Modifiers misplaced

Eighteen years old and fresh out of school, the day I set foot in what was then known as Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (UPM) in Serdang, Selangor, was an eye-opening experience.

The above is a sentence taken from an article written by a columnist in a popular national English daily of December 11.

The sentence has the connotation that the day was eighteen years old and fresh out of school resulted from such modifiers having been misplaced; and a reconstruction is necessary : When I was eighteen years old and fresh out of school, the day I set foot in what was then known as Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (UPM) in Serdang, Selangor, was an eye-opening experience.

While sorting out a bundle of old documents recently, I have also chanced upon an older issue (June 30, 2008) of the same newspaper containing a news item bearing the following headline, "Groups stage protest against costly petrol in Ipoh", which is a complete sentence.

Owing to the modifier in the sentence having been misplaced, it has had the tendency to lead readers to understand that because of the costly petrol in Ipoh (which is in the state of Perak), groups stage protest (against such costly petrol).

In actual fact, costly petrol was then being sold not only in the state of Perak but also in all other states of the country; and the headline should have been "Groups stage protest in Ipoh against costly petrol" to reflect the correct situation.

About participial phrases

What are they
When you go to the online dictionary, www.dictionary.com and key in participial phrases, you will be led to quite a number of sites and if you choose to access this site http://department.monm.edu/english/kroberts/english201/project2002/
group10/participial.htm, you will see that participial phrases are present participles or past participles and any modifiers, objects or complements, and contain verbs which act as adjectives in a sentence.

Now, we know the definition of participial phrases. Does it mean that we know how to use them correctly? Oh, that is not the case.

In fact, participial phrases are often inappropriately used by writers who are not vigilant enough, and the relative sentences will then have different meanings. Dangling modifiers are the name given for such misuses and have been mentioned in quite a few articles in this column.

So, I shall just quote an example to show a dangling modifier in the next paragraph.

Dangling modifier
Ipoh has a new landmark in the form of a 23.5m-tall statue of Lord Buddha. Built against the backdrop of the Sleeping Buddha Mountain in Tambun, a ceremony will be held next week to consecrate the statue. The latter sentence begins with a participial phrase which appears to modify a ceremony and therefore needs to be rewritten as “Built against the backdrop of the Sleeping Buddha Mountain in Tambun, the statue will be consecrated in a ceremony to be held next week."

How to avoid
Just bring the participial phrases as near as possible to the nouns or pronouns they modify.

Not only 'dangling modifiers' will plague you
There is another aspect in the use of participial phrases where writers may go wrong - that is the use of a present participle instead of a past participle and vice versa.

Below are sentences taken from newspaper articles/reports written by experienced writers.

Original sentence - Worried over soaring divorce rate in the state, the state government is offering to foot the bill for couples in troubled marriages to go for a second honeymoon.
What about - Worrying over soaring divorce rate in the state, the state government is offering to foot the bill for couples in troubled marriages to go for a second honeymoon.

We may wonder whether the two mean the same thing and whether the newspaper is correct in using the past participle. It can be seen from http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/ask_about_
english/pdfs/aae_08_s2_prog_6_worry_worried.pdf (which explains the difference between 'I worry about you' and 'I am worried about you' both being grammatically correct) that original sentence is referring to a specific situation while the amended one is a general statement. Hence, the newspaper is right.

Original sentence - Providing exposure to the most established and largest companies in China, the index tracks the performance of the top 50 Chinese A-shares based on market capitalisation.
What about - Provided exposure to the most established and largest companies in China, the index tracks the performance of the top 50 Chinese A-shares based on market capitalisation.

It should not pose any difficulty for us to realise that the original sentence is saying that since the index tracks the performance of the top 50 Chinese A-shares based on market capitalisation, the index is providing exposure to the most established and largest companies in China. Likewise, we should easily get the meaning of the amended one which says that because the index is provided exposure to the most established and largest companies in China, the index tracks the performance of the top 50 Chinese A-shares based on market capitalisation.

Lost? Don't be
Simply convert your intended participial phrase into a clause or a separate
sentence and see if you need a verb in the active voice (active verb) or one in the passive voice (passive verb) in such conversion. If it is the former, use the present participle in the participial phrase and if latter, use the past participle.

Invariably, we are advised that the use of participial phrases will spice up our writings, but we need to be careful to be able to steer clear of the above pitfalls to achieve the required effectiveness.

Kengt, Penang

The above was written by me on the invitation of a newspaper column promoting the use of correct English; but at the time of submission, I was surprised to learn that the co-ordinator/assistant editor in charge had no grammar ability to vet the article which was sent for vetting (with no response) by a regular contributor of the column.

Punctuation Error and Noun/Verb Disagreement

Generally, it is agreed that no one version is “correct”, however, there are certainly preferences in use.

Probably the major differences between British and American English lies in the choice of vocabulary. Some words mean different things in the two varieties.

Two days ago when I was reading a newspaper, my attention was caught by the above two sentences appearing in an article in its column promoting the correct use of English.

Looking at the first sentence with a comma (the one before "however") highlighted by me in bold, one will realize that according to the rules of punctuation, a semicolon is to be used in place of such comma.

There is a noun/verb disagreement (both the noun and verb therein being highlighted in bold) in the second sentence.

Isn't it ironic that sentences containing grammatical errors are allowed in a column promoting the correct use of English?

In the same column of the same newspaper of today, appears the sentence
(The association of death and disposal probably came from the tradition of disposing of rubbish and burials at sea in deep water some six fathoms deep) which is of doubtful grammatical standing as common usage requires the expression with ‘association’ to be either “the association between death and disposal” or “the association of death with disposal”.


