The Grammar Logs
#582

I am not sure if this statement neeeds a comma:

Osteopathic medicine encourages patients to be advocates of their own healthcare by promoting greater knowledge and understanding of disease and adopting preventive methods

The problem with that sentence, whether we add a comma or not, is that it suggests that the patients might promote greater knowledge, adopt preventive methods, etc., and that's not what is intended. We'd be better off if we put those modifying phrases closer to" "osteopathic medicine," at the beginning of the sentence:

By promoting greater knowledge and understanding of disease and adopting preventive methods, osteopathic medicine encourages patients to be advocates of their own healthcare.

• I think we should cast the net as widely as possible.
or

• I think we should cast the net as wide as possible.

If we use the adverb "widely," the word will try to modify the verb "cast," which makes it sound like we're casting the net all over the place, almost randomly. What we really want to say, here, is that the net that we cast should be as WIDE as possible (adjectivally), so I'd stick with "wide" (or find another way of saying that our net must be as wide as possible).

Is it ever acceptable to use the phrase "The point being..."? It seems to me the correct way would be to use "The point is". What are the grammar/usage rules for this. If correct, what verb form is it?

I sent this questions to a Professor of English (at a large state university), who wrote a book on Enflish usage, asking for a technical explanation. He responded, "I don't have a technical explanation for you, but this use of "being" is pretty standard, in my opinion". (Doesn't exactly restore my faith in higher education!)

"Being" (accompanied by its sidekick "point" or not) is often employed in an absolute construction attached to a complete sentence. As such, it is acceptable. For instance, we might write: "The legislators went ahead and passed the measure, the expectation BEING that they knew the governor would veto the bill in any case." The absolute construction misfires, however, when it is not properly connected to another sentence and it's left hanging out there as a fragment. The point being that you don't want to do that. (See?) This is not say, however, that fragments are always an evil thing; sometimes and occasionally, they serve a stylistic purpose (usually drawing attention to themselves).

1. 1. Do you capitalize it when writing "the State of New York"?
2. 2. Do you capitalize New York State?
3. 3. If you use the term New York, and then refer back to it as "the state", is State capitalized or not?

Thanks. We have looked through all kinds of references and have a divided faculty over this issue (it's all in fun, but we really want to know!) Thanks! LOVE the website; it's been most useful!

You capitalize "state" only when it follows the name of the state, as in "New York State is also called the Empire State," or when it's part of a traditional name for a state, like "Empire State" or "Lone Star State." When it precedes the name of the state, don't capitalize the word unless it's part of a title of something. The answer to your third question might depend on the context: if you were writing public relations text for the state of Texas, for instance, you might want to capitalize the word "State" thereafter to make clear that you are referring to Texas and not any other state.

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. 98.

Here is the sentence I have a question about:

If we abandon the promise of public education by promoting vouchers and charter schools, then we abandon our hope of providing a free, public education to our children.

Is it correct usage to place a comma after the word free? I don't want to use the comma, but my boss does.

I usually like to side against the boss, but here we can probably allow him or her to get away with his/her comma. Although the phrase is certainly common and acceptable without the comma, the comma will accentuate the word free. It's as if you're putting an "and" between the "free" and the "public": " a free and public education." If that's what your boss wants, that's what your boss gets.

Is "more safely" correct usage?

Yes, you'll often find this used, as in "cars efficient enough to carry a family coast to coast on one tank of fuel, more safely and comfortably than they can travel now . . . ." and "their conflicting interests there can be more safely pursued in a less explosive environment." (from the Atlantic).

Can the word "reference" be used as a verb? example: I left the book out for my students to reference when they needed help.

Garner says that using "reference" as a verb is defensible when it mean "to provice with references," as in "The cross-referenced chapter contains two subsections." When the simpler term "refer to" would suffice, however (true of your sentence, I believe), it's a good idea to use the simpler substitute.

From Garner's Modern American Usageby Bryan Garner. Copyright 2003 by Bryan A. Garner. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., www.oup-usa.org, and used with the gracious consent of Oxford University Press.

When is "onto" one word and two words?

If you walk on to the driveway, that means you continue to walk until you get to the driveway; if you walk onto the driveway that means you were already near it and take a step or two to be on the driveway. You want to be careful not to use the one-word "onto" in the adverbial construction: "Please pass those papers on to me" (although "holding onto one's money" seems to be OK). There is another use of "onto" — meaing "to be aware of" — as in "I'm onto you, wise guy!"

By permission, From Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage © 1994 by Merriam-Webster, Inc. (www.Merriam-Webster.com).

I am having a disagreement with my boss. Which example is correct?

"Obviously a video of you engaging in an activity which you have stated.." or "Obviously a video of your engaging in an activity ..."

Thank you

Almost always, the possessive is appropriate before the gerund: "I enjoyed your telling the boss where to go." But every once in a while, you find a situation in which the sentence does not focus on the activity that "belongs to" someone; it focuses on the person who is doing something, and that's what's happening here. It is a video of YOU doing something, not a video of "your doing something." In this case, I would vote against the possessive form. I wish you had told me which side your boss was on; I might have gone the other way on this one.

Is it correct to write,

"I am in receipt of your letter to Tom Jones and to me."

It is grammatically correct, but unbearably stuffy, reeking of the commercial attic. There would be nothing wrong with "I have receiived your letter to Tom Jones and me."

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