The Grammar Logs
#514

I wanted to know the proper spelling for hair's breadth or is it hare breath or some other variation. I thought is was the former and I see it in a national publication as the latter.

Thank you.

The phrase you're looking for is "hair's breadth," meaning the width of a hair, a measurement — real or metaphorical — of very small width. "Hare's breadth" makes no sense unless you're trying to measure distance by the width of a rabbit (which probably makes as much sense as the length of the king's foot, come to think of it), and hare breath is probably pretty disgusting. The misunderstanding has been around for a while. I think there's a fishing lure called "hare's breadth" and a Broadway play called Amy's View was written by David Hare, which gave way to some clever reviews about "Hare's Breadth."

I'm wondering about the use of the word "advance" vs. "advanced". I think a number of people I know have been using "advanced" incorrectly in the following way: "Advanced Registration is necessary." Shouldn't it be "Advance Registration is necessary"? The way they are using it suggests to me that they only want especially bright or talented registrations . . . or am I being too stuffy? Thanks!

I was so persuaded by your cogent (not stuffy) argument, that I was equally astonished to discover that Google.com will reveal nearly two million results for "advanced registration" to one and a half million results for "advance registration." According to Merriam-Webster's, the definition of "advance" (brought forward or made earlier in time) makes that the better candidate. "Advanced" means far on in time or age (a man of advanced age) or beyond elementary (advanced composition) or greatly developed — none of which apply to the registration process at most schools.

I have a question about the subject of a sentence. I know that in order to find the subject, you have to find the verb and ask who or what verb or verbed but what I don't understand is what type of word the subject can be. For example, with this sentence, 'Only the oldest of five cars failed inspection', OLDEST is the subject. Isn't oldest an adjective?

There's kind of an understood "one" following the adjective "oldest," and that's perfectly legitimate. You can look at that way, or you can simply say that the adjective, in this instance, acts like a noun. It could even happen with a comparative adjective: "Of these two brothers, the older is the richer." And a simple adjective can become what is called a collective adjective, as in "The poor will always be with us."

"Humans are sexual beings from birth, our sexuality grows and develops, as do our motor skills and mental capacity." Should we use do or does ?

You want the plural "do," because the subject is two discrete but compounded things, "skills" and "capacity." There's a comma splice here. We could use either a semicolon or a period after "birth."

Which is correct?

• Can you get pass him?
or

• Can you get past him?

I think pass is correct. The two words are a little confusing. Doesn't pass mean to move on, or to proceed?Does it mean to go by as well? Doesn't past refer to no longer current, or gone by. I get a little confused because PAST can be used as an adjective, adverb, preposition and noun. However, I assume it's never used as a verb like PASS. Help!!!

Unfortunately, you want "past" there. When it is a preposition, it means "by" or "beyond," which is what you want in this sentence. I certainly agree that the words are confusable. It gets worse because the word past sounds exactly like the past tense of pass: "He PASSED the ball PAST the fifty yard line."

Is this a useable sentence?

Lively up any room in your home or office with these lamps!

It depends on where you're using it. I trust you mean "liven up," as "lively up" is an abomination. "Liven up" is a phrasal verb, an acceptable substitute for "enliven" in casual speech (or sales patter).

The name of my company is Carter's and I need to pluralize it (show possession).

I think that Carter's' looks funny.

Is there an appropriate way to pluralize the word? In some cases, I'm able to show posession by writing such phrases as, "the book of Carter's or the approval of Carter's", but most of the time it just sounds awkward.

Help! Thanks!

I don't think you want to pluralize it, as you just have one store, right? You just need the possessive form. The name you've chosen means that the store belongs to Carter — Carter's, over on Fifth Avenue. If you want to show possession of a book, you do it in the same manner, "Carter's books" or "Carter's recommendations" or "Carter's storefront," etc. It works the same way for the big boys: "Friendly's ice cream" and "MacDonald's hamburgers." You don't need to use the "of ___" construction.

What's the rule on Feel vs. Believe?

• Do you feel that you've lost control?
or

• Do you believe that you've lost control?

Thanks.

Bryan Garner regards feel as a "weak and informal substitute for think, believe, maintain, or submit."

Authority: A Dictionary of Modern American Usage by Bryan Garner Copyright 1995 by Bryan A. Garner. Published by Oxford University Press (New York: 1998).

When you have a compound adjective like multicolored should it have the "ed" suffix? I'm a freelance proofer and a previous proofer took out all "ed"s on these adjectives in a gardening book—multicolor petals, bright color reds, yellow-flower plants, bell-shape blooms, etc. I think it sounds more natural to say multicolored, yellow-flowered, etc. but that may be a regional thing. The only rule I or my coworkers have been able to find is a vague reference to use the "ed" for animate objects only (which may or may not apply to plants per Websters 10th Collegiate). Please let me know your thoughts on this.

I'm not aware of any rules on this, but I agree that the modifiers with the -ed ending sound more natural, although I'm not sure about "bright color reds" (wouldn't that be brightly colored reds?), and I'm not too sure about yellow-flower plants versus yellow-flowered plants (they feel like two different things to me). If you do a search on Google.com, you'll find many more "multicolored" results than "multicolor," so you can take that for what it's worth. I think your previous proofer had childhood nightmares about -ed endings.

My question is when to use "both" or "each." My friend says "both parties declined binding arbitration" should be "each party declined . . ." Her reasoning, I think, is that "both" requires action in concert: "Both played on the team"; "both were pallbearers." Whereas, if each acts separately, even though similarly, "both" is incorrect.

My purpose is to emphasize what the parties did, so "the parties declined . . ." is not strong enough. "Both parties declined" sounds stronger, in the same sense as "all parties declined"; whereas "each party declined," while technically accurate in that they acted separately in saying no, sounds wimpy and precious.

What is the usage rule?

Many thanks.

If you use "each" instead of "both," you will emphasize the individuality, the particularity of separate acts (although the possibilty of the acts having been done in concert is still not precluded, not yet anyway). Other than that, there is no difference. "Both parties declined arbitration" does not necessarily mean that they did it together, in concert (although it could, in a fuller context). If you use "each," I think your reader will want to know why there is this sense of separateness about the acts of the two parties.

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