The Grammar Logs
#555

I need help with the use of "myself" vs. "I" or "me." Please check my grammar in the following:

Neither Rick, Keith, Jack, nor I are going to be in town on Friday.

The choice of "I" would be correct, but the choice of a verb is not correct. When you use the correlative conjunction neither-nor to compound subjects, the number of the verb is determined by the subject closest to that verb. In this case, your verb has to agree with "I," so the verb would be "am." If that sounds clumsy to you, you can avoid the problem by putting one of the other subjects closer to the verb (and then you'll use "is going," which might not sound any better), or you'll have to reword the sentence entirely.

Which is correct:

• The University is committed to become a model of environmental responsibility.....
or

• The University is committed to becoming a model of environmental responsibility...

"To becoming" would be a better use of the idiom, but it still sounds odd or stuffy. I suppose it's just too forward and direct to say that the university will become a model of environmental responsibility? Or, that the university is strongly committed to principles of environmental responsibility?

During this difficult period of time, we in the Jewish community, and quite frankly, everyone around the world, needs you now more than ever. or ... need you now more than ever.

The subject of the verb is "we," so we definitely want the plural verb, "need." You might make it a bit clearer by setting off the "and quite frankly, everyone around the world" with a pair of dashes. (I might recommend leaving out the "everyone around the world" phrase; it's so grand and vague that it becomes rather vaporous, making us wonder why we even started with "we in the Jewish community.") The phrase "period of time" can also be pruned to either "period" or "time."

Is it appropriate to say "They sing it differently" or "They sing it different"? Some of us think it must be "differently" because it modifies "sing," but others think "different" is also acceptable because it is analogous to "They paint it green." The latter group thinks "different" is appropriate because it describes a change in state of the thing being sung just as "They paint it green" describes a change in state of the object being painted. Thanks!

The Shorter Oxford does give "different" (meaning "in a different manner") as an adverb as well as an adjective, but notes that this is a dialectal variant. It would appear that "different" (in your sentence) would be a common usage, but that "differently" would be preferred in formal situations. I would suggest that "They sing it differently" would refer to the manner of singing and that "They sing it different" would suggest that their version of the song is somewhat different.

Authority for this note: Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Fifth Edition. Oxford University Press, New York. 2002.

What is the proper punctuation between hospital and the number 25 in the sentence below? I can't tell if the second half of the sentence, begining with the number 25, is an independent clause. If it is an independent clause, are the numbers (25, 5 and 7) compound subjects of that clause?

Thanks so much for your help!

Here's the sentence:

There were 37 nurses picketing in front of the hospital, 25 of them were waving at passing cars, 5 of them were carrying signs, and 7 of them were shouting.

The first clause, "There were 37 nurses picketing in front of the hospital," is an independent clause, and it can be used as an introduction to the remaining three (and independent) clauses. I'd use a colon to separate it from the rest of the sentence. The three remaining clauses each has a subject (25, 5, and 7, respectively) and a verb: "were waving," "were carrying," and "were shouting," respectively. Instead of using the colon, you could use a period after "hospital," but there are rules about beginning sentences with a number that we ought to obey.

Is the word 'agenda' a plural? If so, which one would be correct?

• Agenda is as follows. OR
• Agenda are as follows.

Technically, yes, "agenda" is a plural word, the plural form of the Latin singular "agendum," meaning "a thing to do." But agenda also means a list of things to do, so it can be used—in fact, it always is—in the singular. We would write, "The agenda is as follows." Although the plural form, agendas, seems to be a double plural, that is also regarded as acceptable: "There were two separate agendas for the meeting."

What's wrong with this sentence?

" Today the temperature at Miami Beach is 40 degrees higher than New York."

The sentence is comparing the temperature of Miami Beach to the city of New York. How about, instead, "Today the temperature at Miami Beach is 40 degrees higher than the temperature at New York" or "Today, Miami Beach is 40 degrees warmer than New York"?

Yes, that would be acceptable. Of course, you can also write "the daughter of George VI."

I used 'each have' in class today and a student questioned my use of it. Was I wrong. Is the difference between each have and each has like the use of 'is' and 'have' with nouns such as committee and the government, as in acting as a group or as individuals? If I was not wrong and both are possible, where can I find some more examples of the use of each have and each has?

Each is invariably coupled with a singular verb, even when a plural noun intervenes (usually as the object of a preposition) as in "Each of the students has earned a place on the debate team." The only exception (and it is not really an exception) is when "each" functions as an appositive (but it is not really the subject), as in "The students on the debate team each have contributed to the morale of the college." (The actual subject and its verb are underlined; "each" is an appositive for the subject.)

I want to know what is the limiting adjective and describing adjective in this sentence : Derek's friend has brown wavy hair

"Limiting adjective" is not a phrase I'm familiar with. I believe, however, it would apply to the possessive noun in this sentence, "Derek's." That word limits the word friend to a specific case. The words "brown" and "wavy," on the other hand, only describe the hair. I do know that determiners are sometimes called limiting adjectives, as in "This car has been sold already." I will leave an e-mail icon here in case someone can give us a better definition. There is a term, "restrictive adjective," that describes adjectives restricting the reference of a noun exclusively or particularly, such as "a certain person," "the exact answer," "the very man," etc. But this class doesn't seem to apply to your sentence.

Authority: A Grammar of Contemporary English by Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik. Longman Group: London. 1978. p. 261.

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