Search results for 'tag:Universities tag:Pronouns' matching tags 'Universities' and 'Pronouns'

Re: I/me

Tanit — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:25:54 GMT

Kooyeen

As for using subject pronouns, I would never say "He's taller than I" ... and I believe practically no native speaker (American, at least) would ever say such sentences.

Hi K,

Thanks for you reply.
I can assure you I heard it in the UK, mainly from a couple of teachers at the University ... and they DON'T teach English (one taught "Transports" and the other one still teaches "Environmental Impacts Assessment" ... so they are NOT prescriptive grammarians!). They were well-educated native speakers, professors and researchers (so, well used to formal writing, which is something I'm interested in), and close to retiring age ... maybe this can explain.

Anyway, I'm interested also in prescriptive rules, so I'm looking forward to a reply to my question from a grammatical point of view.

Re: He insisted on my/me singing a song.

Cool Breeze — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:31:40 GMT

Grammar Geek wrote:
Singing is a gerund, a noun, so it takes the possessive my.

This is rather peculiar, I think. I have encountered the same thing on these forums many times. Native speakers say: "A gerund is a noun." Do they teach it that way in American schools and universities? Grammatical terminology varies greatly from country to country but I have yet to meet a grammarian who says a noun can have an object:

I insisted on his speaking English.

Furthermore, all nouns can have an adjectival attribute; in other words, we can put an adjective before them:

He likes old books.
Merry old England fascinates me.
Little Mary wanted to go out.
Useful information was given to everybody.

So, if gerunds are full-fledged nouns, the following is correct:

Correct speaking English is easy.

Few consider it correct. A gerund is neither a noun nor a verb; it's a cross between them. It has some qualities characteristic of nouns and some that are characteristic of verbs. It resembles a verb in that it can take an object, for instance.

Therefore, "I insist on him speaking English" and "I insist on his speaking English" are equally grammatical. In the first sentence, him is used due to the influence of the preposition on, which is normal English grammar. In the second sentence his is used because speaking is a noun to an extent, even though it's not a complete noun. It has long been customary to consider possessive forms (my, his, our) of personal pronouns better than the object forms (me, him, us) as subjects of a gerund. It also used to be common to consider the basic or common form of other words better in this position:

I insist on John Smith speaking English. (Also: John Smith's)
I insist on everybody speaking English. (Rarely: everybody's)

In the past 30 or so years I have noticed a tendency in American magazines and newspapers to prefer the genitive even in cases where it sounds and looks ludicrous. I assume this can be ascribed to rising standards in education. Nevertheless, there has never been a grammatical justification to consider one of the alternatives better. The tendency to consider the possessive form the better seems to me to stem from grammatical ignorance rather than a good knowledge of it. There is no grammatical or historical justification for preferring either form.

Cheers
CB

Re: correction 28

Mister Micawber — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 01:06:42 GMT

If you place a word in parentheses, Vincent, then you are indicating that it is optional-- and indeed, (the) is optional in your sentence.

My job here is to give learners good, unequivocal usage information, not to open my heart to all forms of use. Your quotes above, Goodman, are from casual and not particularly reputable sources. When using Google for examples, try to select from websites like newspapers, universities, government, and other sites of reasonable authority.

Summarized from M-W Dict of Usage:

-- When prefer is used to compare two things in a sentence, the second, esp if it is a noun or pronoun, is usually introduced by 'to'.
-- Sometimes other prepositions are used (over, above, before)
-- When the two things compared are infinitive phrases, there is a problem of too many to's: 'prefer to eat to to starve'. So writers have solved this by using 'rather tha'n in place of 'to'.
-- 'Rather than' is also used when the 'to' or the whole infinitive is understood.
-- Only rarely do we find 'rather' omitted before 'than'.
-- When the two things compared are gerunds, we find both 'to' and 'rather than'.
-- Some critics condemn both 'than' and 'rather than'; others condemn only 'than'.
-- Plain 'than' seems to have no defenders and to be rarely used.

I will give you that 'than' is used more often now than M-W indicates, but I do not think it is yet acceptable in careful writing,

Re: I need help understanding absolute phrases

Mister Micawber — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 13:51:43 GMT

Ms Google has a bigger brain than I do. She found this clear and concise explanation at the University of Calgary in Canada:

Absolute Phrases

Absolute phrases are made of nouns or pronouns followed by a participle and any modifiers of the noun or pronoun. Absolute phrases contain a subject (unlike participial phrases), and no predicate. They serve to modify an entire sentence.

