Monthly Archives: April 2008
Different to
Georg Muntingh, winner of the first syntax contest on this blog, alerted me that British English allows the following construction for comparisons: There are many British words which are different to American words. Different to looks odd to me! Georg … Continue reading
Subject/Verb
The other evening, I read this sentence in a novel: Beyond the window was the river, the trees, the sky. A basic rule of grammar is that a singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a … Continue reading
Adverb within verb phrase
Notice the awkwardness of the sentence below: She was taken suddenly aback. The problem is that this sentence violates the following rule: When an adverb qualifies [modifies] a verb phrase, the natural place for the adverb is between the auxiliary … Continue reading
What’s Missing Contest: Answer
Last week’s contest was to correct the sentence below: I hung my coat on the pegs that line one wall. When I first read this sentence, the image of a coat draped across a line of pegs on a wall … Continue reading
Different From…Or is it Different Than?
According to the Chicago Manual Style, the preferred form is different from. Not: She will find the city a very different place than the village. But: She will find that the city is very different from the village. Cheers, Tara … Continue reading
Possessive Pronoun with Gerund
The other day, I came across the sentence below: I can understand you not telling him. This is not correct. The sentence should read: I can understand your not telling him. Why? Because telling is a gerund, and when a … Continue reading
Simplify–and also Clarify
Here is a sentence that would benefit from both weeding and clarifying: Oil profits are being used for the purpose of buying back stocks in the oil companies, instead of developing alternatives. To simplify this sentence, replace “for the purpose … Continue reading
Hint in “Find What’s Missing” Contest
No one has responded to the current contest, which is to find what’s missing from the following sentence: I hung my coat on the pegs that line one wall. Here’s a hint: how many pegs do you need to hang … Continue reading
Synonyms
Using synonyms–words that have nearly the same meaning–in the same sentence is a common cause of clutter. It’s also a sign of confusion about the subtle differences in the meanings of the words. The following sentence is a clear and … Continue reading
Comparison
Here’s a frustrated sentence to ponder: The party on Saturday was smaller and very different from the party on Friday. “Smaller” is a comparative adjective. In the sentence above, it is trying to compare Saturday’s party to Friday’s party–but it’s … Continue reading
Writing Tips 