The Grammar Logs
#536

What is the difference between persistence and persistency and how and when do you use them in a sentence?

According to Burchfield, they are virtually interchangeable, but persistence is far more common. "The firefighters were rewarded for their persistence as the flames gradually receded."

In the statement "Only she was selected," is "only" an adjective or an adverb and why? I have a book that says it is an adverb, but I think it is limiting the pronoun "she" and thus should be an adjective.

I see your argument, but it's an adverb. It is telling us something about the process of selection (the verb), which makes it adverbial. (As a test of this, you can move "only" to other places in that sentence without too much disruption in the sentence.) "Only" can be an adjective, but you'll recognize it easily when it functions as an adjective: "an only child, the only one, the one and only girl for me," etc.

A friend of mine seems to think "as such" is a synonym for "therefore." I disagree but maybe I am behind the times. As such, I am writing to you. (This last sentence is an example of how she might use the phrase… I would say this is not a correct usage.) I know that "as such" means "intrinsically" (e.g., "sugar, as such, is not necessarily bad for everyone") but I don't think just telling my friend this will satisfy her. If I could find some authoritative explanation of how to use "as such" or better yet, something that says in writing that it is NOT a synonym for therefore, that would be helpful. Thanks.

Your instincts about this phrase are correct. Garner notes this use of as such (to mean "therefore") and calls it "faddish." He gives an example of a sentence in which as such is used correctly, but it could be misread as meaning "therefore":

As such must always have an antecedent (i.e., the pronoun "such" must refer to something earlier — the word icon in the sentence above), and it always means "in itself" or (as you say) "intrinsically considered."

From The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Styleby Bryan Garner. Copyright 1995 by Bryan A. Garner. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., www.oup-usa.org, and used with the gracious consent of Oxford University Press.

Can you say from whence, or not?

Technically, from whence is redundant because "whence" means "from where." However, from whence has been used over the centuries by a great number of eminent writers — Shakespeare, Swift, Dickens, you name 'em — and people probably understand it better than they do a plain old "whence." I wouldn't recommend using it at all where a "from which" or "in which" would do the trick. Burchfield seems to lament the dusty quaintness or poetic quality of "whence" and says, "Words come and go, and whence may well come back into routine use."

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.

What is the proper way of using the " 's " . For example, when announcing my company's holiday party, is it ok to write…

Integra NeuroSciences's
2002 Holiday Party

The name of the company is already in the plural form with that -s ending on Sciences. We wouldn't add another "s" to form its possessive any more than we would write "General Motors's new lineup of cars." We'd just write "General Motors' new lineup." There's a bit of irony here, though, in that we would want to choose a singular verb and pronoun to go with the plural name of your company: "Integra NeuroSciences introduces its new CEO …" So adding just the apostrophe will have to suffice to announce your holiday party.

"Hiding in the portside unit are a fire extinguisher, levers for a manual fire extinguisher, and storage space."

What is the subject and what is the object of this sentence? Placing "Who" or "What" in front of the verb ("are") doesn't clarify what is the subject for me. When the main verb is a "being" verb rather than a "doing" verb, I sometimes find locating the subject difficult.

Thank you.

Finding the subject of a sentence is always as easy (or as difficult) as finding the verb. Once you've identified the verb, you have only to ask "who or what verbed [or, in this case, are verbing]." What "are hiding"? Clearly, it's the fire extinguisher, levers, and storage space. So those are your subjects. The sentence has no object. We don't actually have a "being verb" here; we have an auxiliary and a main verb, "are hiding," but the verb is intransitive in this construction and there is a sentence inversion going on — which is probably what puzzles you: the subjects are coming after the verb.

When giving a reader the choice between the singular and plural forms of a noun should the correct suffix for the specific word be placed in the parentheses or just an 's'?

For example: which is correct?

• dish(s)
• dish(es)

Give the complete suffix. The Gregg Reference Manual gives this example:

Please send the appropriate form(s) to the appropriate state agency(ies).

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. 167.

Here is the sentence as it currently reads:

The information contained in this message, including all attachments, are the private confidential property of ...

My question is: should the sentece read "is the private confidential property of..." or is the word "are" correct?

The subject, "information," is a non-count noun and must take a singular verb, "is." The subject is modified by the intervening phrase, "including all attachments," but it is not compounded by it (as it would be, say, with the conjunction "and").

My question is: which of the following sentences is grammatically correct?

• One in three Iowans owns one.
OR

• One in three Iowans own one.

I'm not sure if own should be plural or not.

It should be singular, "owns." (This is one of those rare situations in which logic actually seems to prevail in English.)

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