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Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

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GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT<br />

BETTER: Her responsibilities were <strong>to</strong> manage the PR department and <strong>to</strong><br />

attend trade shows.<br />

OR: Her responsibilities were the management of the PR department and<br />

attendance at trade shows.<br />

A computerized database index needs <strong>to</strong> be reorganized when it has<br />

become fragmented, or <strong>to</strong> correct the skewing of values.<br />

<strong>The</strong> focus switches from what is happening <strong>to</strong> the database index<br />

<strong>to</strong> what the person using it should do. Since the subject of this<br />

sentence is the database index, not the user, the passive voice is<br />

more appropriate. (For more on this, see "Active Versus Passive<br />

Voice" on page 286.)<br />

BETTER: A computerized database index needs <strong>to</strong> be reorganized when<br />

it has become fragmented or when its values have become skewed.<br />

She <strong>to</strong>ld him <strong>to</strong> get <strong>to</strong> the hotel by six o'clock, that he should check with<br />

the concierge for messages, leave his luggage at the front desk and <strong>to</strong><br />

wait for her in the lobby.<br />

<strong>The</strong> same wording must be used for each element. Repeating<br />

that he should four times would be clumsy; <strong>to</strong> is better. If <strong>to</strong> is<br />

used, it must be put either before each element in the series or just<br />

at the start.<br />

BETTER: She <strong>to</strong>ld him <strong>to</strong> get <strong>to</strong> the hotel by six o'clock, <strong>to</strong> check with<br />

the concierge for messages, <strong>to</strong> leave his luggage at the front desk and<br />

<strong>to</strong> wait for her in the lobby.<br />

OR: She <strong>to</strong>ld him <strong>to</strong> get <strong>to</strong> the hotel by six o'clock, check with the<br />

concierge for messages, leave his luggage at the front desk and wait for<br />

her in the lobby.<br />

<strong>The</strong> consultant objected <strong>to</strong> the proposal, saying that the costs would be<br />

exorbitant and because the training facilities were insufficient.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re is no reason <strong>to</strong> switch from that <strong>to</strong> because. In addition<br />

<strong>to</strong> the faulty parallelism, note that this slightly changes the meaning,<br />

turning the consultant's second objection from a matter of opinion<br />

<strong>to</strong> a statement of fact.<br />

BETTER: <strong>The</strong> consultant objected <strong>to</strong> the proposal, saying that the costs<br />

would be exorbitant and that the training facilities were insufficient.<br />

It would also be acceptable <strong>to</strong> drop the second that, since it can<br />

be inferred.<br />

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