Examples:

     Joan looked nervous, her fears creeping up on her.
          noun/subject:  her fears
          participle:    creeping
          modifier:      up on her
          absolute phrase: her fears creeping up on her

     Tom paled when he came home, his mother standing in the
     doorway.
          noun/subject:  his mother
          participle:    standing
          modifier:      in the doorway
          absolute phrase: his mother standing in the doorway

Re: It

Clive — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 15:26:31 GMT

Hi,

The following sentence is incorrect without the pronoun 'it'. What do you think?

Separately, the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index also fell, but not as much as had been feared.

I would rewrite it:

Separately, the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index also fell, but not as much as it had been feared.

I much prefer the original version.

In his Practical English Usage, Michael Swan notes that as much as and as many as can in effect be used as pronouns. (Section 75 on As . . . as in my edition.)

Best wishes, Clive

It

Rex — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 14:29:28 GMT

The US economy grew at its weakest pace for four years during the first quarter of 2007, figures from the US Commerce Department show.

The news pushed the dollar to record lows of $1.3667 against the euro.

US gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annual rate of just 1.3% in the first three months of the year, down from 2.5% in the previous quarter.

Separately, the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index also fell, but not as much as had been feared.

Its consumer sentiment index slid to 87.1 in April from 88.4 in March, which was the third fall in a row.

But the latest figure had been expected to be even worse - the preliminary reading for April was 85.3.

The final result was boosted by optimism about the current rally on Wall Street.

"We got a better-than-expected number amid several months of disappointing news," said Michael Woolfolk from The Bank of New York.

"This is the first ray of sunshine befitting a dreary April," he added.

-------------------------------------------------------------

The following sentence is incorrect without the pronoun 'it'. What do you think?

Separately, the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index also fell, but not as much as had been feared.

I would rewrite it:

Separately, the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index also fell, but not as much as it had been feared.

Re: please check my Motivation Letter

Lil' Ruby Rose — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 08:00:19 GMT

Dear Sir/Madam,

It was unimaginable [wrong word] when I received the first [the first in your country, university or course? Or your first?] foreign scholarship for my Bachelor of Science in Computing [or Computer Science] (B.Sc).The thing that I has really dignified [wrong word] and kept in mind is studying abroad always brings students much value [benefit].

I got first became familiar with [or interested in] ~~the~~ computers quite early during my Secondary School in Vietnam, even though IT was not an official subject. I loved and was fascinated by this small machine which exercises both my creative and our [you need to be consistent in pronoun choice] logical side. My dream was to become a famous IT researcher in the future. I entered Hanoi University of Technology, one of the best universities in Vietnam with IT major [do you mean that the University offers IT as a major, or that you majored in IT?], and as my dream [and fulfilling my dream,], I got the chance to start my B.Sc in September 2002, and earned completing my degree in September 2006 at President University in Indonesia. [This is a very long and complex sentence - can you break it down into two or more sentences?] Living and studying in an industrial environment during my undergraduate years [or as an undergraduate] ~~had~~ helped me develop my personal ability, my skills and my knowledge of Computer Technology. Equipped with fundamental theory in the class and through some part time projects, it empowered my capacity [not sure what you mean here. Perhaps, This was backed up with sound theoretical understanding through the taught components of the course.]. Classes that I engaged in included Internet Programming, Desktop Application Programming and Network Security. I like to work with the Linux environment, especially for firewall protection system. I was a fan of C++ programming language; it was the reason for me to do successfully my thesis [and for this reason I focused my thesis on] âP2P Video Conferencing in the context of Video over IPâ using C++.

My professor Prof. Dr. Muliawati and my dean Ir. Rila Mandala, Ph.D have always encouraged me to pursue further study, and to my mind, I always pursue the dream, [not sure what you mean. Perhaps, and this is also a long-held ambition of mine.] I wish to earn a Master Degree in Computer Science, ~~even,~~ and in the longer term I intend to follow this up with a Ph.D. Therefore I know I must return to the academic world for my family, my research, my dedication to education and further my growth. [This sentence sounds strange in a motivation letter, and it isn't quite clear what you mean. You might want to omit it.]