Kengt, Penang, December 11, 2009

Use of Indirect Speech requiring any Pronoun of Nearness to be changed into One of Distance

She said yesterday that this was something the union had been seeking for the past few years as it was in line with its policy to provide quality education to Malay­sian children through highly qualified and dedicated teachers.

The above is a sentence appearing in a news item of a newspaper today. "This" used in the sentence is a pronoun of nearness referring to whatever that has been stated earlier.

The sentence is in indirect or reported speech. One of the rules for the use of indirect or reported speech is that any pronoun of nearness needs to be converted into a pronoun of distance.

"That" can have the same meaning of "this" explained above but "that" is a pronoun of distance. Hence, to be grammatically correct, the sentence in question should have been: She said yesterday that that was something the union had been seeking for the past few years as it was in line with its policy to provide quality education to Malay­sian children through highly qualified and dedicated teachers.

One will notice that there are two "that's" in the sentence with the first "that" functioning as a conjunction introducing the subordinate clause/s coming after it. Its use is, however, optional - that is, if it is omitted, the sentence is equally good as 'She said yesterday that was something the union had been seeking for the past few years as it was in line with its policy to provide quality education to Malay­sian children through highly qualified and dedicated teachers.'

Kengt, Penang, December 4, 2009.

A world of difference between 'missing gun' and 'gun missing'

I recall reading a newspaper article in one of its columns about a boy wanting to kill his teachers but being stopped in time.

In this case, the parents found his note early and noticed the missing gun. They then alerted the police, who surrounded the school and thus saved the day. This is the article's second paragraph.

".....noticed the missing gun" appears to have a connotation and leads readers to believe that a gun was missing but later found; but after reading the whole story, readers will understand and come to the conclusion that in this case, the parents found his note early and noticed the gun missing.

Message not correctly punctuated

While reading today's newspaper, I have been attracted to an advertisement of an institution of higher learning which contains, among other things, the following message:-

At the university, you can attain that added advantage to succeed in life - experienced mentors, unparalleled academic excellence, and our latest addition of a world-class lakeside campus. They all serve to create the ideal learning environment for you. So that you can start ahead, and stay ahead. When you have the edge, it's easier to shine.

The message appears to have been incorrectly punctuated and should have been for easy reading and understanding - At the university, you can attain that added advantage to succeed in life from experienced mentors, unparalleled academic excellence, and our latest addition of a world-class lakeside campus. They all serve to create the ideal learning environment for you so that you can start ahead, and stay ahead. When you have the edge, it's easier to shine.

Kengt, Penang, November 22, 2009

The Correct Use of 'Both'

Both “My uncle will arrive tomorrow.” or “My uncle will be arriving tomorrow.” are correct.

The above is part of an answer given in a newspaper column promoting the correct use of English.

Correct usage has required the sentence to be Both “My uncle will arrive tomorrow.” and “My uncle will be arriving tomorrow.” are correct.

I have written to the editor receiving no reply and have to treat that silence means consent.

Use 'former' or 'latter' instead of 'him': A reminder of the Danger accompanying the use of Pronouns

Saturday, November 7, 2009

While reading today's newspaper, I stumbled upon the following sentence:-

A political aide to the Deputy Minister has urged the police to hasten its investigation on a leader who allegedly punched him three months ago.

Now ambiguity has arisen whether it is the political aide or the Deputy Minister who was punched.

There can be an easy solution to the situation. If it is the political aide, the sentence can be recast as "A political aide to the Deputy Minister has urged the police to hasten its investigation on a leader who allegedly punched the former three months ago."

However, it is the Deputy Minister, the sentence should be "A political aide to the Deputy Minister has urged the police to hasten its investigation on a leader who allegedly punched the latter three months ago."

A slip of the tongue?

The following sentence which appears to be a response to an interview has been included in a newspaper reporting people's reactions to the impending imposition of service tax by the Malaysian Government on credit cards in 2010.

Yeoh, who has six credit cards, does not think the small amount of tax will deter people from cancelling their credit cards, especially if they need the credit.

The sentence has got me perplexed over its meaning, and I believe it should have been

either: Yeoh, who has six credit cards, does not think the small amount of tax will deter people from applying for their credit cards, especially if they need the credit.

or : Yeoh, who has six credit cards, does not think the small amount of tax will lead (or cause) people to cancel their credit cards, especially if they need the credit.

Who and whom revisited

The Star Online > Lifefocus
Friday October 16, 2009

Who and whom revisited

OPEN CHANNEL

I refer to Kengt’s response on the use of “who” and “whom” in Mind Our English, Sept 18 which was in reference to another query in MOE on Aug 27. I appreciate what Kengt was trying to do, but his explanation might not go down well with the man on the street.

Let me explain it in simple terms:

“Who” usually takes a verb after it.

e.g: He is the man who helped me yesterday.

Notice “who” is followed by the verb “helped”.

Whom usually takes a noun after it.

e.g: Sally is a friend whom we have known for 20 years.

Notice “whom” is followed by the noun “we”.

Perhaps this simple explanation would help. – Joseph David

Note from Fadzilah Amin: Joseph David’s answer to Kengt, says that “who” usually takes a verb after it and “whom” usually takes a noun. This rule, in my opinion, is too simplistic. Even in his example, “Sally is a friend whom we have known for 20 years.” “we” is NOT a noun but a pronoun.

Even if we modify the rule to: “ ‘Who’ usually takes a verb after it and ‘whom’ usually takes a noun or a pronoun.”, we would not be correct. Look at this heading on a BBC website:

“Who’s backing whom in US race?”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/ 7227350.stm

“Who” is indeed followed by the noun (this should actually be verb) “is”, but “whom” is followed by a preposition – “in”.

