The Grammar Logs
#519

Please educate me on the uses of "for" and "from." I always considered myself to be "above average" with respect to English grammar but, this one has me stumped! Which of the following is correct and why?

• I hope that stupidity doesn't disqualify me from the faculty position!
• I hope that stupidity doesn't disqualify me for the faculty posiiton!

I can't find anything in my usage manuals on this choice, but as near as I can tell one is qualified for a position. You might be disqualified for making rude remarks to the search committee, but that means that you would be disqualified from the position. (I'm basing this distinction on what I read in a search for these phrases in Google.com.) Finally, you should know that no one has ever been disqualified from a faculty position because of stupidity.

The sentence is, "After April 15, I will begin saving for a new car." By eliminating the prepositional phrases, the subject is "I". Now, is the verb phrase "will begin saving" or "will begin" with "saving" as some other part of speech? Is "saving" a gerund? And how would this sentence look diagrammed? Thanks!

The subject is "I" whether you remove the prepositional phrase or not. That phrase simply modifies the verb, which is "will begin." "Saving" is a gerund, the object of what you will begin, and "for a car" is a prepositional phrase. I think you could argue that this phrase is modifying either the verb, telling us why you "will begin [saving]," but more likely it's modifying the gerund, "saving." For help in diagramming sentences, click HERE

I am in a terrible state! I just know that somewhere in my overworked brain there is an old rule about misusing the word once when you really mean after or when. For example:

• Correct — She can begin work on that project when/after she completes her current assignment.
• Incorrect — Once she finishes her assignment she can begin work on that project.

I have been unable to locate any documented information on this very common word usage mistake. I seem to be correcting it constantly. Can you guide me? And prove to my coworkers that I don't just make this stuff up?

I've never heard this objection before, and I would recommend that you put away your red pen on this issue. I don't see any notes on this usage in my writing manuals (any of them), except that Burchfield does note that "once" became a conjunction (which is how your sample sentence uses it) long after its original use as an adverb. But you're still talking about a use that's been around since the sixteenth century (as a conjunction meaning "as soon as").

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.

Do you use a comma before "and" in a sentence that contain "and that" i.e.:

Mary was told to feed the dog, and that she should brush him every day.

The sentence is clanking along because we've got two different kinds of objects (an infinitive and then a noun clause) where one would do. If we use parallel form, we can eliminate that clanking sound and the comma at the same time: "Mary was told to feed the dog and brush him every day" or "Mary was told that she should feed the dog and [that she should] brush him every day." (I much prefer the first version, though.)

Is an award named FOR someone or is it named AFTER the person?

I was surprised to read in Burchfield that these two patterns were fairly interchangeable until the 20th century, when "named for" gained ascendancy in the U.S., and "named after" became more popular in the UK. In your sentence, you could go either way.

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.

I'm usually stumped about what constitutes a series when scientists do something like the following:

The use of beeswax was shown through the identification of the constituent alkanes, mono- and diesters.

What makes a series? I would prefer to change it to read "alkanes, mono-esters, and di-esters," but am I in error if I leave it as is?

Thank you for your kindness.

I should hesitate to comment on something as technical as this, but the sentence, as is, seems to violate good parallel form. It doesn't seem to work at all without the hyphen in "di-esters" (but I wouldn't have the slightest idea about the proper spelling of such a word). You might be able to get away with "alkanes, mono- and di-esters, (with the hyphen in both the -esters)" but your revision seems, by far, the best solution for a neat, parallel, series.

Can you borrow me a book?

Can you loan me a book?

Are both of the above sentences acceptable?

Using the word "loan" has a long history, but a lot of people, over the years, have objected to its use as a verb. You'd be better off using "lend me a book." As for "borrow me a book," that is unacceptable in any level of text or even spoken language.

Please tell me which is the correct spelling in the following:

As she drove through the city and "past" all the landmarks that reminded her of great memories, she knew that she had made the perfect choice to come back.

As she droved through the city and "passed" all the landmarks .....

Thanks so much!

Either one would do. You've either got two verbs: "drove" and "passed" or you've got two prepositional phrases: "she drove through the city and past all the landmarks." If I had to choose, I think I'd use the verb "passed."

Does this sentence sound strange? If so, please suggest a rewrite. I'm not confident about the usage of words.

We rushed through the factory tour because our mind was all focused on beer tasting.

Thank you so much in advance.

The individuals in mind might have one purpose, but they still have different minds, so we're better off pluralizing here: "because our minds were all focused on . . . . "

Which is correct, "We ask that your office staff (notifies or notify) us in the event of ....

Because this sentence is couched as a polite request, we use the tentative, subjunctive mood here, meaning we want "notify," the root form of the verb.

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