Correct Usage of First-Come, First-Served

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officewriter

#99004 Fri, 13 May 05 05:35 PM

Is the following sentence correct related to hyphens and using "served" rather than "serve"?
"All sponsors will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis."
Thank you.

officewriter

Joined on Thu, Feb 17 2005

New Member (03)

Hyphens

pieanne

#99006 Fri, 13 May 05 05:42 PM

Hello, Officewriter, welcome to the Forums!
Your sentence looks quite fine to me, but maybe wait for another opinion?

pieanne

Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005

South of France ...But I'm Belgian!

Veteran Member (7,512)

I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...

abbie1948

#99047 Fri, 13 May 05 09:25 PM

I agree, Pieanne

abbie1948

Joined on Thu, Mar 24 2005

England

Senior Member (2,657)

Hope that helps. Abbie

ludikris

#99050 Fri, 13 May 05 09:37 PM

I believe both can be used since the sentence describes what and not who or when something will happen in the future...

If you are the first person to come, you will be the first person I serve, she serves or the person who gets served.

It's really a matter of choice or preference in this case.

ludikris

Joined on Fri, May 13 2005

New Member (02)

abbie1948

#99108 Sat, 14 May 05 02:06 AM

Hi ludikris. fair point, but I'm afraid in this instance it is not a matter of opinion, but a matter of usage. The expression is First-Come, First-Served

abbie1948

Expressions

ranchhand

#99503 Sun, 15 May 05 07:14 AM

Googled:

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,550,000 English pages for "first come first serve".

Results 1 - 10 of about 3,520,000 English pages for "first come first served".

UK Pages Only:

Results 1 - 10 of about 265,000 for "first come first served".

Results 1 - 10 of about 30,300 for "first come first serve".

ranchhand

Joined on Sun, May 15 2005

Junior Member (81)

Mister Micawber

#99508 Sun, 15 May 05 07:25 AM

What about the hyphenation, RH-- any interesting results?

Mister Micawber

Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004

Yokohama

Veteran Member (22,610)

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

Hyphenation

ranchhand

#99510 Sun, 15 May 05 07:41 AM

I didn't check, Mr Micawber. I don't think, though I could be wrong, that that type of Google search recognizes hyphens. Also, hyphens mark newer collocations in English. They aren't necessary for well established idioms.

ranchhand

Idioms, Hyphens

Mister Micawber

#99513 Sun, 15 May 05 07:53 AM

I was just curious. Yes, I recall that Google does not sort by them. I just had a quick look, and both forms ('serve' and 'served') seem to be represented in both the hyphenated and unhyphenated forms. Interestingly-- but also expectedly-- it is the adjectival form that seems to require hyphenation, e.g. 'first-come, first-served campgrounds'.

I've been trying to reconstruct the grammar. Although the BrE results are weighted toward 'serve', I see the original as something like:

'(Those who) first come (are) first served.'

I can't find a grammar for 'serve'.

Mister Micawber

Grammar, Hyphenation

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