QUESTION| What is the correct verb it s too dirty in the following two sentences, and give the reason used.A total of 149 tests (was, were) performed during the demonstration.A number of men (was, were) killed.In article 2, ns think that if words "number" is preceeded by "the" then usage the singular verb and if the word "number" is preceeded through "a" then use the plural verb. Is this correct? If so, go this rule use to sentence 1 as well? Thanks | SOURCE OF inquiry & date OF RESPONSE | Bel Air, Maryland Tue, Aug 3, 1999 | GRAMMAR"S RESPONSE | It appears to work. "A complete of 149 tests were conducted." "The full of plane crashes has actually gone down dramatically. . . ." It"s no really a matter of tense, though; it"s a issue of subject-verb agreement. "The total" is singular; "a total" is plural. That works really consistently v "number," and I i think the very same is true v "total," yet I hadn"t believed of the before.
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| QUESTION | What is words which describes addind words such together eh, hmm, like, uh, um right into your sentence.EX. The is quite, um, a humid day. The rain, like, cools points down a little. Um, i think that us should, um, do something today, however um, ns can"t think the anything.Thank you. | SOURCE OF question & date OF RESPONSE | Washington, D.C. Tue, Aug 3, 1999 | GRAMMAR"S RESPONSE | Fowler calls lock "filler."Authority: The brand-new Fowler"s contemporary English usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996. Offered with the permission of Oxford college Press. |
| QUESTION | Which is correct: There space two types of vehicle on the road, orThere room two types of cars on the road? that is, in the expression "types of X," once the indigenous "types" is plural, should the thing of the preposition "of" additionally be plural?Thank you. | SOURCE OF inquiry & day OF RESPONSE | Chicago, Illinois Tue, Aug 3, 1999 | GRAMMAR"S RESPONSE | I think it relies on even if it is you"re talking around something that"s countable—"There room two species of chairs in this house."—or miscellaneous that"s no countable—"There room two species of furniture in this house." " width="89" height="26">I"ll leave an e-mail icon below in case someone has a better idea. |
| QUESTION | Could girlfriend tell me i m sorry is better?Los Angeles has a higher number of family residences per capita than does any other large city.Los Angeles has greater numbers of family houses per capita than any kind of other huge city.Thanks a lot! | SOURCE OF inquiry & day OF RESPONSE | Somewhere, Pennsylvania Wed, Aug 4, 1999 | GRAMMAR"S RESPONSE | I would change it to "a greater number" and, for the sake of parallel form, ns would save the verb after the "than."Los Angeles has a greater variety of family houses per resources than does any type of other big city. |
| QUESTION | In this sentence, Paint have the right to explosion leaves guy injured, would certainly paint deserve to be hyphenated? We have actually gone earlier and soon on this, and also would like to know. For the record, i don"t think paint can should it is in hyphenated. | SOURCE OF question & date OF RESPONSE | Asheville, phibìc Carolina Thu, Aug 5, 1999 | GRAMMAR"S RESPONSE | Within the message of this story, we deserve to avoid the difficulty by talking around the explosion of a paint can, yet in the headline, we"re stuck. I agree that hyphenating paint deserve to is a cop-out; girlfriend can"t execute that. However the title remains tough to read. Can you make the paint can"s explode possessive? Or "Man injured by/in paint have the right to explosion"? |
| QUESTION | in these examples, wich would certainly be grammatically correct? and also could you explain why?Tom wrecked the automobile on accident.Tom wrecked the vehicle by accident.This is in hopes to clear up a "bar room" argument.Thank you | SOURCE OF inquiry & day OF RESPONSE | Glendale, Arizona Thu, Aug 5, 1999 | GRAMMAR"S RESPONSE | I don"t know where "on accident" comes from. My children used to use this expression all the time. "It"s no my fault. It taken place "on accident"!" I thought it to be a local expression, miscellaneous they choose up in southern new England, but it crops up all over. "By accident" is certainly the much more common, traditional expression. The preposition "on" appears to have actually imperialist tendencies, creeping right into places—"standing top top line, wait on the bus"—where "in" and also "for" to be doing their project quite nicely. |
| QUESTION | How do I manage these types of possessives?:my employer"s benefit"s regime thank you | SOURCE OF inquiry & day OF RESPONSE | Westport, Connecticut Thu, Aug 5, 1999 | GRAMMAR"S RESPONSE | I don"t think that "benefits" needs to it is in a possessive in the construction. It"s a "benefits program." you could adjust it to "program that benefits," if the still bothers you, but there"s absolutely nothing wrong with "my employer"s benefits regimen ." |
| QUESTION | My inquiry is around whether singular sounding team names room actually singular. For example:The Orlando Magic space leading in the 4th quarter.orThe Orlando Magic is leading in the fourth quarter.The same example can be used to the Miami Heat, Utah Jazz, etc...I believe that a team name can"t be singular since a team is a group of people by nature. Yet I recognize somebody who insurance claims to have a BA in English who disagrees, i think he"s acquired BS, not a BA. Anyway many thanks for her help, this is a good site girlfriend have.