And take this quotation: “This is called the ‘cultural village’ and is full of people who are associated with culture, a lot of whom work with the Sierra Leone Dance Troupe ...”

http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=51&catID=9

“Whom” here is followed by a verb.

As to Kengt’s statement that we should not “concern ourselves so much with informal usage”, I disagree with this.

When it comes to using British English, we can sound too formal (i.e. stilted) when we use “whom” in certain situations.

For example, it sounds more natural to say “Who are you travelling with?” instead of “With whom are you travelling?”

Another example can be drawn from the name of the BBC investigation mentioned in the following quotation:

“They will feature in the first part of the three-part BBC investigation, entitled Who’s Watching Who?”

http://www.thisisdorset.net/news/tidnews/4317615.Spied_upon_mum_from_Poole_in_BBC_documentary/

“Who’s watching who?” does not follow Oh Teik Theam’s guide, quoted by Kengt, because when translated into personal pronouns, we could say, for example, “We are watching them.” and so the second “who” ought to be “whom” in a formal style, as in “Who’s backing whom in US race?” that I quoted earlier. But the BBC opted for the less formal style for the name of their programme.

There is more to the use of “who” and “whom” in British English than can be summed up in a sentence or two.

But for those learners who may be confused about when to use “who” and when to use “whom”, it may be safer to stick to Oh Teik Theam’s guide.

© 1995-2009 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)

The above are the responses to my newspaper article posted in this blog on September 28, 2009.

Note from Fadzilah Amin has claimed that I made the statement that we should not “concern ourselves so much with informal usage”. This appears arbitrary to me based on the following points.

(A) Quoting a book, I did say, "In practice, “who” is widely used in both roles (subject and object), especially in speech; “whom” is regarded as rather formal."

(B) I did say, "Perhaps, some writers indulge in informal usages, sometimes, for being natural or for fluency.

(C) That we do not concern ourselves so much with informal usage is merely a suggestion to those who have confusion which can be compounded by concern over informal usage.

‘A few’ or ‘few’

A reader's question: I’m a little confused as to when to use “a few” and “few”. For example, we can write “We saw a few pelicans on the beach” or “We saw few pelicans on the beach”. Could you please explain the usage?

Answer: When you write “We saw a few pelicans on the beach.” it means you saw a small number of pelicans there. But when you write “We saw few pelicans on the beach.”, it means you expected to see more pelicans, but you only saw “few”, which in your sentence means “not enough” or “not many”.

The above question and answer appear, among others, in a column promoting the correct use of English of a popular national English daily.

Not convinced over the explanations given for the seond sentence, I have sent my following comments to the editor without receiving any response:-

What is explained above is in line with the definitions of 'few' in any dictionary.

However, many including myself understand the second sentence with the definitions of 'few' in thesaurus (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/few) which are (as an adjective) hardly any and (as a pronoun) scarcely any.

Following up on "Commensurate"

My posting of August 24, 2009 has stated that the word "Commensurate" is not a verb but an adjective as can be seen from a newspaper article titled Verbs gone astray by a Dr. Lim.

There is a need for the Sports Ministry, sponsors and the Association to check the slide for the under achievements which does not commensurate with the funds injected.

The preceding sentence is taken from a newspaper with "commensurate" therein again used as a verb apart from the irregularity of matching the plural noun of achievements with a singular helping verb of does.

The sentence should have been written as "There is a need for the Sports Ministry, sponsors and the Association to check the slide for the under achievements which are not commensurate with the funds injected.

Follow up on when to use who, whom

In my last posting of September 28, I mentioned that the use of “who” or “whom” had confused many including experienced writers who would often go wrong if they were not vigilant enough.

Below are some examples noticed in a newspaper and are listed to help illustrating the correct usages.

(A) You married a man whom you believe you love despite family objections.

(B) The first version was that Chew had scolded Lim's friends whom he felt had taken advantage of his buddy.

(C) Inspector Saad was in CID and had a girlfriend, whom we believed he got pregnant.

These "you believe", "he felt" and "we believed" appearing in the above three sentences are all parenthetical clauses or parentheses, which, if noted by you and taken away, will help you to determine whether the three whom's are used correctly.

In (A), the test question is "you love him" or "you love he". Obviously, the former is correct and hence "whom" is correctly used.

In (B), which is correct - them had taken advantage or they had taken advantage? The pronoun "they" is clearly the only choice and so, "whom" therein should be "who".

In (C), you ask "he got her pregnant" or he got she pregnant". Needless to say, the former is the right one and so is the "whom" in the sentence.

When to use who, whom

In reply to a reader on when to use “whom” and “who”, the relevant column of a newspaper quoted as one of the examples as follows:-

“The girl who she trusted has let her down.” (“who” is a relative pronoun used as the object of the clause “who she trusted”)
In a more formal style, the above sentence would be written “The girl whom she trusted has let her down.”

The above example appears to suggest that both “whom” and “who” can be used in the given sentence except that the use of the former is in a more formal style. I find this confusing and has written an e-mail to the editor who has accordingly published it in the newspaper:-

Friday September 18, 2009
When to use who, whom
OPEN CHANNEL

I REFER to the answer given to Cece (Mind Our English, Aug 27) on the use of who/whom.

The use of “who” or “whom” has confused many including experienced writers who often go wrong if they are not vigilant enough. Perhaps, some writers indulge in informal usages, sometimes, for being natural or for fluency.

In the reference book contributed/edited by 12 experts on English (many of whom are PhD holders) and published by Reader’s Digest guiding readers to speak and write better, it says that “who” or “whom” and “whoever” or “whomever” often cause difficulties and that in practice, “who” is widely used in both roles (subject and object), especially in speech; “whom” is regarded as rather formal. It does, however, show the correct usages of “who” and “whom”.

