Dear JJ:
>
> You wrote:
> Is it correct to say wrecks claim four lives or wrecks claims four lives? Thanks!!
>
“Wrecks” as a subject is plural. Therefore, it take the plural form of the verb which is “claim.” “Wrecks claim four lives” is correct. If there were only one wreck, then you would write or say, “Wreck claims four lives.”
I hope this helps.
Dear N:
You wrote:
> Which of these sentences is correct:
>
> 1-I talked to a man at John’s party who works for the phone company.
This is normal spoken English. The modifier is misplaced but understandable. It would be more precise to say “I talked to a man who works for the phone company at John’s party.” That would be the way you would want to write it.
> 2-I talked to a man at John’s party working for the phone company.
The modifier is misplaced here also but is completely ambiguous. Does “working for the phone company” modify “I” or “man”? (With the first one since the verb is “works,” we know you cannot be talking about “I.”)
>
> 3-I took a girl to the cinema yesterday who looks like Mary.
This is occasionally spoken by English speakers but it is awkward at best. Again, the modifier is misplaced. It sounds like the cinema looks like Mary–say instead, “I took a girl who looks like Mary…”
> 4-I took John’s sister to the cinema yesterday, who looks like Mary.
The comma does not help. The modifier is still misplaced. If you were to place it properly, you would use a comma in this case because the modifier is probably nonrestrictive. “I took John’s sister, who looks like Mary, to the cinema…”
I hope this helps. Be sure to check the Grammar Slammer material on Misplaced Modifiers.
Dear “H”:
You wrote:
> On the webpage https://www.englishplus.com/grammar/00000245.htm it claims that there is no such word as orientate. That is a false statement. Orientate is a more British word and orient is more of an American word.
According to many sources that I have found, they are both correct. Here are a few references:
> http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-ori1.htm
> http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=55964&dict=CALD
> http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=orientate
> http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=orientate
> http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=orientate
> Thanks for your time.
>
People use a lot of nonstandard words. It is carried in most descriptive dictionaries, but avoid it in any standard or formal situation.
Dear Nicole:
You wrote:
> I have a question about your Grammar Slammer checker software. I usually do well on my papers when it comes to grammar, but my usage of the mechanics like commas, semi colons etc. is horrible. Does your grammar checker also check for these mistakes? I have grammar checker in Word and it dosen’t help at all with my puncuation. Can your software check my misuses of puncuation?
>
Our software does catch some obvious punctuation errors, but there is little that grammar checkers can do because punctuation is so closely tied with meaning. In other words, many times the comma or semicolon is not incorrect, it just means something other than you want it to mean.
If you have downloaded a trial copy of Grammar Slammer, please read the file entitled “What to Expect from Grammar Software.” That should give you an idea of what any grammar software can and cannot do. I jokingly tell people that because grammar includes the meaning, we will never be able to come up with a grammar checker that corrects all your grammar until they come up with software that can read your mind! If you have not downloaded a trial copy, you can also read this online at https://www.englishplus.com/news/readthis.htm . I think you will find this
helpful.
As it stands, we believe that our Grammar Slammer Deluxe with Checkers is the best tool because in addition to its checkers, it has over 900 “pages” of easy-to-use Windows help files with virtually all the grammar rules and problems you need to refer to.
Dear BB:
You wrote:
> I know that it is “Dave and Alex’s project” not “Dave’s and Alex’s project” (if they are working together on one project), but if it were Alex and I working on the project is it “Alex and my project” or “Alex’s and my project”? The first seems to follow the rule, but the second sounds more correct to me.
>
Sometimes the sound is not technically correct. The first follows the rule and is the form to use in standard writing. A lot of time you may hear the second in speech. Interestingly, people seem to have less of a problem with “Alex and his project” or “Alex and her project.”
A lot of times in both writing and speaking we say “the project of Alex and mine” to avoid any ambiguity.
Dear Mr. K:
You asked:
Greetings!
I am given to understand from your credentials, that you are a master grammarian, particularly where the topic intersects with the practice of law.
Recently, I ran across a phrase in one of my legal books that presented me with a problem. The phrase was:
“Any person or any officer or employee of any bank or corporation who…..”
The sentence finishes with “…does a certain thing..etc.”
My question to you, is:
Are all the three entities (person, officer, employee) identified, associated with either a bank or a corporation in this sentence fragment, or is the person separate and apart and not part of a bank or corporation?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Thank you
The answer to your question is in the use of the word “Any.”
The first “any” modifies person. It does not modify any other word because the second “any” immediately follows the first conjunction (“or”). So the first part of the compound subject is “any person.” However, the second “any” modifies both “officer” and “employee”; therefore, both officer and employee refer to the bank.
Here is the way to parse the meaning:
If you want all three entities to be associated with the bank or corporation, you would have written: “Any person, officer, or employee associated with any bank or corporation…” You would not be able to say “Any person, officer, or employee of any bank…” because “person of any bank” does not have meaning in standard English.
The meaning in standard English of the example you sent would be that “any person” does not have to be associated with the bank or corporation. It sounds like the sentence is trying to cover both personal and corporate liability.
I hope this helps.
Dear Mr. K:
You wrote:
Would it be safe to say that the meaning of the sentance fragment is at best, ambiguous?
I am not sure that I would say it was ambiguous. There appears to be only one way to parse it correctly. However, there are probably several ways to rewrite it to make it clearer.
Dear R:
You wrote:
> Can you provide guidance as to which term is correct: Biggest vs. Largest. Are there circumstances / rules that dictate which word should be used? Or are both correct in any circumstance.
>
> Thank you for your assistance.
>
The two words are very similar in meaning and use. In many cases they can be used interchangeably. However, there is a tendency for “big” to refer to size and “large” to refer to quantity. There is certainly an overlap, but you are more likely to hear that a million is a big number and a million pounds (or dollars) is a large amount of money.
Dear Sir:
You wrote:
> Thanks for helping me justify my non-use of a comma in my name. My wife was ribbing me earlier about how I don’t like to see my name printed “G___ J. O___, II” even though I’m supposedly old school when it comes to
grammar. Now she’ll see! I was right! I was right!
>
> I’ll eat out on this one for a day until I’m wrong about some other thing. Then it’ll be back to business as usual.
>
> I love your web site, but I feel a funny sense of performance anxiety writing you email. You’re not going to correct this and send it back, are you?
>
Thanks for the encouraging word–glad to be of help. We do not normally correct e-mail unless you ask us to. I am a teacher, so I do enough correcting as it is.
Dear MB:
You wrote:
> Mr is a contraction of Mister.
> Rev. is an abbreviation of Reverend whereas Revd is a contraction.
>
Perhaps it is taught differently in Commonwealth countries. The American understanding is that in contractions the pronunciation as well as the spelling is contracted (e.g., doesn’t) and in abbreviations the spelling but not the pronunciation is abbreviated (as in Mr.).
Thank you for your input.
Dear GB:
You wrote:
> I’m trying to use Grammar Slammer but having problems. The spell checker
work great but when I do grammar check it tell’s me the following.
>
> “Information
> This selection contaied 43 words and 4 sentences with 10.7 words per
sentence, 3.67 characters per word, and 1.23 syllables/word the grade level
readability is approximately 6.16.”
>
> How do I get it to correct the grammar?
>
That is the message that tells you that the grammar check is completed. If you received no other messages, that means that the grammar checker did not flag any errors. The check was completed. Some users find the information about the readability helpful.