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

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

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GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT<br />

include (her collection comprises old playbills, movie magazines<br />

and stage memorabilia). <strong>The</strong> parts constitute the whole; the whole<br />

comprises the parts. Note: Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary<br />

permits the use of comprise as a synonym for constitute;<br />

however, writers are advised <strong>to</strong> make the distinction.<br />

Less than half the employees voted for the plan.<br />

Should be fewer-not as many individual entities. Less should be<br />

used only <strong>to</strong> refer <strong>to</strong> a smaller quantity of a single entity (my recipe<br />

uses less sugar; the other route takes less time).<br />

A large amount of dishes were broken when the shelf collapsed.<br />

Should be number-the quantity of individual entities. Amount<br />

should be used only <strong>to</strong> refer <strong>to</strong> how much there is of a single entity<br />

(they do a great amount of business on weekends; what amount of<br />

flour does this take).<br />

<strong>The</strong> exam includes both a verbal and a written part.<br />

Should be oral-spoken, as opposed <strong>to</strong> written. As used in the<br />

above sense, verbal simply means involving words, so it would apply<br />

equally <strong>to</strong> both oral and written modes. (One could properly say an<br />

exam contained a verbal and a mathematics part, or a verbal and a<br />

mo<strong>to</strong>r skills part.) Used in another sense, however, the word does<br />

mean oral: for example, a verbal agreement as opposed <strong>to</strong> a written<br />

one.<br />

In each of the following sentences, a word is used in an ungrammatical<br />

way.<br />

Hopefully it won't be necessary for us <strong>to</strong> go <strong>to</strong> such extremes.<br />

Should be We hope or It's <strong>to</strong> be hoped that. Strictly speaking,<br />

hopefully means full of hope (hopefully, she looked through the job<br />

ads; he went hopefully through the day's receipts). Certainly, the<br />

use shown above is very common in speech, and some modern<br />

authorities feel it should be viewed as legitimate since it doesn't<br />

present any ambiguity and the alternatives often sound stiff. In<br />

formal writing, however, it is advisable <strong>to</strong> avoid this usage-at least<br />

for now. Another few years may see it gain full acceptability.<br />

Errors like spelling mistakes make a resume look bad.<br />

Should be such as-meaning that spelling mistakes are among the<br />

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