Show TAKE MY WORD FOR IT By Frank Colby Question To settle an office offic e disagreement w will 11 you please pleas e pass on the following sentence A copy of my letter to Mr Smith together with his letter lette r are Is enclosed Answer My assistant Dr explains it thus h Ah-h copulative e conjunction such as with alon along g with together with including et cetera are not equivalent i in n affecting the number of the subject subject subject sub sub- to and What he means by that typically tally cally dogmatic i is s that such conjunctions unlike e and do not make the subject t plural Note the singular verbin verbs verb S in these correct sentences A copy of my letter together r with his letter is enclosed The man as well as his children children children chil chil- dren was invited The door opened and a woman woma n with three children was ushered d in Marys Mary's dress like her mothers mother's mothers mother's mothers mother's moth moth- ers er's is yellow In other words clauses lik like E together with his letter stand stan d outside the sentence as parenthetical parenthetical paren remarks which are arc no not t essential to the meaning Thedo The They do not therefore become additional additional addi addi- additional subjects In fact many such sentences sentence s can be reworded placing th the e clause at the end thus showing g clearly that the clause affects affect s neither the subject nor the verb The man was invited as well a as s his children Marys Mary's dress is yellow yellow yellow yel yel- low like her mothers Do you have difficulty in using g the words COULD CAN-COULD an and d MA MIGHT MAY Y MIGHT If so Mr Colby's Colby leaflet C 21 will help you Foa Fo Fe For Fora a copy send in coin and a stamped self-addressed self envelope envelop e to him care of The Salt Lake Lak Tribune-Telegram Tribune Home Service S Bureau Salt Lake City 10 Utah |