Grammar question

[MacMadame]

But humidity can be measured (counted)

 

[Vagabond]

Is it:
One of my favorite songs by Madonna is "Like a Prayer." OR
One of my favorite songs by Madonna is "Like a Prayer".

Shouldn't it be "As a Prayer"?

"When you call my name, it's as a little prayer."

 

[skatingfan5]

But humidity can be measured (counted)

You don't really "count" humidity, even though you measure it. Fewer is used when you can count the number/units of things: fewer cats, trees, people, bottles of milk or beer.

Examples:
If we had fewer cats, there would be much less cat hair on my clothing.
Since they ordered fewer kegs for the party there will be much less beer to go around (and fewer drunks and less drunkenness).

Disclaimer: The examples above in no way indicate my feelings about cats or beer.

 

[Japanfan]

Funny you say as I was reading US online this morning and came across this in a story about showmances on Big Brother:

The two, later returned for season 13 and competed on season 16 of The Amazing Race, are now married with a son.

However, if I was editing this I would have added "who" after the first comma and before later.

I think I might have done the same.

 

[Susan1]

You don't really "count" humidity, even though you measure it. Fewer is used when you can count the number/units of things: fewer cats, trees, people, bottles of milk or beer.

Examples:
If we had fewer cats, there would be much less cat hair on my clothing.
Since they ordered fewer kegs for the party there will be much less beer to go around (and fewer drunks and less drunkenness).

Disclaimer: The examples above in no way indicate my feelings about cats or beer.

Yeah, the simplest way to put it is - less thing; fewer things. Using your example, you could say "fewer cat hairs". Hair is a collective thing, hairs are things.

 

[Susan1]

Not grammar, but I can't find the old genealogy thread..........(it sucked me back in again and it's not even spring!)

Doing research on all the Matthew Wendlings, I came across "Matth Uwendling". That's not even a spelling or transcription error. It's like someone dictated the name by syllable, and the computer typed it the way it heard it? Weird.

 

[Vash01]

Resurrecting this thread because I have a grammar question. I am on a photography forum that has informal contests (no prizes). Each contest has a title so we know what kind of photos to enter.

One contest title is - Anything but water. My interpretation was that it should not have water. However, every entry had water (sea, waterfall, lakes, etc.). So I submitted my photo of a seascape but I am still troubled by the wording.

So my question is - Does 'Anything but water' mean it must contain water or the opposite (it should Not contain water)?

 

[Japanfan]

Resurrecting this thread because I have a grammar question. I am on a photography forum that has informal contests (no prizes). Each contest has a title so we know what kind of photos to enter.

One contest title is - Anything but water. My interpretation was that it should not have water. However, every entry had water (sea, waterfall, lakes, etc.). So I submitted my photo of a sea scale, but I am still troubled by the wording.

So my question is - Does 'Anything but water' mean it must contain water or the opposite (it should Not contain water)?

Taken literally, I would think it means photographs that do not contain any water - anything else is fine.

But my immediate reaction was that it referred to protecting water - i.e. if you need to exploit resources, exploit anything but water.

 

[hanca]

I would understand it that they do not want pictures with water. But it is my second/third language so what do I know.

 

[Susan1]

Resurrecting this thread because I have a grammar question. I am on a photography forum that has informal contests (no prizes). Each contest has a title so we know what kind of photos to enter.

One contest title is - Anything but water. My interpretation was that it should not have water. However, every entry had water (sea, waterfall, lakes, etc.). So I submitted my photo of a sea scale, but I am still troubled by the wording.

So my question is - Does 'Anything but water' mean it must contain water or the opposite (it should Not contain water)?

I don't get the confusion. "What do you want to drink?" "Anything but water." That means you don't want water.

 

[Vash01]

I don't get the confusion. "What do you want to drink?" "Anything but water." That means you don't want water.

That's how I interpreted it but the poster posted a photo with water (as an example) and everyone else posted water photos. It was the wrong title but others knew what she wanted. May be I will send her a message, and ask about the title she chose.

In the past, someone started a contest with the title 'Deserts' and posted a picture of a cake. Others posted pictures of various desserts based on that. I was stubborn and posted a picture of a Desert (not dessert).

Sometimes I wonder why people use the wrong titles. Somehow it works out for them but it bothers me.

 

[gkelly]

Are there no instructions aside from the titles for each of these contests? In that case, it would seem to be extra important to try to get the title right.

 

[Vash01]

Are there no instructions aside from the titles for each of these contests? In that case, it would seem to be extra important to try to get the title right.

Sometimes they give a brief description, which is Very limited in characters. Sometimes they just repeat what is in the title. I will need to look it up again.

 

[Susan1]

That's how I interpreted it but the poster posted a photo with water (as an example) and everyone else posted water photos. It was the wrong title but others knew what she wanted. May be I will send her a message, and ask about the title she chose.

In the past, someone started a contest with the title 'Deserts' and posted a picture of a cake. Others posted pictures of various desserts based on that. I was stubborn and posted a picture of a Desert (not dessert).

Sometimes I wonder why people use the wrong titles. Somehow it works out for them but it bothers me.

Didn't anybody else question the word "but" before they posted pictures of water? Deserts - desserts? Maybe the original poster should not be writing the titles!

