Pain in the English

Treatment of abbreviations and superscript items in full capital case

user111568 — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 13:45:58 +0000

I am working on a documentary film and have hit upon a conundrum that we hope one of the fabulous Pain in the English grammarians can solve. We are using the full capital case (”all caps”) to identify our experts, in a text box that pops up below them during their appearances on screen; for example: JOHN SMITH, HISTORIAN. One of our experts has a name that includes a superscript letter (e.g.: JANE MCDONALD) and another has the abbreviation Jr. after his name (e.g.: WILLIAM DOE, JR.).

Question: Should those superscripted and abbreviated letters stay in all caps, too? Or should they be treated differently, either lower case or small caps? (e.g.: JANE McDONALD / WILLIAM DOE, Jr.) I’ve searched the Chicago Manual of Style and the Government Printing Office’s online manual, and have found no guidance in either.

Thank you for your help!

Susan

Past perfect with until

CuriousG — Sat, 16 Jul 2022 10:56:27 +0000

I have an issue with the use of the past perfect tense with “until” (and sometimes “before”). Can you please tell me which of these sentences is correct and why?

She hadn’t realized that she was addicted to nicotine until she smoked ten cigarettes a day. (i.e.: Before she smoked that many cigarettes, she didn’t have that knowledge about herself - not realizing/knowing was earlier.)

She didn’t realize that she was addicted to nicotine until she had smoked ten cigarettes a day. (i.e.: First she smoked that many cigarettes, and then she realized.)

The company 'are'

swabbyk — Tue, 17 May 2022 13:48:48 +0000

I cringe whenever I hear the way Brits say: ‘the company ‘are’ or ‘the school board ‘are’ voted in by the parents. What is really frightening to me is that Americans are starting to use the same construction. My research tells me that Brits treat collective nouns as plural, while in the USA we consider them singular. ‘School Board’ is singular. ‘School Boards’ is plural.

"badly miscalculated" — double negatives?

Ray Moreno — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 20:34:46 +0000

I was taught that one should never use double negatives. But I was also taught that if you do, it can have the opposite meaning.

Example: The box does not contain nothing.

means: The box contains something.

So I heard the President’s speech. Note that he was not the first person to say it because I have also heard several newsmen use a similar expression. When I heard it, it sounded wrong. But I could NOT put my finger on why it sounded wrong. Then suddenly it occurred to me, a double negative!

So here is what I heard...

“Putin badly miscalculated.” or

“He badly miscalculated.”

Since bad is the negative of good and the prefix “mis” makes calculated negative, isn’t this a double negative? I know what they mean. Shouldn’t this sentence be written like so?

“He severely miscalculated.”

Since severe is neither negative nor positive. It just indicates the degree of something.

“I have two sons, Bill and Ben”: comma or colon?

EldonNash — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 13:13:26 +0000

I wrote, “I have two sons, Bill and Ben.”

An editor said that the comma should be a colon. That opinion is backed up by various style guides which say a list (and presumably “Bill and Ben” is a list) should be preceded by a colon. I still feel that a colon is unnecessary, though I probably would use a colon if I had five sons not two. Would I use a colon with three sons? I’m not sure.

Had I written, “I have two sons, Bill and Ben, both in their twenties” there would surely be no question of a colon being required. It seems odd to me that omitting the final phrase, “both in their twenties” forces the first comma to become a colon.

I would be interested in others’ views.

Can a singular noun represent a plural non-collective noun?

Tobias — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 04:33:16 +0000

I was reading an old novel, British English written around 1850. I came across the phrase “I saw signs of elephant in the forest”. This intrigued me as the word "elephant" implies anything from a single to multiple animals. The word "signs" seems to have taken on the role of plurality for the noun. I was asked a similar question by my partner who is editing a book in which the phrase “I saw fairy dancing in the woods,” not meaning a single fairy but many fairies dancing. Can anyone expand my knowledge on the use of a singular noun being used as a non-collective plural noun?

Is a definite article (the) necessary for "most"?

user111004 — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 02:49:15 +0000

I am a bit confused about whether or not I should use “the” before “most” in the following sentence. I have searched on the internet but I have before more confused about the issue so please help me in this regard. I will add this sentence to my formal writing.

The sentence:

"What fascinates me the most about the textile industry is that it drives the economy of many third world countries”

or

"What fascinates me most about the textile industry is that it drives the economy of many third world countries”

Which one is correct and why?

“Let his/him come in.”

Luluball — Sun, 11 Jul 2021 13:42:00 +0000

Hi everybody! Few days ago my mate attended to a job competition for a job in the technical office of Rome. Among the many legal questions there were also some English questions. The one I am asking your help for is:

“Let ……. come in.”

the possible answers proposed are:

- his

- him

- he

I am sure that all of you are thinking that the only right option to chose is “him”, that’s it.

Initially it was confirmed “his” with correct answer and after few days was corrected with “him”.

The english questions/phrases put in these competitions are generally extracted form bigger pieces, books.. and my partner didn’t answer because he says that in a certain contests it can be also right “Let his come in”, for example:

Michele is waiting for the vet to visit his cat. When the vet wants to visit Michele’s cat can say to his secretary:

<< Let his come in >> instead of << Let his cat come in>>.

What do you think? Is it possible consider both the options “his” and “him” correct?
Have you read some examples in books or articles in which you have found the phrase “Let his come in” ?