In the sentence, “The girl who she trusted has let her down” (which is quite similar to a sentence quoted in the reference book showing “who” is the only correct form to be used), it could lead readers to analyse and treat “she trusted” to be a parenthetical clause/parenthesis. The sentence would then be incomplete.

In fact, MOE published an article on the subject by Oh Teik Theam on Sept 29, 2006 in which the writer had given very good advice about the correct usage.

Such advice which can be an easy guide is reproduced herein:-

“To decide when to use ‘who’ or ‘whom’, apply this test: if the thought in the who/whom clause is best expressed by he/she/they, use ‘who’; if him/her/them does the trick, use ‘whom’.”

Perhaps, if we do not concern ourselves so much with the informal usage, the confusion will be greatly reduced, if not eliminated. – Kengt, Penang

Understanding concord

Make your rules precise and consistent. If you have a tendency to forget, write them down and place it where everyone in the family can see them.

The above paragraph is taken from a newspaper article. Is there anything wrong with the paragraph?

If you find nothing wrong, you need to know what concord is.

Concord is agreement between words in case, person, gender or number.

Now, the paragraph is reproduced below with numbers of words shown in brackets that are not in concord:-

Make your rules (plural) precise and consistent. If you have a tendency to forget, write them (plural) down and place it (singular) where everyone in the family can see them (plural). These words [them (plural), it (singular) and them (plural)] are pronouns and they are all representing/referring to the same 'rules (plural)'.

Concord, therefore, requires the paragraph to be recast as - "Make your rules precise and consistent. If you have a tendency to forget, write them down and place them where everyone in the family can see them." Actually, this last them is redundant and can be conveniently deleted without affecting the meaning/sense of the paragraph.

Proximity Principle

In my earlier posting of September 7, 2009 (Diction), I touched upon proximity principle (or verb agreement must be with the closest noun).

Now, let us look at the following sentence taken from the same newspaper:-

In Malaysia, 73% agree that experiencing orgasms impact on overall sexual wellbeing.

'Impact' above is used as a verb. Apparently, the writer has applied the proximity principle and based on 'orgasms' as the noun (which is a plural one) to use the plural verb 'impact'; but this is not the case as the actual noun is 'experiencing' which is a gerund (or verbal noun) singular in nature.

Hence, the sentence should be 'In Malaysia, 73% agree that experiencing orgasms impacts on overall sexual wellbeing.'

Diction

While proper tools will help complete a good job, good diction forms the basis of a clear message.

Below are two sentences taken from an Advertorial of a popular national English daily:-

(A) So if you or a loved one wear dentures, here are some useful tips.
(B) If you have eaten or drunk hot foods and beverages, it may need to be reapplied.

Sentence (A) is ignoring proximity principle and should have been - So if you or a loved one wears dentures, here are some useful tips.

Sentence (B) has an awkward arrangement of words which should have been rearranged to appear: If you have eaten hot foods or drunk hot beverages, it may need to be reapplied. However, if you use a common action verb like 'take' or 'consume' (while noting that the phrase 'hot foods and beverages' does not necessarily mean 'hot foods and hot beverages'), the sentence can be less clumsy as 'If you have taken hot foods or hot beverages, it may need to be reapplied.'

First, learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.
-- Epictetus

Not needed

Below is the answer to my question published by The Star and reproduced (both question and answer) from The Star Online Mind Our English Thursday August 20, 2009:-

I REFER to the sentence quoted as one of the examples in the answers to questions under Base form (Mind Our English, July 30).

4. She always helps her mother cook the dinner every day.

I feel that always is a tautology which has no justification to earn its keep there (though it can mean without exception). – Kengt, Penang

Thank you for pointing out the tautology in my sentence. You are quite right. “Always” should not have been there.

"Commensurate" is an adjective and not a verb

"Only short-listed candidates will be notified. Salary and points of entry for the above position will commensurate with qualification and experience."

The word commensurate looks like a verb, it sounds like a verb, but it is not a verb. It is an adjective.

All the above sentences are extracted from an article titled Verbs gone astray in newspapers written by a Dr. Lim and published in a popular national English daily.

Shown below is another sentence taken from a news item in the same daily some time later. "Commensurate" appears to have been used as a verb again therein apart from other mistakes which are highlighted in bold.

While it is not our intention to interfere, they should take cognisance of this trend and ensure convicted criminals receive punishment that commensurate with their crime, like whipping or a longer jail sentences for snatch thieves or robbers which cause injury.

The erroneous sentence needs to be recast as "While it is not our intention to interfere, they should take cognisance of this trend and ensure convicted criminals receive punishment commensurate with their crime, like whipping or a longer jail sentence for snatch thieves or robbers who cause injuries."

Phrases and clauses

I refer to the two sentences listed as examples by Senny Ng in Fewer words (Mind Our English, June 25).

Aren’t both sentences preceded by participle phrases which are very well expanded into co-ordinate clauses by Fadzilah Amin in the answers?

This is, however, not the first time I have seen the use of “clauses” which are meant to include “phrases”. Please explain. – Kengt, Penang

I think there is a misunderstanding here. What some people call a participle phrase, others call a participle clause. Some people refer to structures containing non-finite verbs (i.e. participles and infinitives) without finite ones, as phrases, while others refer to them as clauses.

