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Rob Kerr
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 4:09 pm
Post subject: Does this sound awkward? |
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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
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mUs1Ka
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:55 pm
Post subject: Re: Does this sound awkward? |
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Rob Kerr wrote:
| Quote: | 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?
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?
--
Ray |
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Luke
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 4:35 am
Post subject: Re: Does this sound awkward? |
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Rob Kerr wrote:
| Quote: | 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?
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Not at all. It is absolutely fine.
-Luke
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Rotes Sapiens
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 8:30 am
Post subject: Re: Does this sound awkward? |
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On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 11:09:14 +0100, "Rob Kerr" <robert.kerr@bbc.co.uk>
wrote:
| Quote: | 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. |
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John Hall
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 2:45 pm
Post subject: Re: Does this sound awkward? |
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In article <3u5nk0t12iaa886d5rqbutjgaedn8njfis@4ax.com>,
Rotes Sapiens <rs@redplanet.mars.org.cy> writes:
| Quote: | 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?
|
Surely "serve" is a verb that has not yet been nouned. I would much
prefer "servings".
--
John 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" |
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David
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 9:05 pm
Post subject: Re: Does this sound awkward? |
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In article <0EeMTIE$W$SBFwYJ@jhall.demon.co.uk>,
John Hall <nospam_nov03@jhall.co.uk> wrote:
| Quote: | In article <3u5nk0t12iaa886d5rqbutjgaedn8njfis@4ax.com>,
Rotes Sapiens <rs@redplanet.mars.org.cy> writes:
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?
Surely "serve" is a verb that has not yet been nouned. I would much
prefer "servings".
|
Anyone for tennis?
--
http://www.dacha.freeuk.com/ada/07-0.htm
Haddocks are sensitive fish... |
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John Hall
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 9:54 pm
Post subject: Re: Does this sound awkward? |
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In article <4cf06821d9david@dacha.freeuk.com>,
David <david@dacha.freeuk.com> writes:
| Quote: | In article <0EeMTIE$W$SBFwYJ@jhall.demon.co.uk>,
John Hall <nospam_nov03@jhall.co.uk> wrote:
In article <3u5nk0t12iaa886d5rqbutjgaedn8njfis@4ax.com>,
Rotes Sapiens <rs@redplanet.mars.org.cy> writes:
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?
Surely "serve" is a verb that has not yet been nouned. I would much
prefer "servings".
Anyone for tennis?
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:)
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.
--
John Hall
"I am not young enough to know everything."
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) |
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principiante
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2004 3:31 pm
Post subject: Re: Does this sound awkward? |
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Rob Kerr wrote:
| Quote: | A quiz I'm making contains the following question:
"How many portions of fruit and veg is it recommended to eat each day?"
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It sounds good to me, but why not
How many portions of fruit and veg *are* recommended to eat each day?
Thanks,
Ale |
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John Hall
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2004 4:21 pm
Post subject: Re: Does this sound awkward? |
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In article <Wr4ed.19141$1q2.14435@tornado.fastwebnet.it>,
principiante <principiante@beginners.org> writes:
| Quote: | Rob Kerr wrote:
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?
|
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".
--
John Hall
"I am not young enough to know everything."
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) |
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FB
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2004 8:18 pm
Post subject: Re: Does this sound awkward? |
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On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 11:21:09 +0100, John Hall wrote:
| Quote: | In article <Wr4ed.19141$1q2.14435@tornado.fastwebnet.it>,
principiante <principiante@beginners.org> writes:
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".
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Should it be "How many portions are recommended to be eaten each day?".
Bye, FB
--
Se dico "siedi!" manca l'oggetto.
Siedo chi? Lei o me?
(da it.cultura.linguistica.italiano) |
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einde. ocallaghan
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2004 9:03 pm
Post subject: Re: Does this sound awkward? |
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FB wrote:
| Quote: | On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 11:21:09 +0100, John Hall wrote:
In article <Wr4ed.19141$1q2.14435@tornado.fastwebnet.it>,
principiante <principiante@beginners.org> writes:
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?".
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 |
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David
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2004 10:33 pm
Post subject: Re: Does this sound awkward? |
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In article <2tv9u2F24gk7cU1@uni-berlin.de>, einde. ocallaghan <einde.
ocallaghan@planet-interkom.de> wrote:
| Quote: | 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. 
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How on earth do you manage to tell the difference between gibberish and
garbled gibberish? :-)
--
http://www.dacha.freeuk.com/mavic/0m03-0.htm
Crackpot |
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einde. ocallaghan
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:44 pm
Post subject: Re: Does this sound awkward? |
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David wrote:
| Quote: | In article <2tv9u2F24gk7cU1@uni-berlin.de>, einde. ocallaghan <einde.
ocallaghan@planet-interkom.de> wrote:
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. ;-)
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 |
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Mike Stevens
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2004 4:36 am
Post subject: Re: Does this sound awkward? |
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einde. ocallaghan" <"einde. ocallaghan wrote:
| Quote: | FB wrote:
On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 11:21:09 +0100, John Hall wrote:
In article <Wr4ed.19141$1q2.14435@tornado.fastwebnet.it>,
principiante <principiante@beginners.org> writes:
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?".
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.
--
Mike Stevens
narrowboat Felis Catus II
web site www.mike-stevens.co.uk
Old grammarians never die - they simple parse away |
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David
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2004 2:21 pm
Post subject: Re: Does this sound awkward? |
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In article <2u04nnF24dn7aU1@uni-berlin.de>, Mike Stevens
<michael.stevens@which.net> wrote:
| Quote: | einde. ocallaghan" <"einde. ocallaghan wrote:
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.
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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.
--
http://www.dacha.freeuk.com/zodiac/3gem-0.htm
Gemini (May 22nd - June 21st)
Images, Associations, Qualities, Careers, Health |
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