Questions about word usage and grammar lessons learned

[Joe Carillo]

Questions sent by e-mail by Miss Mae, Forum member (April 4, 2011):

Dear Mr. Carillo,

We  lost our Internet connection over here for almost a week, so my grammatical queries had piled up ( in the “Reminders” slot of my cell phone, at least). Here they are:

1. “New adage” - Thanks to Messrs. Strunk & White, I have been warned against the phrase “old adage” in writing. But what if it “adage” is paired with the word “new,” as in “new adage”? Should I just take it as an old saying given a modern interpretation? That was from a column...

2. “Though” and “too” - Should there always be a comma before and after the words “though” and “too”? Some writers don’t seem to observe that.

3. “Either” and “neither” - Can they be written without their partners “or” and “nor”? What if I like to describe an idea in two sentences? Example: “He’s not exactly poor. He’s not entirely rich, either.” Of course, I could just write that as “He’s not exactly poor but he’s not entirely rich.” But I wonder if I can get away with what I would naturally prefer.

I've also listed the grammar lessons I learned from you last month. How I wish their number confoirms that I am learning!

1. Turning verbs into nouns can make abstract statements more convincing; smoothen transition; mellow down statements; emphasize direct objects; and replace needless introductory remarks (“the fact that...”)
2. When a main verb is used together with a helping verb, it is the helping verb that takes the tense.
3. “None” is treated as singular when it means “not one” but plural when it means “not any.”
4. Indefinite clauses are marked with a pair of commas.
5. Dependent clauses must contain valid verbs and subjects in them.
6. “Motivate” is to people as “enhance” or “promote” is to attributes and virtues.
7. Perfect tenses are used to describe actions that were just completed or were still happening.

My reply to Miss Mae:

About your first three questions:

1. “New adage”

I don’t think Messrs. Strunk and White in The Elements of Style were entirely right in their warning against using the phrase “old adage.” If we follow the contemporary definition provided by my digital Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary, the noun “adage” means “a saying often in metaphorical form that embodies a common observation.” An adage isn’t necessarily old then. Of course, it must have been in common use for some time, and many of them would be “old” from our normal reckoning, but some could, in fact, be of vintage fairly recent enough not to merit being considered “old.” So, an adage could be “new” or “newer” compared to the really old and time-worn ones, in which case “new adage” may not exactly be a contradiction of terms.

You asked: Should we just take “new adage” as an old saying given a modern interpretation? I don’t think so; that would be semantically off.  When we word an age-old adage in contemporary terms, it’s much better to say, “To paraphrase an age-old adage…” or “To state an age-old adage in contemporary terms…”   

2. “Though” and “too”

 No, a comma isn’t always needed before and after the words “though” and “too”?

In the case of “though,” it’s obvious it isn’t needed when used as a conjunction in the sense of “in spite of the fact that,” as in “Though he likes to eat pineapples, he’s terrified of peeling one.” “He’s terrified of peeling pineapples though he likes to eat them.” As an adverb in the sense of “however” or “nevertheless,” however, “though” needs to be set off by a comma from a qualifying phrase that immediately follows it, as in this sentence: “She has always loved her younger sister though, even if the sibling rivalry between them is so strong.” We must keep in mind, though, that there’s no need for a comma before the adverb “though” in sentences of this form:  “She has always loved her younger sister though.”

In the case of the adverb “too” in the sense of “also” and “besides,” a comma isn’t needed in such sentence constructions as “They sold their summer cottage and their old sedan too.” But when “too” immediately follows the noun it modifies, it needs to be set off by a pair of commas: “They, too, were involved in the controversial transaction.”

3. “Either” and “neither” - Can they be written without their partners “or” and “nor”?

Yes, “either” and “neither” can be used without their partners “or” and “nor,” respectively.

The sentence you yourself provided is a good example of the use of “either” without its usual partner “or”: “He’s not exactly poor. He’s not entirely rich, either.” In such constructions, though, you need to knock off the comma before “either”: “He’s not exactly poor. He’s not entirely rich either.” This sentence is a more emphatic construction than this one that you proposed, “He’s not exactly poor but he’s not entirely rich,” but, yes, you can get away with the sentence construction that you naturally prefer. It’s all a matter of style and emphasis.

In the case of “neither,” it doesn’t always need its partner “nor,” as in these sentences: “She has not gone to Rome and neither have I.” “To fight or to surrender. Neither is palatable to the besieged dictator.” “Amy says she won’t join the picnic? Well, me neither.” (In fact, the “neither”-“nor” tandem is mandatory only in sentence constructions in this form: “Neither Amy nor myself will be joining the picnic.”)

As to the lessons you learned from the Forum last month, here are my comments:

1. Turning verbs into nouns can make abstract statements more convincing; smoothen transition; mellow down statements; emphasize direct objects; and replace needless introductory remarks (“the fact that...”)

Yes, but only in the contexts specified in my discussion of the subject. (“Turning verbs into nouns isn’t always bad for English prose,” March 12, 2011)

2. When a main verb is used together with a helping verb, it is the helping verb that takes the tense.

That’s absolutely right! (“A rather curious state of affairs in the grammar of 'do'-questions,” December 11, 2010)

3. “None” is treated as singular when it means “not one” but plural when it means “not any.”

That’s absolutely right! (“The pronoun 'none' can mean either 'not one' or 'not any',” December 4, 2010)

4. Indefinite clauses are marked with a pair of commas.

I’m sure you meant “nondefining” or “nonessential” instead of “indefinite,” in which case your understanding is correct that they need to be set off by at least a comma (when the  nondefining clause is at the tail end of the sentence) or by a pair of commas (when the  nondefining clause is sandwiched inside the main clause). (“Guideposts for using ‘who,’ ‘that,’ and ‘which’ to link relative clauses," April 2, 2011)
   
5. Dependent clauses must contain valid verbs and subjects in them.

That’s absolutely right! (“Guideposts for using ‘who,’ ‘that,’ and ‘which’ to link relative clauses,” April 2, 2011)

6. “Motivate” is to people as “enhance” or “promote” is to attributes and virtues.

Yes, but only in the contexts specified in my discussion of the subject. (“Was Manila’s anti-Reproductive Health Bill rally interfaith or ecumenical?”, March 26, 2011)

7. Perfect tenses are used to describe actions that were just completed or were still happening.

More accurately, the perfect tenses express an action or state completed at the time of speaking or at a time spoken of; if the action is still happening, the tense that will properly express it is the present progressive tense, not the perfect tense. (“How the perfect tenses situate events as they unfold in time,” February 20, 2011)

Based on this, Miss Mae, I think you’re doing beautifully in your grammar review.