A colleague had been discussing the difference between such as X and such X as with some friends, and asked for further insight from the rest of us. I gladly weighed in:
The first thing to note is that it’s actually a choice between X such as Y and such X as Y. But those two constructions are not the same thing, though they can mean similar things. Continue reading
Posted in editing, language and linguistics
Tagged English grammar, English syntax, grammar, such as, syntax
A colleague asked, “What verb would you use with ‘a variety of terms…’: is or are?”
The answer is that if you’re referring to what the various terms are doing, it’s are; if you’re referring to the variety qua variety, it’s is. Probably you want are:
A variety of terms are used. (Meaning several diverse terms are used.)
A variety of terms is used. (Meaning a specific variety is used – e.g., they’re all vulgar.)
A variety of flowers were on the table. (Assorted flowers were on the table.)
A variety of flowers was on the table. (One specific variety was on the table – presumably I don’t know what it’s called, or I would have said so.)
Generally, you’ll use the is when discussing the variety more in the abstract:
The board was discussing what herbaceous emblem to use for the society. A variety of flowers was on the table, as was a variety of grass, as well as the larch.
But very often a variety of is used as an indefinite plural quantifier, and so takes the plural, just like a lot in A lot of people are coming and a bunch in There are a bunch of questions I want to ask (as opposed to discrete singular entities, as in A lot of land was the subject of the dispute and There is a bunch of flowers on the table).
Posted in editing, language and linguistics
Tagged a variety, collective nouns, conjugation, English grammar, grammar
Presented at the 31st annual Editors’ Association of Canada conference, Montréal, May 29, 2010
So OK. You look at the manuscript you’re editing, and you see… this:
Adding the ingredients in this order ensures failed chiffon cakes made at home is not an option.
OK, what’s the first thing you do? After sending a “seen in the wild” email to the EAC email list, I mean.
Well, yeah, you correct it, or humbly suggest a correction to the exalted author, depending on the project. But, ah, right then, what is going on here? And what if you make a correction and the author says, “No, it was fine the way I had it. It makes perfect sense to me, and it’s grammatical”?
Well… Continue reading
Posted in editing, language and linguistics
Tagged English grammar, English syntax, grammar, syntax
A colleague asked about a sentence similar to this one:
The aim is for each waffle and every pancake to taste as though they were made out of dreams.
The colleague at first wanted to change “they were” to “it was” but then had doubts: there’s an and, so it’s a compound subject and therefore plural, right?
Actually, no. Continue reading
Consider the case of a sentence such as the following:
I must agree with whomever wrote this.
Is that correct?
Nope. Continue reading
A colleague asked about a sentence similar to the following:
Implementing personnel policies is the only real delegation left to make, which requires involvement at all executive levels.
Let us accept, for the sake of argument, that the “which” clause is a nonrestrictive clause – i.e., that the comma belongs there (otherwise, take out the comma, replace which with that, and you have a coherent sentence – but one that implies that there may also be tasks left to undertake that don’t require involvement at all executive levels). The problem, then, is that it’s not clear what the which refers to. Continue reading
Posted in editing
Tagged danglers, editing, English grammar, grammar, referents, relative pronouns, syntax, which
Overweight, known to most of us as an adjective, also has a medical use as a noun to refer to the condition of having a body mass index of at least 25 (above normal) but below 30 (obese). I don’t altogether enjoy that usage, aesthetically, but I recognize why it’s used.
A fellow editor mentioned needing to stifle a scream whenever seeing overweight as a noun and having to let it stand. Stifle a scream? Continue reading
The subject of the subjunctive came up in a recent email discussion. English does have a subjunctive – or, I should say, some versions of English do have a distinct subjunctive. Some people will say “If I was you,” meaning right now, and they’re not using a special subjunctive form. But others (me included) will say “If I were you,” because I couldn’t possibly actually be you, and they are using a special subjunctive form. And I will be addressing the kind of English that does use these forms.
There are actually a variety of places where the subjunctive gets used in English, although rather fewer than there used to be, and I’m not going to go into detail about all of them, but they all involve a posited alternate reality – one that is desired (as in “I ask that he come to see me”) or merely posited as possible (“If music be the food of love, play on”), or one that is definitely expressed as other than the current state (“If I were a rich man…”).
The discussion began with the sentence “He felt as if he were at a crossroads.” And the question: The character is indeed at a crossroads, so should it be “was”? Continue reading
Posted in editing, language and linguistics
Tagged English, grammar, If I were, subjunctive, syntax
I’m told Carol Fisher Saller of the Chicago Manual of Style, in her new book The Subversive Copy Editor, recounts how she convinced an author that that of him who seeks should be that of he who seeks.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Ms. Saller! You’ve clearly been staring at this stuff too long! You’ve simultaneously overthought and underthought this one. Overthought because you’re letting your ideas override your ear; underthought because you haven’t properly analyzed what’s going on here. Continue reading
A colleague asked whether “among other things” in a sentence such as the following is a dangler:
Among other things, this book explores the concept of silliness.
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Sesquiotica 