I know my second opportunity came since I heard about Leeds University [not sure what you mean here. Perhaps, I was very interested to hear about the opportunities for further study available at Leeds University] from my classmate who is studying there. I spoke to my professors, my lecturers and my colleges about this opportunity of with [or offered by]your University. Leeds University is reputable [has a good/strong reputation] for its research facilities and computing resources. In addition, the information from website also gave me much interest in there [??]. I have applied for a scholarship and I believe Leeds University is the right choice for my Master of Computer Science.

Finally, I kindly [wrong word] want to indicate my request in order to be considered [I would like to be considered] for one of the scholarships ~~that is~~ provided offered by Leeds University. I am very ambitious to pursue a career of academic research, and I sincerely hope that my personal qualities and educational experience will be sufficient for you to consider me an appropriate match candidate. If there is any possibility of arranging an interview, I would appreciate hearing from you.

Yours Sincerely,

help me to correct this sentences

EquinoX — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 06:36:42 GMT

Please help me to correct these sentences without modifying the sentence structure at all. I know some sentences are messep up, but just help with the grammar and punctuation. Youe help would be really appreciated.

1.By providing an almost complete story about a carrier womenâs life at the morning until she work gives the reader a picture of how womenâs now are sacrificing their job in order to raise theyâre children back as theyâre supposed to.
2.In the book Mommy Myth by Susan Douglas, which is a professor at the University of Michigan and Meredith Michaels, who teaches philosophy at Smith College, they label the phenomenon as the New Momism (507).
3.The rhetoric part of bringing the book into this article is to have the audience realize that not only the writer it self is bringing up this idea into the society but also other people, such as book writerâs in this case are also concern about this issue.
4.By using a well known and famous company such as PWC, the audience then will realize about the stage of this problem does not only effect the woman itself but it also affects the company where those womenâs work for.
5.Most of the data presented here shows comparison on the changes of woman in the past and the present regarding to their career and jobs.

My teacher suggest that I change some words related to pronouns, possesives, and single plural shift. Thanks.

Re: Urgent! please help me to proofreading it..

julielai — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 04:13:21 GMT

Hi,

Is this a JUPAS essay? The content is okay. Some problems with grammar and wording.

I've highlighted the parts that you need to fix.

To be a business woman has long been my dream. It (Do not use pronoun here) not only helps me to develop a logical and analytical mind, but also enrich my knowledge. This knowledge also enable (verb agreement) me to serve myself and (too self-serving) the community. So I have chosen Marketing for my major.

Learning the development of practical skills and academic and professional knowledge is one of the reasons why I have chosen (article) Marketing programme. It has a strong emphasis on interactive and student-centred learning methods. It also provides a comprehensive business education, which has attracted (wording) me to put it as my first choice.

Besides, I have the (You haven't got the chance yet) chance to visit (wording) companies overseas and companies in the mainland to conduct project work and to present our findings at the annual marketing symposium. I can also spend a semester studying in another university overseas or in the mainland. It is a good chance (wording) to step beyond (wording) Hong Kong and experience other countriesâlife and culture.

After completing this programme, I can learn a lot of skills such as communication (adj. here) and oratorical skill. This knowledge can significantly serve (wording) myself. The oratorical skill can enrich my social circle (not really). The analytical skill learn (verb form) from the programme also enable_ (singular) me to train (wording) my thought, and develop my logical and analytical mind. These skills will greatly affect my interpersonal relationship and my career in the future.

In addition, this knowledge can help me serve the community. I will apply the critical thinking learn (same here) from the programme to solve real and practical business problems in the marketing world. The analytical and communication skills also enable me to face the challenge and serve in an increasingly complex business environment. Furthermore, I hope I can play a part in using the key business knowledge and skills to deal confidently with broad issues in a global business environment. Even if I do not pursue in marketing in the future, I will try my best to put into practice what has been learned.

In conclusion, the programme I have chosen of study helps realize my goal. I will try my best to fulfill my dream to be a successful business woman. After graduation, I will also endeavor to serve the community and contribute _ _ (preposition) business world.

Re: Please help me with these sentences

Cadzao — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 17:02:56 GMT

Some more information:

"When as and than are followed by personal pronouns, both subject and object forms are possible.

e.g. I think you understand the problem better than I / me

In informal English, object forms (me, her, him...) are much more common. Subject forms (I, she, he...) are more often used in a formal style, and some people consider them more correct. If a verb follows the pronoun, only subject forms are possible.

e.g. He runs faster than I do."

(Practical English Usage, Michael Swan, Oxford University Press, 1980)