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May 15, 2001
QUANTITY WORDS
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Quantity words sometimes are used by themselves or they may be used to modify a noun. Some are singular while others are plural.
1. Use the following quantity words with singular nouns or verbs:
A little bit (She has a little bit of her mother's temper.)
Too much (That salad dressing has too much oil for my taste.)
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2. Use these quantity words with plural nouns and verbs:
A few (The army is looking for a few good men and women.)
Many (The picnic table was covered with many ants.)
Several (Several workers applied for the promotion.)
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3. The following quantity words may be used with either singular or plural verbs and nouns:
A lot of (Tommy has a lot of courage to ask for a raise right now.)
-or-
A lot of pre-teens wear make-up these days.
All (All high school seniors graduated.)
-or-
All of the senior class graduated.
Most students study hard.
-or-
Most of the student body will pass this year.
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SPELLING OR WRITING TIP
Don't capitalize non-specific nouns such as court or government:
1. Henry's been to court three times this month.
(BUT: Henry has been summoned to the Court of Common Pleas for a hearing.)
2. Did you take a high school government class?
(BUT: The U.S. Government is one of the most powerful authorities in the world.)
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NEW WORD OF THE WEEK:
NIX (niks) noun [slang]: Nothing; no. Watch out! Also transitive verb: to forbid or deny.
Sandra sternly warned her colleague to nix his crazy idea.
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YOUR GRAMMAR AND WRITING QUESTIONS
QUESTION: I'm told there are six mistakes in the following. What are they?
Keats wrote On first Looking into Chapman's Homer after he has read a transelation of Homers' work that was given to him by his teacher, Charles Cowden Clarke.
GRAMMARCHECK: Here goes:
1. The poem's title should be set off by double quotation marks.
2. The words "that was" and "to" are unneeded. (not errors, but unnecessary)
3. The word "First" should be capitalized as a main word in the title.
4. The word "has" should be "had" to maintain the appropriate verb tense.
5. The word "transelation" should be spelled "translation."
6. The word "Homers'" should be changed to "Homer's" to show singular possession.
Our version reads like this:
Keats wrote "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" after he had read a translation of Homer's work given him by his teacher, Charles Cowden Clarke.
Did we miss anything, readers?
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QUESTION: When should hyphens be used in writing out numbers?
GRAMMARCHECK: Use hyphens to spell out compound numbers:
twenty-seven or ninety-nine
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Also use hyphens to link a range of pages:
Read pages 10-30 for homework.
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Use hyphens to combine figures and words for numbers:
Sixty ten-year-olds participated in the race.
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Some writers use hyphens between whole numbers and fractions:
1-1/2
Hope this helps!
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QUESTION: Which is correct?
You and me are no different when it comes to jeans.
-or-
You and I are no different when it comes to jeans.
GRAMMARCHECK: Since the pronouns are placed in the subject part of the sentence, it should be "I":
You and I are no different when it comes to jeans.
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QUESTION: My name is Lina and I'm working on a project about capitalization. I would like to know which text is the authority that the British consult when in doubt or when in need of using a credible reference--also the URL if there is one.
GRAMMARCHECK: We are unaware of one specific source. The Modern Language Association (MLA) is a universal guide used by English speakers all over the world. Well, British readers, is there an authoritative source you would like for us to recommend?
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QUESTION: Is this the correct way of using commas for listing an address within a letter?
123 Party Drive, San Diego, CA 92011
GRAMMARCHECK: Yes, indeed!
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