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Discussion Groups / British English / October 2004Does this sound awkward?
A quiz I'm making contains the following question: "How many portions of fruit and veg is it recommended to eat each day?" Does this sound as awkward to you as it does to me? I would be tempted to recast it using "one," but that would make the whole sound a bit more formal than would be ideal: "How many portions of fruit and veg is it recommended that one should eat each day?" And yet I am loath to use "you" and make the sentence more personal. Any solutions out there? Rob Kerr > A quiz I'm making contains the following question: > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > Any solutions > out there? What is the recommended number of portions of fruit and veg that should be eaten each day? We are recommended to eat how many portions of fruit and veg a day?  SignatureRay > A quiz I'm making contains the following question: > > "How many portions of fruit and veg is it recommended to eat each day?" > > Does this sound as awkward to you as it does to me? Not at all. It is absolutely fine. -Luke >A quiz I'm making contains the following question: >"How many portions of fruit and veg is it recommended to eat each day?" >Does this sound as awkward to you as it does to me? I would be tempted >to recast it using "one," but that would make the whole sound a bit more >formal >than would be ideal: >"How many portions of fruit and veg is it recommended that one should eat >each day?" >And yet I am loath to use "you" and make the sentence more personal. Any >solutions >out there? I think it's important to avoid potentially verbose or complex sentences in a quiz. Two idiomatic forms might be: How many portions of fruit and vegetables should a person eat each day? How many serves of fruit and vegetables should people eat each day? Sig: I have a brain the size of a planet. It's not much good to me, however. It's on a different planet. >I think it's important to avoid potentially verbose or complex >sentences in a quiz. Two idiomatic forms might be: [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > >How many serves of fruit and vegetables should people eat each day? Surely "serve" is a verb that has not yet been nouned. I would much prefer "servings". SignatureJohn Hall "He crams with cans of poisoned meat The subjects of the King, And when they die by thousands G.K.Chesterton: Why, he laughs like anything." from "Song Against Grocers" > >I think it's important to avoid potentially verbose or complex > >sentences in a quiz. Two idiomatic forms might be: [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > > >How many serves of fruit and vegetables should people eat each day? > Surely "serve" is a verb that has not yet been nouned. I would much > prefer "servings". Anyone for tennis? Signaturehttp://www.dacha.freeuk.com/ada/07-0.htm Haddocks are sensitive fish... >> >I think it's important to avoid potentially verbose or complex >> >sentences in a quiz. Two idiomatic forms might be: [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > >Anyone for tennis? :) Yes, after I'd posted I thought of that. But I think that tennis is the only context in which "serve" can be used as a noun. SignatureJohn Hall "I am not young enough to know everything." Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) > A quiz I'm making contains the following question: > > "How many portions of fruit and veg is it recommended to eat each day?" It sounds good to me, but why not How many portions of fruit and veg *are* recommended to eat each day? Thanks, Ale >> A quiz I'm making contains the following question: >> "How many portions of fruit and veg is it recommended to eat each [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > >How many portions of fruit and veg *are* recommended to eat each day? That sentence lacks a subject, since it is not the portions that are being recommended to do something, The subject in the first sentence is "it". SignatureJohn Hall "I am not young enough to know everything." Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) >>How many portions of fruit and veg *are* recommended to eat each day? > > That sentence lacks a subject, since it is not the portions that are > being recommended to do something, The subject in the first sentence is > "it". Should it be "How many portions are recommended to be eaten each day?". Bye, FB SignatureSe dico "siedi!" manca l'oggetto. Siedo chi? Lei o me? (da it.cultura.linguistica.italiano) >>>How many portions of fruit and veg *are* recommended to eat each day? >> [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Should it be "How many portions are recommended to be eaten each day?". They all sound awkward. I would recommend a rewrite - perhaps on the lines of "How many portions of fruit should be eaten each day according to nutritionists." or "How many portions of fruit do nutritionist recommend as the daily minimum." Grammatical structures may be possible but it isn't always a good idea to use them. many possible