I based my choice of the use of participle clause on Practical English Usage (Michael Swan, 2005) and the Collins Cobuild English Grammar (1990). Both these books use the term participle clauses, NOT participle phrases for structures similar to those used in Senny Ng’s sentences. Let me illustrate by quoting some of their examples of participle clauses to compare with Senny Ng’s clauses. I am going to write all participle clauses in bold:

“Wearing a T-shirt, Jenny walks to work.” (Senny Ng)

“Putting down my newspaper, I walked over to the window.” (Michael Swan, p.411)

“Laughing and shrieking, the crowd rushed under the nearest trees.” (Collins Cobuild, p.371)

“Put simply, he just wasn’t good enough.” (Senny Ng)

“Served with milk and sugar, it makes a delicious breakfast.” (Michael Swan, p.382)

“Angered by the policies of the union, she wrote a letter to the General Secretary.” (Collins Cobuild, p.371)

The above are answers to my questions (included above) published by The Star and reproduced from The Star Online Mind Our English Thursday July 30, 2009.

The answers appear to suggest phrases can be called clauses, but if you look up the online dictionary, www.dictionary.com, the definition of a phrase is, among its other meanings, a sequence of two or more words that make up a grammatical construction, usually lacking a finite verb and hence not a complete clause or sentence.

He/She/They‏

Would you believe taking answers with a grain of salt will enable you to learn better?





Now we can often see the use of 'they' to represent a singular noun or pronoun though such usage is still a controversial issue) as can be seen in a newspaper article.

I wrote an e-mail to the editor who has published my queries together with the answers as follows:-

Quote

The Star Online Mind Our English
He, she and they
OPEN CHANNEL: From Kengt Jul 30:

I REFER to the article Father figures (Mind Our English, June 19).

We often see the use of “they” to represent a singular noun or pronoun (though such usage is still a controversial issue) as shown in the following sentence: “With DNA tests, this image is obviously outdated: anyone can prove who their parents are – and even more distant relatives.”

Also, we see the use of “they” after “he or she” in another sentence in the article: “The poet therefore says he can look at a kid and predict exactly what he or she will be like when they grow up.”

There are writers who avoid such construction. What is your stand? – Kengt

Ellen Whye: Modern usage tends towards “they”, “their”, etc, instead of “he and she” “his and her”, etc. Possibly because it’s shorter and less gender specific.

Fadzilah Amin: The use of they/them/their “to refer to a singular indefinite person ... has existed for centuries and is perfectly correct...” according to Michael Swan (Practical English Usage, 2005, p.521). I looked up the word “they” in the current OED (2nd edition, 1989), and definition 2 says: “Often used in reference to a singular noun made universal by every, any, no, etc., or applicable to one of either sex (= ‘he or she’).”

What is more interesting is that the first recorded use of “they” in that way dates back to 1526. Here are some interesting quotations from famous works cited by the dictionary:

“Every Body fell a laughing, as how could they help it.” (Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, 1749)

“If a person is born of a ... gloomy temper ... they cannot help it.” (Chesterfield, Letters IV. ccclv. 170, 1759). This is from one of the famous letters Lord Chesterfield wrote to his son.

This usage is in keeping with Ellen’s sentence in her article: “With DNA tests, this image is obviously outdated: anyone can prove who their parents are – and even more distant relatives.”

I agree with Ellen Whyte that “they” is shorter (than “he or she”). It would be tedious to say or write “he or she” every time you are not sure what the gender of a person is. And to write “he” to include “she” all the time is unfair to women. Since “they” has been used for centuries to mean “he or she”, what’s wrong with using it now?

However I do see a point in Kengt’s questioning of the following sentence of Ellen’s: “The poet therefore says he can look at a kid and predict exactly what he or she will be like when they grow up.”

With due respect to Ellen, perhaps she should have been consistent and stick to “they” instead of writing “he or she” in the above sentence, so that the sentence would read:

“The poet therefore says he can look at a kid and predict exactly what they will be like when they grow up.”

Unquote

Below is another sentence written by the critic in the same column:-

"Encore!" is what an audience calls out to a singer or musician in appreciation of his performance and as a request for him to sing another song or play another piece of music. If he obliges, the extra song or piece of music is also called an "encore".

Since a singer or musician can be a woman, this sentence does not appear to be in line with what was advocated in the reply to me.

Much have I learned from my teachers, more from my colleagues, but most from my students.
-- Talmud

Dream Home or Home Dream

Precision is important.






Realise your dream home with a home loan.

The above is the headline of an advertisement on the front page of a popular national English daily.

The advertisement is calling readers to realise or liquidate your dream home; but from the write-up, one can see the intention being to encourage one to obtain a home loan to purchase a home, that is to say, to realise one's dream of owning a home.

Shouldn't the headline be "Realise your home dream with a home loan"?

I see but one rule: to be clear. If I am not clear, all my world crumbles to nothing.
-- Stendhal

Seeking expressions or interests

Don't mask your writing with too many unnecessary words.







I have chanced upon an advertisement (in a popular national English daily) inserted by an international company.

The advertisement is titled EXPRESSION OF INTEREST and begins with the following sentence.

Expression of interests are sought for the purchase of condominium units at a location.

Expression of interests is the subject of the sentence and "of interests" is the enlargement of the noun/subject, "expression". If you take away such enlargement, you will notice that the sentence is faulty suffering from noun-verb disagreement.

Usually, converting the noun/subject into a plural one will solve the problem; but it does not appear so in this case since the advertisement is actually seeking interests (and not expressions of interests) for the purchase of condominium units.

Consequently, the most suitable version should be: Interests are sought for the purchase of condominium units at a location.

'Tis the gift to be simple.
-- Shaker Proverb

Administrator vs administratrix

Books are one of the best sources of clearing people's doubts.





Administrator is a person who administers and is in the masculine gender. Its feminine equivalent is administratrix.

However, I have seen the following headline to a news item in a popular national English daily.

Judge removes MJ's mother as administrator of estate.

