The Grammar Logs
#508

When is it appropriate to use "in which"?

Example: This is in contrast to patent laws throughout the rest of the world "in which" the patent goes to the first file.

In this case, is it appropriate? Or should "where" be used?

The "where" tries to refer to "the world," which is really not the point here; you want "in which" to refer to "patent laws," and that would make sense.

It would be fitting, you being among the first to visit. or your being among the first. Is it you or your in this sentence.

"Being among the first" belongs to the "you" of this sentence, so use the possessive form, "your."

'd appreciate it if you could correct my composition if unnatural or incorrect. If you have suggestions of better ways to say the same thing, please give them to me.

• They become better at communicating through sign language.
• They become better able to communicate through sign language.

Your sentences mean slightly different things. The first one means that their skills in sign language communication have improved; the second means they've improved their ability to communicate because they've learned sign language.

The sentence is:

At the moment, its staff are training a new police force.

The spelling and grammar check in my computer suggests: 'its staff is' OR 'their staffs are' Can you explain it to me. Thanks very much.

There are certain situations in which "staff" can be plural, even in the U.S., where it is almost always a singular — when the individuals within the staff are behaving like individuals (e.g., "The staff put on their official green jackets.") In England, I understand, you would be more apt to see a plural verb with "staff." In this case, though, I'd believe your computer.

A question about number agreement concerning the following sentence:

Johnson and Smith (1999) {argues/argue} that ..... .

1. Suppose Johnson and Smith are coauthors. Which would you prefer, 'argues' or 'argue' ?
2. Will 'Johnson and Smith (1999)' be replaced by 'they' in the following sentence?

Johnson and Smith (1999) argues that ..... and they have made the following hypothesis ..... .

If Johnson and Smith can be regarded as the singular name of the study, then it would be possible to use their name as a singular subject with singular verbs (as in "Masters and Johnson is the premier study of . . . ."). However, it appears that your Johnson and Smith remain separable, as coauthors, so I would recommend the plural verb. This makes the "they" in your second sentence quite appropriate.

Which of the following sentences would be correct, and why? "I would have liked to have seen that" or "I would like to have seen that."

The first option means that at some point in the past (a time period including right up to the present time) there is something you would like to have seen (or seen happen). The second option makes this feeling more of a present feeling: this is something that, right now, you wish you could have seen. In short, unless the "liking" is something that definitely belongs in the past, I see no reason to use that first construction. There may be other objections to this phrase that I'm not aware of, and I will leave an e-mail icon here in case someone else wants to add a note.

We are in the business of selling walnuts. We sell walnuts still in the shell, and often come across the discussion as to whether it should be refered to as "inshell walnuts" or "in-shell walnuts." Please help us. Thank you.

My dictionary is no help at all here. A search on Google reveals about twice as many uses of "in-shell" as "inshell." I'd use the hyphen, myself. Somebody who's not so well versed in walnut lore (like myself) might think at first glance that "inshell walnuts" refers to a variety of walnut.

In a sentence using 'something' reflects credit upon' should it be him/her or himself/herself that follows?

For example is it:
"His accomplishments reflect great credit upon himself."

or

"His accomplishments reflect great credit upon him."

Could you also provide a source document to support the answer. Thank you

The idea of the reflexive pronoun is that the subject and the object are pretty much the same, as in "The cat washed herself" or "He paid himself a handsome salary." That isn't happening in your sentence, where "his accomplishments" is not the same as the object. However, I think we're saved by the fact that your pronoun is contained within a prepositional phrase. And here we can use the reflexive "himself." Besides, if the verb "reflect" doesn't call for a reflexive pronoun, what does?

I have a sentence that I use when answering customer complaints. It is "we always appreciate our customers letting us know what areas we can improve on." Should it be improve on or improve upon?

How about "letting us know in what areas we can improve" or "letting us know how we can improve our products and services"?

Should the wording on a invitation read:

• Hospice of Pasadena of Partners in Care Foundation cordially invite you to our Light Up a Life Dinner
or

• Hospice of Pasadena of Partners in Care Foundation cordially invites you to our Light Up A Life Dinner

You want "invites," because this organization is a singular entity. Is that really the name of this organization, though? That string of prepositional phrases — Hospice of Pasadena of Partners in Care — can quickly start to unravel in the mind. I suppose it's too late to use something like "Hospice of Pasadena, Partners in Care Foundation, invites you . . . ."?

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