Some grammar

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Andrei  #34720  Sat, 26 Jun 04 01:02 PM
Jones, who won three gold medals at the Sydney Olympics, has consistently denied using drugs and has threatened to sue over any attempt to keep her out of the United States team in Athens.

Montgomery's denials, however, have been undermined by the publication this week of his testimony to last year's federal grand jury hearings into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO), in which he admitted using drugs.

It was assumed that with so much turmoil in her life, Jones would opt out of the long jump at Gateshead. Instead, she faces a field that would do justice to the Olympic final.

The line-up includes the Olympic champion Heike Drechsler, the former world champion Fiona May, the world indoor champion Tatyana
Lebedeva, the European champion Tatyana Kotova, and Jade Johnson, of Britain.

When Jones contested the long jump in Ostrava two weeks ago, she was accompanied by minders and although organisers did not rule out the same thing happening in Gateshead, her competitors are unlikely to get very close to the world's best- known athlete.

Johnson, for one, did not think she would be able to talk to Jones about the BALCO affair.

"I don't think I'll get the chance," she said. "There's no relationship with her. Ostrava was the first time I had competed against her.

"I saw Marion at the airport where she got her bags and disappeared. I saw her at the track, competed against her and then she disappeared, went back to the hotel, got her baggage and she was gone.





I have a couple of questions on the above. Look at the first sentence.
Jones has consistently denied using the drugs and has threatened to sue over any attempt to keep her out of the US team.


I think the second word 'has' is not necessary. It is an overkill. Your opinion, please.
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The line-up includes Olympic champion Heike Drechsler.

What is the need of hyphen here?
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What is the mening of 'for one' in the following sentence?
Johnson, for one, did not think she would be able to talk to Jones about the BALCO affair.

I know some people say 'I, for one, don't condon crime, terrorism etc,. My guess is the meaning is to strengthen your statement or position. It connotes with ' I really don't condone crime, violence, etc.

Finally, you notice the commas. Some people avoid commas when writing[ I for one].

Please comment even on the necessity of commas. I don't think it is essential to have commas in such a short sentence.



  
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odoriko  #34806  Sun, 27 Jun 04 07:28 PM
1) The "has" is required because it shows that it's a present perfect tense, ie. Jones denied using drugs in the past and at present, is still denying it. It's a repetition and continuation of the verb (denied) from the past to the present. If you say "Jones consistently denied", it implies that he only denied it in the past and is no longer denying it.

2) The word "line-up" with a hyphen is a common noun, eg. a line-up of footballers. "Line up" without the hyphen denotes a verb, eg. please line up before the train arrives.

3) "For one" as used in that sentence means "according to her opinion". You're right when you say that it is a more forceful expression.

4) Using commas to seperate "I", "for one", and the rest of the sentence is actually correct, and a more formal way of writing. Another (often unknown) use of commas is before an "and" when 3 objects are being discussed, because it denotes that there's no special relation between what comes before and after the "and". This sounds confusing, so here's an example:

I love apples, bananas, and pears.
I love apples, bananas and pears.

The 1st sentence is correct because there's no special relation between the bananas and pears, just as there's no special relation between the apples and bananas. If you write the 2nd sentence instead, it actually means that you like either apples, or "bananas and pears" together. However, this is more on the formal side, most people won't bother with it, and teachers will probably overlook it.

Please correct me if I made any mistake.
  
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