Such headline should have been Judge removes MJ's mother as administratrix of estate to use the correct gender of the word/noun.

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.
-- Charles W. Eliot

Modifiers

By all means aim longer as long as you can hit the bull's eye.





Modifiers help to make descriptions vivid provided they are placed correctly.

Look at the following sentence taken from a popular national English daily.

He successfully underwent surgery to remove the bullet.

"Successfully" is a modifier which is an adverb modifying the finite verb "underwent". It has the tendency to indicate or imply that the person had a phobia of undergoing surgery and had overcome such phobia and underwent the surgery. However, this does not appear to be real meaning which can be shown by recasting the sentence to be: He underwent surgery to remove the bullet successfully.

Then, the said adverb modifies that non-finite verb (which is an infinitive) "to remove" which is the actual intention of the writer.

Modifiers (which are adjectives and adverbs and their respective phrases and clauses) must be placed as near as possible to the words they modify and if not, the resulting sentences may not reflect the intended meanings.

Delay is preferable to error.
-- Thomas Jefferson

They look the same but are actually not the same

I have seen on numerous ocassions the following advertisement with its headline as "Say NO to Plastic Bags Compaign" appearing on the front page of a popular national English daily.

The first sentence reads, 'Take part in the "Say NO To Plastic Bags" campaign and do your part in saving the environment.'

The headline appears to be calling readers to say no to Plastic Bags Compaign (without elaborating on the compaign); but the first sentence in its first part is urging people to take part in the compaign to say no to Plastic Bags.

The headline should have been "Say NO to Plastic Bags" Compaign in order to be consistent to convey the real theme.

Ellipsis must be applied correctly

Ellipsis is regarded as a figure of speech and used in all writings practically by all writers.

Without ellipsis, English language will be cumbersome as there will be a lot of repetitions of words, phrases and clauses.

Sometimes, we see quite often sentences with the application of ellipses do not sound fluently or do not appear to be idiomatic.

Hailstorm kills 14, thousands homeless. This is a newspaper headline published by a popular national English daily. Grammatically, the headline is elliptical for "Hailstorm kills 14, hailstorm kills thousands homeless".

Hence, it is more appropriate to convert it to be a compound sentence that will be easily understood by everybody: Hailstorm kills 14 and makes thousands homeless.

A full stop must be placed where it is due

I have noted the following news in brief having been highlighted on its front page by a popular national English daily:-

The 64th birthday of Myanmar's democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, was marked by people around the world with birthday cakes, demonstrations and good deeds. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Beatles legend Paul McCartney and US actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts offered support while in Malaysia, activist Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir and actor Harith Iskandar joined an event to mark the birthday.

Readers will very likely be led to understand that those people who offered support did so while in Malaysia; but this is not the case according to the news proper.

A recast (as follows) appears necessary to bring the news in brief to be in line with its news proper.

The 64th birthday of Myanmar's democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, was marked by people around the world with birthday cakes, demonstrations and good deeds. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Beatles legend Paul McCartney and US actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts offered support. While in Malaysia, activist Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir and actor Harith Iskandar joined an event to mark the birthday.

Grammar is important

I don't know how you can learn English without knowing grammar.

The above is the statement made by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia who is also the Education Minister and highlighted on the front page of the Star (The people's paper) of 9th June, 2009.

I recall having written a short article and published by the same paper in their column, MIND OUR ENGLISH. In fact, I have posted such article in this blog earlier, but I consider it relevant to repeat hereunder (an abridged version of) such article which is in line with the above statement:-

Monday, February 4, 2008
Grammar is most important/Basics must be learned first


Quote
Basics must be learned first
I REFER to the article ‘Expand Lit component’ by The Owl (July 6).
Just concentrating on Literature and writing will, without any doubt, improve one’s grasp of the language, resulting in ease of expression (whether in proper English or not).
But a lack of a strong grammatical background will lead one nowhere as one may not understand the literary texts fully and also be unable to write proper sentences since one is not aware of what constitutes a correct sentence.
Grammatical rules are very important and schoolchildren should be taught and given exercises on it so that they know the rules to understanding and writing good English.
If a person does not know that a complete sentence must consist of a subject and a predicate which must have a verb, how can such a person be expected to write good English?
By keying in the word “dictionary” in any of the Internet search engines, one will be led to many free sites where grammatical rules are explained in detail, exercises are provided, and a channel is even available for discussion.
Should one be doubtful about the explanations, one can always discuss them with friends or seek clarification from one’s teacher (if one is still in school) or even write to Mind Our English for help (as so many have done).
Those who aim for quicker progress can seek assistance from professional bodies or tutors. – Kengt, Penang
Unquote

Misplaced modifier and relative pronoun in the wrong case

Nicknamed the Bard of Avon, his plays have been translated into dozens of languages and continue to be adapted for new audiences.

This expression is used by Lady Macbeth to describe her husband whom she fears is too nice to push his way onto the throne of Scotland.

The above two sentences are taken from an article in a column promoting the correct use of English published by a popular national English daily.

To the editor of the column, I have sent my following comments which have received no response:-

I would recast the first sentence as "Nicknamed the Bard of Avon, he has written plays that have been translated into dozens of languages and continue to be adapted for new audiences" to avoid a misplaced modifier and the second as "This expression is used by Lady Macbeth to describe her husband who she fears is too nice to push his way onto the throne of Scotland' to correct the relative pronoun which should be in the subjective case.

Mistakes we often see in newspapers

Writing like skating abounds with pitfalls.





The following sentences are taken from messages published in a popular national English daily on the same day:-

1) She is a piano teacher but the only sound one hears in her house are the cries and screams of her five-year-old son, who she has been abusing for the past three years.