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| SOURCE OF question & date OF RESPONSE | Boston, Massachusetts Thu, Aug 5, 1999 | GRAMMAR"S RESPONSE | I don"t know if your debate really helps: a team can absolutely act together a singular entity. However, the inquiry is whether the name of a team deserve to act together a singular ideal noun or not. I think for the services of consistency, we have to use these team names as plurals. Us cannot say, for example, the the Celtics (or plugin Patriots, Yankees, Redsox, Cardinals—any plainly plural name) has actually improved or is improving. We need to use many verbs through those surname ("have," "are"). And I perform agree v you that when we usage those weird singular team names—Connecticut Pride, brand-new York Liberty, Orlando Magic, Stanford Cardinal—the team is acting together a group of individuals and also ought to carry a plural verb: The Orlando Magic have actually improved, space improving, etc. To do the team surname act as a singular entity, ns think you"d need to throw in a term favor "The Orlando Magic team is improving, or "The new York Liberty organization has actually procured the solutions of. . ." currently I"ll have to read the sports pages to see exactly how they"re taking care of this question. |
| QUESTION | Can the word "since" be provided as a conjunction, because that example, as a synonym for "because" (e.g., "Since ns am one immigrant, i am scrupulous about my grammar.")? or might "since" just be offered in the temporal sense as a preposition (e.g., "since this morning this grammar question has actually been nagging in ~ me")?Can words "as" be supplied in choose fashion (e.g., "As ns am an immigrant, ns am scrupulous around my grammar.")? or might "as" be used only as a preposition, as a synonym because that "like" (e.g., "I"m dumb together a post.")? | SOURCE OF question & date OF RESPONSE | new York, brand-new York Thu, Aug 5, 1999 | GRAMMAR"S RESPONSE | Both "because" and "since" can be provided to median "for the reason that." You desire to be careful, though, that "since" can"t be misinterpreted v its "temporal" definition ("since this morning"). In various other words, if there"s a chance that "since" can be misunderstood, use "because." The same is true of "as": don"t use it to average "because" whereby there is any chance it might be misunderstood in the temporal feeling ("while"). Utilizing "as" instead of "because" is apt to sound fairly fussy and stilted anyway.Authority: new York publicly Library Writer"s guide to Style and also Usage HarperCollins: new York. 1994. P. 40. Cited with permission. |
| QUESTION | Whoa! Stop! Cease! concerning agreement, your admonition to usage the awkward, feminist, computer phrase "his or her" perpetuates a stylistic abomination. At least present the traditional (traditional, tried and also true--with the exception of the last 30 miserable years, the is) usage of "his" alone as an different for anyone who has his head top top straight. When kids start composing grammar messages this is the result. Protect against it! | SOURCE OF inquiry & date OF RESPONSE | Villa Park, Illinois Thu, Aug 5, 1999 | GRAMMAR"S RESPONSE | If your note refers to my therapy of this worry in the ar on Pronouns, ns think you"re misreading mine language. Ns state that too plenty of his and her"s have the right to be annoying, and I don"t recommend that specific solution as soon as student writers room conscientiously do the efforts to avoid sexist language. Ns recommend pluralizing whenever possible—or selecting one gender or the other and sticking through it consistently. In fact, ns would rather my students usage "their" as a singular gender-nonspecific pronoun. Good writers—Shakespeare, Austen, amongst them—have been utilizing "their" together a substitute for "his" for centuries. Ns applaud efforts to do the language much less sexist—as long thus efforts don"t make the language much less elegant (which is why i don"t favor a constant use that "his and her" or "his or her" or, worse yet, "his/her.") shedding the traditional "his" for every singular pronoun situations, however, is a good idea, and also I view nothing "pc," feminist, or childish around it. |
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