The Grammar Logs
#502

What is more correct to say:

• Aren't I?
or

• Am I not?

The tag question "am I not" is more formal (if not to say stuffy); the "aren't I" is perfectly acceptable at all levels of writing and speaking. At some point, you would think that "ain't I" would have achieved some level of respectability as a substitute for "am I not," but it never quite made it.

Can you please tell me what the difference is between the prefixes non- or not-, un- and in- ?

We were wondering whether non-validated or unvalidated and invalidated had different meanings...

Thank you in advance for the answer.

Let's say you had parked your car in a parking garage and you could park there for free if a merchant validated your parking ticket. If you forgot to have the merchant stamp your ticket, that would mean that your tickets was still unvalidated or non-validated. If, however, the managers of the parking garage noticed that your ticket was counterfeit, they could invalidate your ticket and it would no longer be valid or useful for the purpose you had (illegally) intended. I would hesitate to suggest, however, that there is some principle regarding in-, un-, non-, and not- at work here that could be appied in other instances.

"The two goals are safeguard security without sacrificing liberty." Are there really two goals? I have a problem with the word "without."

We really have but one goal in that sentence. It happens to be modified by the prepositional phrase "without sacrificing liberty," but it's still one goal.

Some of our teachers say that B is the right answer and some say C is the right answer. Which one is the best answer for the question below ? Besides Do you think that the choice 'c' can be the right answer ? Should you say 'c' can be could you explain it to us ?

I've looked in my purse on the dresser in my coat pocket and on all of the tables in the house but I can't find my keys anywhere . They ----------------------------- .
a) have lost b) are lost c) have been lost d) lost

Response "b" is definitely the best, but I don't see anything wrong with "c." My father would tell me that I am evading responsibility when I use a passive construction like that — as if the keys somehow lost themselves. We could say something like "the keys have been lost for a long time," but it's probably wise to otherwise avoid this passive construction.

Is the term "those ones" or "these two" proper English?

Example: He chose those ones over these two.

"Those ones" is possible, as we describe this usage in our section on the pronoun "one" (bottom of the page, on the "plural of one"). But instead of saying "I want these/those ones," we normally drop the "ones" and turn the modifying "these" or "those" into a demonstrative pronoun and say, simply, "I want these" or "I want those." The same thing would undoubtedly happen in your sentence, and we would write, "He chose those over these two."

Is it more appropriate in describing a home office to say "I work from home." or "I work at home."? As I understand it the former means one is working away from one's home, while the latter means one works in one's home. Which is correct? Thank you in advance.

"I work at home" means that one's center of business or professional activity is one's private residence. "I work from home" means that one might do a great deal of traveling for business purposes, but one's center of activity, again, is the private residence. That means that when I return from my travels I usually return to my home, not to an office building. "I work out of my house" would frequently mean the same thing. These phrases do tend to overlap a bit in meaning.

How can I break this sentence up and make it sound better?

________ Bank, as part of it long-term strategy to provide consumers and users with a full range of financial and money-based services, has significantly and importantly expanded it's insurance providing capabilities by acquiring two insurance motivated agencies and entering into a partnering relationship with one of the country's largest and biggest insurance providers.

Help?

It's not just a matter of "breaking up" the text; it requires some serious trimming. How about something like. . . .

As part of its strategy to provide a full range of financial services, ______ Bank has expanded its insurance-providing capabilities by acquiring two insurance-motivated agencies and entered into a partnership with one of the country's largest insurance providers.

Athletics is/are a highly visible aspect of the modern campus. What is more appropriate to use in this situation, is or are? Both sound correct. Thanks!

You can use either a singular or plural verb with "athletics." It usually depends on whether you're thinking of the various components that make up athletics, the various sports, etc., or whether you're just thinking of it as one thing, one topic. The same thing goes for the words "gymnastics" and "Olympics."

I need an explanation and more examples of the usage of "the better" as in this infinitive phrase:

"What long and great ears you have got!"
"They are the better to hear you, my child."

I think that sentence is usually written, "The better to hear you with, my child!" (without the "they are"). This is a peculiar but familiar construction, a correlative conjunction, actually, in the form of "the . . . the . . . ." We hear it all the time in sentences such as "The more you earn, the more taxes you pay" and "When it comes to basketball, the taller the better." This correlative device sometimes connects two clauses with the machinery of the clauses omitted, as in "the taller [you are], the better [it is for you]." In your sentence, the first half of the correlative connection is even omitted (but is implied by the first part of the dialogue): "[The longer my ears are], the better to hear you."

Gerund Phrase as a Subject: Is has or have the correct verb in the following sentence. I thought weighing was the subject but I was overruled.

"Weighing heavily upon investor confidence have been the turmoil in the Middle East, the specter of further terrorist attacks in the United States, the credibility of corporate officers and public accountants as well as the uncertainties of corporate profits."

Thank you for your help and your website. It is user friendly and has helped me in my business writing.

I think your friends who overruled you on this matter were right. That is one monfucious and inverted sentence! All those things — the turmoil, the specter, the credibility, the undertainties — have been weighing heavily on invester confidence. Because of the inversion, it's quite understandable, though, how you might think that the sentence is leading off with a gerund subject, "weighing," and that can be confusing. For that reason, I don't think it's the best sentence in the world.

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