2) Notice is further given that any person or firm or company which without permission of the owner produce, manufacture, distribute, sell or offer for sale the said products using original packing and bearing the above depicted trade marks and/or any other similar mark is infringing the rights of the owner and is committing an offence under the Trade Description Act 1972.

3) Movie lovers, make your way to the cinema for a fun carnival this school holidays.

In sentence 1, if we turn the last part which is an adjective clause into a sentence. It will become "She has been abusing him for the past three years". Hence, the relative pronoun 'who' (which is in the subjective case) should have been 'whom' (which is the objective case) to make the sentence grammatically correct.

In sentence 2, 'and' before 'bearing' is not necessary. Besides, plural verbs are used after the relative pronoun 'which' referring to 'company', but singular(instead of plural) ones are inconsistently used thereafter in "is infringing" and "is committing". Consistency requires verbs in a sentence having the same subject to be in the same form (that is either singular or plural depending on the situation).

In sentence 3, the adjective 'this' (singular in nature) is used to pinpoint a plural noun 'holidays' and consequently, 'these' should have been used instead of 'this'.

Practice is the best of all instructors.
-- Publilius Syrus

A linguistic style or a mismatch?

Quarrelling with nagging parents who lack trust, feeling unloved and being wrongly accused is almost every young person's dilemma.

This sentence is taken from an English daily's column offering guidances for readers' predicaments.

I am wondering whether it is a stylistic choice for euphony or a mere mismatch in the writer's use of a singular verb following three subjects.

Dilemma is a situation which can be formed by one or more things/actions/feelings/states of mind/events/circumstances. If we try to replace the verb 'is' with 'form', will the sentence become "Quarrelling with nagging parents who lack trust, feeling unloved and being wrongly accused forms or form almost every young person's dilemma?"

Obviously, the plural verb 'form' is to be used since there are three subjects in the form of noun phrases - 'quarrelling with nagging parents', 'feeling unloved' and 'being wrongly accused'.

Shouldn't the answer to the title question be out now?

Long sentences can easily go out of control

Scholastic attainments are in main good ideas presented in good and clear writings.





If we want to write long sentences, we have to be careful to be able to control their flows effectively so as to avoid grammatical errors. Readers will then get their intended meanings easily.

The complaints we have received from our teachers is that much of the paperwork is last minute or done on an ad-hoc basis.

The above sentence highlighted in bold is taken from an item of news (about the call, among other things, for teachers' workload to be reduced) published by a popular national English daily.

If we fail to know what is wrong with the sentence in question, we need to break it down. The words - we have received from our teachers - are an enlargement of the noun 'complaints' in the form of an adjective clause. If we take away this adjective clause, the sentence will become "The complaints is that much of the paperwork is last minute or done on an ad-hoc basis." Now, everybody can notice the mistake of noun-verb disagreement.

Therefore, the sentence should have been "The complaints we have received from our teachers are that much of the paperwork is last minute or done on an ad-hoc basis."

Alternatively, the sentence can be broken up into two shorter sentences as "The complaints are that much of the paperwork is last minute or done on an ad-hoc basis. We have received these complaints from our teachers."

I see but one rule: to be clear. If I am not clear, all my world crumbles to nothing.
-- Stendhal

Whoever versus whomever

A deadline should not be met with shoddy work.





He was walking up the stairs and shooting whoever he saw.

The above is a sentence within a news item published by a popular national English daily.

"Whoever" is a pronoun in the subjective case. If we substiture such pronoun with a noun, say 'people'. The sentence will then be 'He was walking up the stairs and shooting people he saw'. By changing 'people' into a pronoun, we should have 'He was walking up the stairs and shooting they or them he saw'.

It is not difficult to realize that after the verb 'was shooting', we need a pronoun in the objective case. Hence, the sentence in question should have been "He was walking up the stairs and shooting whomever he saw ".

We should, however, not be confused with the sentence "Ask whoever is there". Here, 'whoever' cannot be singled out as it is used together with 'is there' to become a noun clause to be the object of the verb 'ask'. The subject of this sentence is 'you' which has been omitted as being understood.

Delay is preferable to error.
-- Thomas Jefferson

Any verb following an auxiliary verb must be in its base form

While physical exercises will rid us of sicknesses, language usage exercises will free our writings from grammatical errors.





My attention has been drawn to a notice (appearing in a popular national English daily) which begins with the following words, "TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERNED".

I have been attracted to the notice not because it concerns me but because a grammatical mistake has been committed in its beginning line or address.

"May" is an auxiliary verb, and any verb that is used after an auxiliary verb must be in its base form. Such begining line of address should have been "TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN" instead.

Such other auxiliary verbs or helping verbs (specifically called modal auxiliaries or modals) include: will, shall, might, can, could, must, ought to, should and would.

Parenthesis/parenthetical clause

Linking what we have learnt to what we see will help us to understand things better.















I remember vividly when I was in school during an English lesson, a question was posted to the class when the whole class gave the wrong answer.

The question was, "Is there anything wrong with the sentence: We feed children whom we think are hungry?"

The whole class considered the sentence correct; and that was a wrong answer.

The sentence should be "We feed children who we think are hungry." In giving such answer, the teacher has explained that 'we think' in the sentence is a parenthesis or a parenthetical clause which has no grammatical function and is there for clarity sake. Such parenthesis or parenthetical clause can be taken out of the sentence without affecting its actual meaning.

Recently, I have seen a sentence of similar construction in a column (designated to promote the correct use of English) of a popular national English daily - It means “Where is that boy whom I think is an idiot?”

I have written an e-mail to the editor of the column asking, "Shouldn't the sentence be:It means “Where is that boy who I think is an idiot?”