 

[MacMadame]

The Desert one was probably a misspelling. But "Anything but water" and a picture of water to mean "Anything, but it has to have water" is pretty dumb IMO. I bet when you ask her, she'll tell you something that means she thinks she was being clever.

 

[Vash01]

Didn't anybody else question the word "but" before they posted pictures of water? Deserts - desserts? Maybe the original poster should not be writing the titles!

Apparently nobody questioned it. They just posted the photos based on the title photo. From now on I am going to send messages to people who give wrong titles.

 

[PeterG]

The Desert one was probably a misspelling. But "Anything but water" and a picture of water to mean "Anything, but it has to have water" is pretty dumb IMO. I bet when you ask her, she'll tell you something that means she thinks she was being clever.

"Anything with water"?

 

[Vash01]

"Anything with water"?

That might be the next contest (they call it challeng) I start. Have to wait for 3-4 weeks though, as I already have three in progress. They allow max. 3 at a time per poster.

 

[Simka]

I have a pet peeve, but it's more of a verbal thing than written. I keep hearing people say “supposably” insted of “supposedly”. Surely that can't be a real thing?

 

[Vash01]

I have a pet peeve, but it's more of a verbal thing than written. I keep hearing people say “supposably” insted of “supposedly”. Surely that can't be a real thing?

Supposedly is the only right thing. You are right in not liking that other word. I don't think it exists.

My pet peeve is (among many) people writing Definately instead of Definitely.

I have often wondered if 'different than' is grammatically correct. Should it always be 'different from'? Perhaps the first expression is colloquial.

 

[Japanfan]

I have often wondered if 'different than' is grammatically correct. Should it always be 'different from'? Perhaps the first expression is colloquial.

My initial response was that both are correct, and oxforddictionaries.com agrees:

Is there any difference between the expressions different from, different than, and different to? Is one of the three ‘more correct’ than the others?

In practice, different from is by far the most common of the three, in both British and American English:

We want to demonstrate that this government is different from previous governments. (British English)

This part is totally different from anything else that he's done. (American English)

Different than is mainly used in American English:

Teenagers certainly want to look different than their parents.

Different to is much more common in British English than American English:

In this respect the Royal Academy is no different to any other major museum.

Some people criticize different than as incorrect but there’s no real justification for this view. There’s little difference in sense between the three expressions, and all of them are used by respected writers.

 

[Prancer]

I have often wondered if 'different than' is grammatically correct.

Sometimes. https://www.grammar.com/different-from-vs-different-than/

 

[Vash01]

Lately I am seeing frequent cases of people typing 'where' when they meant 'were'. This is both on and off FSU. I don't understand this confusion at all, and it is irritating me right now. I don't believe autocorrect would change Were to Where. Do they really not know the difference or did they just mistype because they were in a hurry? I suspect they learned the meanings of these two words in school, but they forgot.

There are other similar sounding pairs and I can see why someone who just started learning the language would be confused, but the people I am talking about seem to know the language.

 

[Susan1]

I would hope it's a typo. (How do they type "where were you"? ha ha) Since this subject popped up again, lately "I have a pit in my stomach" keeps jumping out at me. (Nervous and upset people with all the bad news happening.) You have a whatever feeling in the pit of your stomach. Not a pit in your stomach.

Not grammar, and I forget what regular network news (I think CBS), but talking about the kids being hit by cars at bus stops last week, every report, this one guy kept saying with daylight saving time being over it was going to be worse in the morning. No, no, no, no!!!! It will get dark an hour earlier, but it will also get light an hour earlier. If the sunrise was at 8 a.m., it will now be at 7 a.m. and then progressively later each day. I don't even sit to watch network news, but every time I flipped channels, there he was.

Just me!............

 

[gkelly]

This Grammar Guru Will Solve the World’s Problems
Or, at least, help you figure out when to use an Oxford comma.

 

[Japanfan]

I am an editor and the Oxford comma is not necessary in the academic/business milieu within which I work (creative writing being a different beast). To Oxford or not to Oxford - both are fine IMO. Personally, I prefer the Oxford (and of course use it for a document that uses Oxford style), but in general, it really depends on my mood - and on how many words are in a list separated by the comma (let's not talk about semi-colons for the moment). I'm less likely to use the Oxford in a list where 'x, y and z' are single words than when 'x, y, and z' are a combination of words (and semi-colons aren't warranted), in which case the Oxford may facilitate ease of reading by clearly separating the list of multiple-word items for the reader.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it, so there.

I do hope to not ignite an over the Oxford among FSU's many fine grammatical minds.

But I expect that someone will soon post as to precisely when and when not to use the Oxford.

 

[gkelly]

I think the most important thing would be to pick a style for each document and stick to it consistently, not to vary by the length of the listed items.

 

[PDilemma]

I have a pet peeve, but it's more of a verbal thing than written. I keep hearing people say “supposably” insted of “supposedly”. Surely that can't be a real thing?

I once heard a Congressman say it not once but four times in one radio interview. He was a moron and got booted out of office. As a Republican in a red state.

 

[MacMadame]

I think the most important thing would be to pick a style for each document and stick to it consistently, not to vary by the length of the listed items.

I think in general this is true but not for the Oxford comma. I only use it if the list isn’t clear without it.

 

[Prancer]

I think in general this is true but not for the Oxford comma. I only use it if the list isn’t clear without it.

That's the rule for AP style.