Search results for 'tag:Hyphens tag:Grammar' matching tags 'Hyphens' and 'Grammar'

Re: Argument at work regarding the contents of an email

Clive — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:53:45 GMT

Hi,

I am just smarting from an argument I had with a colleague at work, the subject was as follows.

' Rob has been sent the latest planning drawings and a cross-section of the staircase. ' (<<<<note the added hyphen)

This statement was sent in response to a request from our boss to send the drawings to Rob, is the grammar in this sentence correct ?
The grammar is correct. However, the use of the passive makes the sentence seem a bit weak, and in my opinion would be less often used. Why not be more direct?

I have sent Rob the latest planning drawings and a cross-section of the staircase.

The passive is often used to avoid stressing personal responsibility. eg A mistake has been made instead of I have made a mistake.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: color

Huevos — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:41:51 GMT

New2grammar
I have two red and yellow shirts.

Are they Spanish football shirts?

By the way I don't agree with GG. The picture this draws for me is that each shirt has both colours. And obviously it's not possible to clarify speach by adding hyphens. Anyway if she interprets it one way and I interpret it another it must be ambiguous.

Re: malnutrition that's becoming more and more widespread

Cool Breeze — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:42:46 GMT

New2grammar
Dozens of UN humanitarian workers are exposed to risk on their job every day. A good example is truck drivers who deliver much needed food to remote villages in poor countries to combat malnutrition, which is becoming more and more widespread.

Hi N2G

It has become more and more fashionable to use hyphens in English and therefore some might put a hyphen between much and needed but I don't think that is necessary. I wouldn't object to one, either. Clearly, the relative clause is a non-defining one and thus a comma is needed, which means that which is the correct pronoun.

Re: correction 6

Mr Wordy — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 02:36:34 GMT

New2grammar

_- (I still can't find the dash key on my laptop keyboard and don't remember having it on my old desktop keyboard) For now, I'll use two hyphens as you suggested. Thanks again.

No, you won't have separate keys for dashes; there's some info about how to enter them at the references I gave. The two-hyphens method is good for ASCII-only text (where dashes aren't in the character set at all), or mediums such as email and discussion forums, but wouldn't be appropriate for a proper publication.

more grammar doubts!

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:36:34 GMT

(1) However, after being told she would not be allowed to present the speech herself, that instead it would be read at the assembly by a male student, she turned down the offer. Her future was in public speaking and she would not be denied.

Should it be "instead"? Can "that" be deleted? Please advise.

(2) Although she was determined not to marry, Lucy had not yet met Cincinnati hardware merchant Henry B. Blackwell, brother of Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell, the first women medical practitioners in the country. Seven years younger than she, Blackwell earnestly pursued Lucy for two years, begging for her hand in marriage.

Should it be " Seven years younger than her,"? Please check usage.

(3) Although she, as many of the other women in the movement, stitched shirts for Union soldiers, being domestic was not her calling and during the period, she helped found the Woman's National Loyal League, advocating full emancipation and enfranchisement for African Americans.

Please check comma usage in the above sentence.

(4) Slowly, she moved away from the more extreme positions and the persons supporting them, particularly the free love advocacy of presidential-candidate-to-be Victoria Woodhull and those who opposed all but federal suffrage mandates, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Do we need hyphen in "presidential-candidate-to-be"? Please clarify.

(5) She died at her home of cancer but refused to make her death the end of the firsts on her list. Her final wish was to be first person cremated in New England.

Should it be "was to be the first person"? Please check.

(6) Lack of paid employment was not an issue for Addams was a skilled fundraiser.

Is the sentence construction ok? Please check.

(7) Employing a changing and adaptable approach to organization, Addams established the first public playground in the city, started a post office and a savings bank, initiated the first juvenile court and offered bathing facilities for those who had none.

Do we need serial comma before "and offered bathing facilities"? Please clarify.

(8) Unfortunately, her career was short-lived for she was summoned home to help care for her ailing mother.

Do we need hyphen in "short-lived"? Please clarify.

Re: grammar doubts!

Mister Micawber — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:59:09 GMT

.
(1) So, can we use hyphen in the above sentence as "five-years-old" or is it wrong to use?-- Wrong. 'A three-year-old' is a pronoun.

(2) Does the second sentence need any correction or rephrasing? -- In the first sentence, no comma after Spectator. In the second sentence, I would prefix 'most' with 'that of'.

