The Grammar Logs
#583

Is there a time you woud use the word "with in" instead of "within"? Is this correct?

It is the responsibility of the Branch Manager to function within this established line of credit.

You'd certainly use "within" (one word) in that sentence. I suppose you could come up with something like "Who else are you going to deal with in a situation like this?"

The proper name of a business, not a newspaper includes "the." I am having trouble explaiming when not to capitalize "the." Could you please provide an explanation.

Eamples:

• Located in Berkeley and Oakland, The Food Shop has numerous, convenient locations.
• Located in Berkeley and Oakland, the Food Shop's numerous locations make shopping convenient.

Many thanks,

Bill Sabin describes the choices this way: "Capitalze the word the preceding the name of an organization only when it is part of the legal name of the organization" and gives the examples of "The Vanguard Group" and "the New York Times." But then he adds that even when the is part of the organizational name, it is often not capitalized except in legal or formal contexts where it is important to give the full legal name. In short, you can leave your "the" in lower case.

Bill Walsh goes into a considerable rant when he consider capitalize the The that precedes the name of a newspaper. He decides, finally, that it's best NOT to capitalize the the — and to do so consistently.

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. 96.

A better way to get the point accross in this sentence

This letter is to inform you that the CPR and First Aid Training Session that you signed up to attend on December 2, 2003 has been canceled due circumstances beyond our control.

How about

The CPR and First Aid Training Session that you signed up to attend on [schedule for??] December 2, 2003, has been canceled.

Followed up by a contrite apology and promise to offer the course again?

Waiting on? Waiting for? I thought it was only appropriate to use 'waiting on' in reference to a waiter eg — A waiter waits on customers. I recently heard a journalist saying, "Patients are waiting on trolleys for a bed". Is this grammatically correct?

This question is usually about the idiom "waiting IN line." People in the New York City area are apt to say "waiting ON line," and there's not much we can do about that because they are, after all, from New York. And, as you point out, a waiter will wait ON his customers. Whether they wait ON or IN trolleys seems to be a different matter, though. I would think either would do nicely; in fact, I'm inclined to say that "on" makes more sense here. You ride ON a trolley, don't you? so you might as well sit there, waiting ON a trolley until your bed is ready (although I would prefer a park bench, myself).

What is the subject of the sentence "Most deserts are very hot." I think it should be "most," but my teacher says the subject is "deserts." She says "most" cannot be a noun, but my dictionary says it can be. What is correct?

"Most" can be a pronoun and can therefore serve as a subject: "Some deserts are cool, but most are very hot." In your sentence, though, "most" is a determiner and "deserts" is the subject. "Most" serves as a noun in the rare situation where it can be preceded by "the," as in "I'll sell you the car for a thousand bucks, and that's THE MOST I can do for you."

Is the following use of the possessive pronoun (from "my to the end of the sentence) correct? "Mine" sounds correct, but it doesn't make sense if I took the "or Mary" out of the sentence. Please feel free to send the information to either my or Mary's attention.

Your instincts are right here, the "my" is correct. It sounds a bit weird, but it's correct. Could you write, instead, "either to Mary's attention or to mine"?

I recently came across the following sentence in an editorial:

These are the people who claim tolerance and compassion for their side, but who fail to display neither when it comes to others."

My wife took it to an English teacher at her school who said it was OK, but I think that using "...fail to ... neither..." constitutes a double negative. I believe the correct construction is "... fail to display either..."

Your opinion please.

I'm on your side. You can fail to display either or you can display neither, but I don't see how you can fail to display neither. You wouldn't say "He didn't display neither one," nor would you say "he failed to display neither one." I'm hoping it's a typo — but chances are it's careless writing.

How do I punctuate the following sentence?

1. "Despite my almost pathological loathing for school, I always did rather well at everything even though I could never overcome the abysmal shyness."
2. "Despite my almost pathological loathing for school, I always did rather well at everything; even though I could never overcome the abysmal shyness.

Where am I messing up? Thanks.

Can we begin the sentence with that clause or combine it with the "despite clause"?

Despite my almost pathological loathing for school and even though I could never overcome the abysmal shyness, I always did rather well at everything.

Otherwise, that poor clause is always going to feel like an afterthought, tacked on.

Is the following sentence correct or incorrect:

"It is indelible on my brain"

I think it is incorrect, and would say instead "It is marked indelibly on my brain" or "It is on my brain indelibly". Now, if that first sentence IS incorrect, why? I don't know how to explain it to someone...

"Indelible" seems to be in want of something to modify, always. You can have an "indelible shame (or mark of shame) on your soul," but you wouldn't say, of that mark, "it is indelible on my soul." And the same seems to go for the adverbial form: "it is indelibly written/marked, etc." I'm afraid I can't explain why and have to suggest that this is simply a matter of idiom, usage.

I would like to know why "more" can be used with "like" in these sentences.

• It is more like suicide.
• It is more like the choice between you and me.

Could you explain to me in detail what is part of speech of "more" and "like" in these sentences.

First, let's eliminate the "more." In the sentence "It is like suicide," the phrase "like suicide" is a prepositional phrase serving as a predicate adjective for the subject ("it" in this case and whatever "it" refers to). The word "more," then, serves as an intensifier for that adjectival phrase. (Since it is modifying an adjectival phrase, it is, by definition, adverbial.)

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