structures sound incredibly pompous or awkward. If a structure feels awkward you should look for another simpler way of saying what you want to say, not stick to the grammatical structure like glue and produce garbled gibberish - unless, of course you're a bureaucrat, many of whom seem only capable of uttering garbled gibberish. ;-) Regards, Einde O'Callaghan > Grammatical structures may be possible but it isn't always a good > idea to use them. many possible structures sound incredibly pompous [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > unless, of course you're a bureaucrat, many of whom seem only > capable of uttering garbled gibberish. ;-) How on earth do you manage to tell the difference between gibberish and garbled gibberish? :-) Signaturehttp://www.dacha.freeuk.com/mavic/0m03-0.htm Crackpot >>Grammatical structures may be possible but it isn't always a good >>idea to use them. many possible structures sound incredibly pompous [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > How on earth do you manage to tell the difference between gibberish and > garbled gibberish? :-) If it comes from a bureaucrat it's probably garbled. ;-) Regards, Einde O'Callaghan >>>> How many portions of fruit and veg *are* recommended to eat each >>>> day? [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > according to nutritionists." or "How many portions of fruit do > nutritionist recommend as the daily minimum." I agree, and would add another (non-grammatical) reason. Use of the word "recommended" without a following "by ....." is (IMO) pretty well devoid of meaning. It's analogous to my pet hate, which is "unacceptable" without a following "to ...". Each use implies the existence of an absolute standard which doesn't exist. -- Mike Stevens narrowboat Felis Catus II web site www.mike-stevens.co.uk Old grammarians never die - they simple parse away > > They all sound awkward. I would recommend a rewrite - perhaps on > > the lines of "How many portions of fruit should be eaten each day > > according to nutritionists." or "How many portions of fruit do > > nutritionist recommend as the daily minimum." > I agree, and would add another (non-grammatical) reason. Use of the > word "recommended" without a following "by ....." is (IMO) pretty > well devoid of meaning. It's analogous to my pet hate, which is > "unacceptable" without a following "to ...". Each use implies the > existence of an absolute standard which doesn't exist. Some things are understood, surely? By your reasoning, "acceptable" without a following "to ..." must also imply your mythical absolute standard; and "'So-and-so' was commended for his bravery" is also devoid of meaning. This is a dangerous road to take for it leads to legalese. Signaturehttp://www.dacha.freeuk.com/zodiac/3gem-0.htm Gemini (May 22nd - June 21st) Images, Associations, Qualities, Careers, Health >>> They all sound awkward. I would recommend a rewrite - perhaps on >>> the lines of "How many portions of fruit should be eaten each day [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > without a following "to ..." must also imply your mythical absolute > standard; Yes, it does, and my objection applies. > and "'So-and-so' was commended for his bravery" is also > devoid of meaning. I don't see the analogy here. There is no implication of an absolute standard. What's more I can;t think of any examples of this use where it's either explicitly stated or implied who it is that has done the commending. >This is a dangerous road to take for it leads to legalese. In that legal language is designed to make thing unambiguous, I'm not sure that's totally a bad thing. -- Mike Stevens narrowboat Felis Catus II web site www.mike-stevens.co.uk Old grammarians never die - they simple parse away > >> I agree, and would add another (non-grammatical) reason. Use of > >> the word "recommended" without a following "by ....." is (IMO) [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > without a following "to ..." must also imply your mythical absolute > > standard; > Yes, it does, and my objection applies. > > and "'So-and-so' was commended for his bravery" is also devoid of > > meaning. > I don't see the analogy here. There is no implication of an absolute > standard. What's more I can;t think of any examples of this use > where it's either explicitly stated or implied who it is that has > done the commending. Ah! So it's okay to be commended for something but not recommended for something? But I really don't see your implied "absolute standard". Someone has been commended "for something" implies that someone with an authority to commend has commended them; someone or thing recommended, or some act found unacceptable, similarly implies the recommending agent or person stating the unacceptability has some authority so to do, not that there is a universal absolute standard. Signaturehttp://www.dacha.freeuk.com/zodiac/9sag-0.htm Sagittarius (November 23rd - December 21st) Images, Associations, Qualities, Careers, Health |
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