(3) Do we need hyphen in door-to-door? -- No; it is not an adjective

(4) Can "At the time" changed to "At that time"? -- Yes. And you do not need the commas around Peter-- they slow the narrative.

(5) Please check S-V agreement in "the bulk of her protests were"? Should it be was?-- I'd go with 'were' on grounds of conceptual concord... and then change 'the bulk of' to 'most of'. Also, prefix 'any' with 'those of'.

(6) Should it be to "visit him"? --Yes, no 'with'. And a comma is required after 'Emerson'.

(7) Should it be "who offered her a position of teaching languages"? -- No; what you have is fine

grammar doubts!

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:37:19 GMT

(1) As a small child, Sarah witnessed a horsewhipping of one of the slaves and, even at five years old, she detected something inherently wrong. On March 7, 1870, when she was seventy-nine years old, Sarah led a procession through a blizzard to the local polling place.

Chicago style guide says to use hyphen in the following cases:

A three-year-old, a five-year-old child, eight- to ten-year-olds, fifty-five-year-old woman (should be hyphenated in both noun and adjective forms)

So, can we use hyphen in the above sentence as "five-years-old" or is it wrong to use? Please clarify.

(2) Sarah responded with a series of articles in the Boston Spectator, comparing the attitude of the church to the witch trials in early American history and countering their arguments point by point. Her knowledge of scripture was likely more refined than most of her contemporaries, including many of those in power in the pulpit.

Does the second sentence need any correction or rephrasing? Please advise.

(3) Sarah sold the copies from door-to-door and donated the money to a woman's suffrage journal.

Do we need hyphen in door-to-door? Please clarify.

(4) During the period, she learned that Dumont had illegally sold her son, Peter, to an Alabama plantation owner. At the time New York state law forbade the selling of slaves to anyone who lived outside of the state.

Can "At the time" changed to "At that time"?

(5) Considered the first feminist pioneer, Margaret Fuller's battles on behalf of woman's rights were equal to any of the other women in the field, although the bulk of her protests were offered through the written word.

Please check S-V agreement in "the bulk of her protests were"? Should it be was?

(6) To compensate her in some way for her unselfishness, family friends introduced Fuller to Ralph Waldo Emerson who invited her to visit with him and his family for three weeks during the summer.

Should it be to "visit him"? Please advise.

(7) Through Emerson, Fuller was introduced to the Transcendentalist movement, a group of intellectuals and writers with a Utopian vision of life, and through that movement, she met Bronson Alcott, who offered her a position teaching languages at his progressive Temple School in Boston.

Should it be "who offered her a position of teaching languages"? Please advise.

Re: grammar questions

Grammar Geek — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:53:07 GMT

The first is awkwardly written.

As feminist foremother Alice Paul had labeled it decades earlier, the movement was truly "the great mosaic."

They are describing Alice Paul as a pioneer in the feminist movement. The term "forefather" is commonly used to mean the people who came before us, but a feminist would change "father" to "mother."

I would not put a hyphen with problem solving, but I would put one in psycho-social.

grammar questions

Anonymous — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:13:40 GMT

Although the group sought political solidarity, the issues were scattered, covering everything from "equal pay for equal work" to "no fault" divorce to reproduction and abortion to gendered language. The movement was truly as feminist foremother Alice Paul had labeled it decades earlier: "the great mosaic."

Do we need comma after "The movement was truly as feminist, foremother"? Meaning is not clear. Please rephrase if necessary.

Founded in 1969 in New York City, the group was known for its innovative approach to problem-solving through consciousness-raising, a psychosocial type of internal processing.

Do we need hyphen in problem-solving? Please advise.

Re: phrasal adjectives, chains of meaning, and hyphenation

shaved — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:06:07 GMT

Grammar Geek
See this: http://englishplus.com/grammar/00127.htm - They say that well respected man is incorrect, and that well-respected is correct.

actually, after examining this page, I'm convinced that they're drawing a secondary distinction.....

they say that phrasal adjectives functioning as 'predicate adjectives' do not recieve hyphenation. I completely disagree with that opinion.

example:

a text-based website (phrasal adjective, they would agree with the hyphen)

a website that is text-based (phrasal predicate adjective, they would disagree with the hyphen.. and they are clearly wrong about that imo)

Am I wrong again? It seems like there is a whole world of poorly thought-out conventions regarding the phrasal adjective.