It can help my partner to obtain the job because he got a score of 20.8 and he had to get 21 to obtain the job! So it is very important the help of all of you.

Thanks !!!!!!!!!

Sells or sold?

JosiSA — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 06:58:00 +0000

Sells or Sold?

Does ‘sells’ in the sentence,”I find a pet store that sells ferrets.” stay as ‘sells’ or change to ‘sold’ if you are changing the sentence to Simple Past Tense?

Initialisms and Quotation Marks

EmmanuelGoldstein — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 06:23:00 +0000

Which of the follow is correct?

CAYA stands for “come as you are.”
“CAYA” stands for “come as you are.”

I am not referring to the Nirvana song, so I assume that capitalization is not necessary when spelling out what the initialism stands for.

The use of SO in "the same manner or to the same extent as aforementioned; also"

realIK17 — Fri, 21 May 2021 17:18:00 +0000

so - Wiktionary gives these quotations:

“I can count backwards from one hundred.” “So can I.”

‘There’re another two.’ ‘So there are.’

Why is the first one inverted and the second one not? I read it somewhere that it is because the answer of the second quotation confirms the first sentence (aforementioned stuff), so it is not allowed to invert. First, I can’t find another source that corraborates this reasoning. Second, why is it not allowed to invert? There must be a specific reason for this subject–auxiliary inversion.

Two egg or two eggs

user110797 — Tue, 11 May 2021 13:28:00 +0000

There is a town called “Two Egg” in Florida USA. My question is; why the egg is not plural there. Also there is something like “Two egg cake”.

Can someone explain it? Actually i am planning to establish a shop. Which one would suit better “two egg” or “two eggs”

Thank you?

... is what I'm saying!

QueenTiye — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 03:31:00 +0000

I’ve developed a “tic” for adding - I believe the expression is “postpositively” “is what I’m saying” at the end of a sentence. In usage, it is an intensifier. So I might say “I’ve been noticing that I use this expression a lot, is what I’m saying!” Typically after some prior exposition on the topic - this becomes the concluding thought.

Two questions - has anyone else heard anyone else say this? Where does it come from? Where did I pick it up? I’m in the Northeastern US. Is the expression or any variant from this region?

It’s awfully similar to “I’m just saying” but my understanding of “I’m just saying” is that it’s somewhat negative - connoting an undercurrent of a wink and a nod. “...is what I’m saying” doesn’t have that connotation, is what I’m saying. LOL!

I will go home.

MattRips — Sun, 14 Mar 2021 02:43:00 +0000

Consider the sentence, “I will go home.” Is “home” a direct object, or is it part of an adverbial phrase, “to home,” with “to” elided? Since one cannot properly say, “I will go the beach,” my conclusion is that eliding “to” from “to home” is idiomatic.

Thoughts?

My Walmart

Dori9274 — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 06:24:00 +0000

A Facebook reader complained that another commenter was incorrect to use the term “My Walmart” while speaking about the Walmart in closest proximity to her home. I use “my” like this all the time. Are we both incorrect to use the word “my” in this way, because we do not own the walmart as he points out, or is he just being a grammar prude?

trouble to

lunalian — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 03:13:00 +0000

I know “I’m having trouble logging in to my account.” is correct. But is “I’m having trouble to log in” correct?

Are there some rules in using "trouble to"? I could not find sentences using “I’m having trouble to...” but I have found “not trouble to do something” like:

Nina need not trouble to come down, everything had been arranged.

Do not trouble to don your hat and gloves, Nina.

My friends never troubled to ask me what I would like.

Nina didn’t trouble to hide his disgust.

Please help me.

Vaccine doses or dosages?

chiefeditor — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 02:22:00 +0000

Andrew Cuomo, in his popular COVID press conferences, often uses the words “dose” and “dosage” interchangeably (at least so it seems). Here is an example:

“We have the operational capacity to do over 100,000 doses a day — we just need the dosages.”

Here is another:

“To date, New York has administered 2.5 million dosages, with about 10% of New Yorkers receiving their first dose. Ninety-two percent of dosages allocated to the state to date have been used.”

I thought “dosage” refers to the amount in a dose, like x milligrams. A single dosage can have multiple milligrams, so, when you pluralize “dosage,” what exactly are you referring to, if not the number of doses?

Cotinuous without "to be"?

user110317 — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 09:36:00 +0000

Dog barking (movie’s subtitles)

Jennifer speaking (phone conversation)

Question: why “barking” instead of “IS barking”, and “speaking” instead of “IS speaking”?

What grammar point is that? Isn’t it Present Continuous?

Is "resubstantial" even a "real" word?

RAYDOG — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 18:36:00 +0000

I recently ran across the working word in a document that was: “re-substantial.”

Even if it were only listed as "resubstantial," my question is this: Is this even a real word? If it is, what on earth does it actually mean?

Your help is greatly needed.

"how I am delighted" vs. "how delighted I am"

londonengland81 — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 15:02:00 +0000

1. You don’t know how I am delighted to have you as a friend

2. You don’t know how delighted I am to have you as a friend.

3. I hope one day I can do something for you to show you how you are lovable in my heart and mind.

4. I hope one day I can do something for you to show you how loved you are in my heart and mind.

Sentences 2 and 4 are correct; sentences 1 and 3 are not. Please could you explain why? Thank you.