "You or Dan is going."
  • "You or Dan are going."
Does it agree with the first or second subject? What is the general rule?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
San Francisco, California Thu, Oct 4, 2001
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
The verb should agree with the subject that is closer to it, so it should be "is." However, it sounds stupid. When a sentence like this sounds odd, try turning the subjects around: "Either Dan or you are going." I'm not sure why that sounds better, but it does.

QUESTION
I am working on a presentation and am confused w/the following irregular verb.
  1. "What brands do the Products Team currently handle?"
    or
  2. "What brands does the Products Team currently handle?"
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
St. Petersburg, Florida Thu, Oct 4, 2001
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
The subject (in a question) follows the verb, and "the Products Team" is a singular subject, so you want a singular verb, "does."

QUESTION
  1. These are a collection of valuable nineteenth-century manuscripts.
  2. These is a collection of valuable nineteenth-century manuscripts.
Which of the sentences is correct? Why?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Fri, Oct 5, 2001
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
If you really must build the sentence that way, then use "are," as "these" is the subject and "these" demands a plural verb. I don't know why we couldn't say, instead, that "This is a collection of valuable nineteenth-century manuscripts." Or skip the running-start beginning altogether, and begin your sentence with "This collection of valuable nineteenth-century manuscripts __________ " (actually saying something useful about the collection).

QUESTION
Would I use "technological advances" or "technological advancements" in a sentence? Is there a rule of thumb for this? I use 'British' English spelling and terminology if it makes a difference...
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Somewhere, Western Australia Mon, Oct 8, 2001
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
According to Burchfield, "advances" is much more common, although "advancement" is not by any means extinct. When you're talking about progress of some kind (says Burchfield), the term is nearly always accompanied by an "of _____ phrase," as in the "advancement of science." Because Burchfield is usually pretty good about pointing out the difference between British and American usage, his advice on this matter probably holds universally for English writers.

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
example 1
All associates, whether full time, part time or temporary, will be eligible to receive a bonus.

example 2
Tony was released from the hospital and is back to work part time.

Is part time or full time as used in both examples one word, two words or does it need to be hyphenated?

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Jacksonville, Florida Mon, Oct 8, 2001
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
When part-time or full-time precede a word, they are always hyphenated, as in part-time faculty members and full-time students. When these words appear elsewhere in a sentence, they will continue to contain hyphens as long as they are used as adjectives or adverbs, as in "I work part-time" and "His new appointment is full-time."

Authority: The Gregg Reference Manual by William A. Sabin. 9th Edition. McGraw-Hill: New York. 2001. Used with the consent of Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. p. 208.


QUESTION
What is the difference between "immune to" and "immune from"?
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
New York, New York Mon, Oct 8, 2001
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
According to Burchfield,
A person is said to immune to an infection (resistant to, protected from or against); or immune from some undesirable factor or circumstance (i.e., exempt from, not subject to). But the division is not clearcut.

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
"For an instant, a narrow band of sunset threw pink light on the river, the kind of light that if you saw it in a painting or book, would make you sit up and marvel."
My question is, do we require a comma after "that"—or is the sentence fine as is? Thank you.
SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Unknown Mon, Oct 8, 2001
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
It is clear that we need the comma after "book" to make sentence easy to read. A comma after "that" suggests that the information within the clause "if you saw it in a painting or a book" is not essential to the meaning of the sentence. Authorities will disagree about the comma after "that" because it's probably impossible to determine if the clause is essential or not. My own sense is that the clause is not essential and the comma after "that" is appropriate. The New York Public Library's Writer's Guide has a similar sentence:
The researchers are convinced that with enough time and money, a cure will be found.
The editors of the NYPL manual contend that the sentence, as given, is correct, and that it would also be correct with no commas or with a comma inserted, also, after "that." The comma after "money" is helpful in making the sentence easy to read, and the comma after "that" (if used) implies that the the phrase "with enough time and money" is not essential.

Authority: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994. Cited with permission. p. 254.


QUESTION
In a cover letter, I want to use the phrase "With 20 years experience." Do I use an apostrophe with the word years or not? I've looked throughout your site, and cover letter books which have it both ways. If both ways are acceptable, I'd like to know if one is more favored than the other.

Thanks.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Tue, Oct 9, 2001
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
Most writers and writing reference manuals will make that "years" a possessive because the "years" are thought to "belong to" experience. Thus, if you can put the word "of" between the descriptor and the thing being described, use the possessive form: "twenty years [of] experience" = "twenty years' experience." Or "ten weeks [of] pay" = "ten weeks' pay."

QUESTION
We are attempting to diagram the following sentence, and it has us stumped. Can you please help us identify the parts of speech for the following sentence?
He is out of his mind.
I think we can complete the diagram if we know more clearly how each word is used. It was my guess that He=subject, is=linking verb, out=predicate adjective, of his mind=prep.phrase modifying out.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE
Chesterfield, Missouri Tue, Oct 9, 2001
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
That's a pretty good guess, and it's probably as good as mine, but I'm thinking that "out of" is really one of those weird double prepositions, as in "We pulled him out of the well." Usually we can get rid of a double preposition. We say "He jumped out the window" instead of "out of the window" and we say "We pulled him from the well" instead of "out of the well." But I think we're stuck with the idiomatic expression "out of his mind" and its double preposition. I'd diagram "out of his mind as a single prepositional phrase with "out of" on the preposition diagonal.

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