Thursday December 27, 2007
Size of road doesn’t matter
Your questions answered By FADZILAH AMIN
WHICH is correct: “Do you know who is the culprit?” or “Do you know who the culprit is?”
“Do you know who am I?” or “Do you know who I am?”
“Do you know where is he?” or “Do you know where he is?”
2) Also, which prepositions do we use for these two sentences?
“The bookshop is on/in Limbang Street?”
“The bookshop is on/in Limbang Road?”
Does it matter what the size of the street or road is when deciding which preposition to use?
– Jenny
1) The correct forms of the above questions are:
a) “Do you know who the culprit is?”
b) “Do you know who I am?”
c) “Do you know where he is?”
Those questions are indirect questions with “who” and “where” used in object clauses.
If the questions were direct “wh-” questions, beginning with “who” or “where”, you place the verb after the “wh-” words, thus:
“Who is the culprit?”, “Who am I?” and “Where is he?”
But your questions begin with “Do you know ...” as the main clause, and the word order of the main clause is already a question word order, i.e. auxiliary verb (“do”) + subject (“you”) + main verb (“know”). So, you don’t need to use the question word order in the “wh-” clauses.
2) In British English, “on” and “in” are used interchangeably before names of roads or streets. The size of the street or road does not affect the preposition used. Here are some examples of usage taken from respectable sites on the Internet:
“The main entrance to the Fraser Noble Building is situated on London Road 50 metres above the junction with University Road.”
http://www.le.ac.uk/music/html/find_ venues.html
“Prospects Connexions in Bromley is situated in London Road and offers the following services:”
http://www.bromley.gov.uk/jobsand careers/prospects_connextions.htm
The museum is situated in High Street, Ipswich.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk/nature/walk_ thru_time/08.shtml
Donington Library is situated on High Street ...
http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/section.asp?docId=28995&catId=2494
I DRAFTED this letter:
We refer to your letter ref. XX/YYYY/UUU/VVVV dated 15 November 2007 pertaining to the new Design Brief for PABX System and other Communications Systems and another letter ref. XX/YYYY/UUU/VVVV dated 23 October 2007 responding to our comments on your Revised Design Brief of Communication Systems ...
My superior changed “Communications Systems” to “Communication Systems”, but I doubt if that is correct.
In this context, the communications refer to many systems such as PABX, Radio, etc. I reckon “communications” is a better word to depict these various systems, just as we would say “children’s party” rather than “child party”.
What is your opinion?
– Pow Lim
When a noun is placed before another noun and used as an adjective, the adjectival noun is usually singular.
For example we have “watch straps” (not watches straps) to mean straps for watches, “five-year plan” (not five-years plan), etc.
But this is not true of all such nouns. “Communication”, for example, can be used in the singular or plural before another noun. Some people use “Communication systems” and others use “Communications systems”.
Below are two examples from the Internet:
1) Department of Communication Systems – Lancaster University
http://www.dcs.lancs.ac.uk/
2) Communications Systems – London Metropolitan University
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/ug- prospectus/courses-07-08/communications- systems.cfm
Both your version and your superior’s version are correct. The plural in “systems” indicates that there are many systems, so an ‘s’ after “communication” is not necessary, although some people use it.
It is also true that we use “children’s party” and not “child party”, but we normally use “child labour” and not “children’s labour”.
WHICH of the following are correct?
1. Applicable to Malaysians only.
2. Applicable for Malaysians only.
3. Applicable to school holiday period only.
4. Applicable for school holiday period only.
5. Applicable during school holiday period only.
I’ve Googled the usage of “applicable to” and “applicable for” and find that BOTH are used indiscriminately.
– Viv
The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1995), in its entry on “applicable”, says “(often followed by to)” and the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2005) even writes “(to somebody or something)” after applicable.
Although I don’t think “to” is the only preposition that can follow “applicable”, it is the most common, judging from my experience of British English and a Yahoo search I conducted (restricted to UK sites).
“Applicable” can be used with other prepositions depending on context, and can be used without a preposition after it, as in “That rule is not applicable here.”
The word “applicable” as you use it in your phrases means “relevant, affecting or relating to.”
I find the use of “to” in 1) (“Applicable to Malaysians only.”) better than the use of “for” in 2) (“Applicable for Malaysians only.”)
BUT I find the use of “during” in 5) (“Applicable during school holiday period only.”) preferable to the use of “to” in 3) (“Applicable to school holiday period only.”) or the use of “for” in 4) (“Applicable for school holiday period only.”)
This is because when talking about a period, “during” is the appropriate preposition, NOT “to” or “for”. Below is an Internet example of the use of “during” as one of the prepositions after “applicable”:
“Any offence relating to the vicinity of a school would only be applicable during, or within one hour, of the school hours.” (The Drugs Bill, Bill 17 of 2004-05)
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/ research/rp2005/rp05-007.pdf
RSS