I have not received any reply from the editor and have to take it that silence means consent.

Be careful of reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
-- Mark Twain

Comma splice/run-on sentence

While clothing accessories are to be worn according
to trends, punctuation marks in writings need to be
placed according to rules.












Sentences with comma splices or the so-called run-on sentences can often be seen in newspapers. Such writers appear to be ignorant about the full stop being the most important punctuation mark which shows the end of the sentence requiring the use a capital letter at the beginning of the next sentence.

Note the following sentences taken from a popular national English daily on the same day:-

1) Quote of the day: All high performers have a secret, they use their mind's eyes.

2) Remark of a tourist in Bangkok: I'm disappointed. Where's all the fun?

Category 1 consists of two separate sentences joined by a comma which should be replaced instead by a full stop as the sentence before it is already complete in sense. Of course, the next sentence should begin with a capital 'T'.

Category 2 contains two separate sentences (the latter of which is in the form of a question) which are correctly punctuated.

When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing. - Enrique Jardiel Poncela

Past Perfect Tense

Engaging in discussions will lead to improvements in writing especially the grammatical aspect.






Temporary Occupation Licence holders have no legal right over the land as their licences had expired.

The above is a sub-headline to a news item found in a popular national English daily.

The sentence has a combination of present tense and past perfect tense.

Invariably, grammar books are advising against the use of the past perfect tense except to indicate past actions where one was either completed or should have been completed before commencement of another.

The said sub-headline does not reflect a situation that warrants the use of the past perfect tense.

It can conveniently be recast as "Temporary Occupation Licence holders have no legal right over the land as their licences have expired" to be grammatically correct.

Subject-verb disagreements in newspaper

Writings conforming to grammatical rules can easily be understood globally.






Survival hopes for missing 100 fades.

The above is a newspaper headline having a subject-verb disagreement.

'Survival' in the sentence is an adjective qualifying the noun 'hopes' which is plural in form while 'for missing 100' is an enlargement of the same plural noun 'hopes'. Taking away these adjective and enlargement will leave the sentence as "Hopes fades". It will then be easily seen as an error in subject-verb agreement.

The headline should have been "Survival hopes for missing 100 fade."

A similar case has also been shown by the same newspaper on the same day - Noble values, including abhorrence to corruption, has been incorporated into the school curriculum to create awareness among students. Here the subject is 'values' and not 'corruption'. As such, 'has been incorporated' should have been 'have been incorporated'.

The sentence below is the third sentence picked from the same newspaper on the same day.

Starring in a movie about poverty-stricken slums has propelled one Indian to the highest and hottest levels of global celebrity.

This third one is seemingly the same case as the first two but is not. The subject of this sentence is 'starring' which is a singular noun and correctly matched by the singular verb 'has propelled' (in the present perfect tense) that follows.

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.
-- Charles W. Eliot

Which 'he' is the headline referring to?

A clear message will drive home its point easily.






Aziz reminds Hadi he’s captain of the ship.

The above is the headline of a news item appearing in a popular national English daily.

By reading such headline, you will not know whether Aziz or Hadi is the captain of the ship.

The news proper itself confirms that Aziz is the captain of the ship.

To avoid ambiguity, the headline could have been "Aziz reminds Hadi Aziz (or the former) is captain of the ship".

Don't let people drive you crazy when you know it's in walking distance.
-- Anonymous

Misses for missus

Wrong signal will lead to wrong interpretation.






My attention has been grabbed by a sub-headline of a newspaper article.

It reads, "My misses found a sticker on our post box the other day and even after much scraping, couldn't get all of it off."

I have been attracted to it not because it conveys something interesting but because I have not been able to understand initially what it is trying to tell its readers.

On second thought, I believe I have the correct story which is hidden by a typographical error.

To verify, I have read the whole article which eventually confirms my assumption that the sub-headline should have been, "My missus found a sticker on our post box the other day and even after much scraping, couldn't get all of it off."

To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.
-- Anonymous

Tense Harmony

Designs like writings must be harmonious to reflect their themes/meanings.





Earlier, Lim said the change promised by the state government since taking over after the March 8 general election last year was not rhetoric, but something that can be seen, felt and touch.

The above is a sentence/paragraph taken from a news item in a popular national English daily.

It has a failure in tense hormony. The last word 'touch' should be in the past participle. Hence, the whole sentence/paragraph should have been, "Earlier, Lim said the change promised by the state government since taking over after the March 8 general election last year was not rhetoric, but something that can be seen, felt and touched.

Below is another one taken from the same newspaper. This time it is from an advertisement. Pay attention to the words highlighted by me in bold and the one in italics.

Last weekend, I just stayed home and swam, sailed, walked along the promenade, shopped, had lunch by the marina, watch a yacht sailed by, snoozed, read a book before enjoying a quiet dinner for two on the verandah of my home.

It is a compound sentence with all the words in bold being verbs in the past tense except the word in italics being a verb in the present tense. The verb in the present tense is out of place and should be in the past tense also.

There is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
-- Oscar Wilde

Misleading newspaper headline

Writings/messages should be clearly presented to avoid ambiguity.






Sketches of suspects released is the headline of a news item in a popular national English daily.

Such headline can lead you to understand its meaning to be "Sketches (are or have been) released and they belong to suspects" or "Sketches of suspects (who are or have been) released".

You cannot be sure until you have read the first paragraph of the news proper which says, "Pakistan yesterday released sketches of four men suspected of involvement in a deadly ambush on Sri Lankan cricketers and broadcast CCTV footage of gunmen escaping after the siege."

To do away with the embiguity, the headline can be "Sketches released of suspects" or "Released: sketches of suspects".

There is then creative reading as well as creative writing.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson