|
|
 #17 (permalink) Tue May 20, 2008 22:57 pm Grammatically correct? (It is the only reason I stay on here.) |
|
|
Hello Nessie,
| nessie wrote: |
So is it correct in both British English and American English?
|
1. It is the only reason I stay on here.
It's fine in BrE too.
(I think of it as "...reason [that] I...", rather than "...reason [why] I...".)
Best wishes,
MrP |
|
MrPedantic
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 1319
Location: Southern England
|
|
|
 Nessie
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Feb 2008
Posts: 1102
|
 |
|
Nessie
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Feb 2008
Posts: 1102
|
|
| #20 (permalink) Wed May 21, 2008 10:26 am Grammatically correct? (It is the only reason I stay on here.) |
|
|
| Quote: |
| I don't know that, Jamie. But to my intuition the name seems somehow... feminine Besides, I remember reading some materials in which "Nessie" is referred to as "her" rather than "him" This site is one of them: |
I always felt the "-ie" suffix/diminutive was a bit feminine. 
The girl's name Nessie n(es)-sie. Diminutive of Agnes (Greek) "lamb". Also the name of the Loch Ness monster.
http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Nessie
------------
Nessa female Old Norse headland Nesa, Nissa, Nessie
---
And it's not clear that Nessie of Loch Ness is male, in the minds of those who believe in it. |
|
Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
|
|
| #21 (permalink) Wed May 21, 2008 23:05 pm Grammatically correct? (It is the only reason I stay on here.) |
|
|
Hello Nessie,
| nessie wrote: |
if you are vexed by this question
|
Not at all!
| nessie wrote: |
If both are ok in formal English, then which is more commonly used in formal English?
|
Just to check – when you say "both", would that be the version with "that" and the version without?
All the best,
MrP |
|
MrPedantic
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 1319
Location: Southern England
|
|
|
Nessie
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Feb 2008
Posts: 1102
|
|
| #23 (permalink) Thu May 22, 2008 22:11 pm Grammatically correct? (It is the only reason I stay on here.) |
|
|
| nessie wrote: |
| Sorry but I don't get what you mean |
Sorry, I meant: when you "which is more commonly used in formal English?", which two versions did you want me to compare? (I can only see one version of the original at present!  )
Best wishes,
MrP |
|
MrPedantic
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 1319
Location: Southern England
|
|
|
Nessie
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Feb 2008
Posts: 1102
|
|
| #25 (permalink) Sat May 24, 2008 11:16 am Grammatically correct? (It is the only reason I stay on here.) |
|
|
| Nessie, I think you're beating a dead horse in this case. I doubt that any of us really know which is more common in formal English. |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5334
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
| #26 (permalink) Sat May 24, 2008 13:03 pm Grammatically correct? (It is the only reason I stay on here.) |
|
|
| Jamie (K) wrote: |
| Nessie, I think you're beating a dead horse in this case. I doubt that any of us really know which is more common in formal English. |
Looking at registers in the BNC might give us some idea:
The combination “the reason why the” and “the reason the” are near the top of the “the reason” frequency list. Using these two as an example:
the reason the
SPOKEN - 1.5
FICTION - 0.4
NEWSPAPER - 1.0
ACADEMIC - 0.3
MISC - 0.6
----------------
the reason why the
SPOKEN - 0.7
FICTION - 0.3
NEWSPAPER - 0.4
ACADEMIC - 2.0
MISC - 0.9
We might begin to get the idea that "the reason why the" appears more frequently in the less-formal to informal registers. I'll investigate deeper and get back to you. |
|
Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
|
|
| #27 (permalink) Sat May 24, 2008 15:55 pm Grammatically correct? (It is the only reason I stay on here.) |
|
|
May 19th:
| Jamie wrote: |
| To my ears, the version with "why" sounds slightly less formal |
May 24th:
| Molly wrote: |
| We might begin to get the idea that "the reason why the" appears more frequently in the less-formal to informal registers. |
"Begin"?
Do you mean your numbers seem to confirm Jamie's native-speaker input from almost a week ago?
. |
|
Yankee
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 8265
Location: USA
|
|
| #28 (permalink) Sun May 25, 2008 14:47 pm Grammatically correct? (It is the only reason I stay on here.) |
|
|
| nessie wrote: |
Hi MrP,
When asking "which is more commonly used in formal English?", I meant the two versions with "why" and without "why".
Many thanks
Nessie  |
Hello Nessie,
I think it would depend on the context (and possibly even the phrase) in which "the reason (why)" was used.
Thus in philosophical texts, for instance, "the reason why" is quite common (Jowett, for example, uses it in several places in his translation of Plato's works). My impression however is that in formal business English the version without "why" is more common.
(It's quite difficult to assess the relative frequency by searching on the terms, since "reason" in the non-"why" version may occur in a different construction – e.g. "the reason he gave was as follows" – where "the reason why" isn't possible.)
Best wishes,
MrP |
|
MrPedantic
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 1319
Location: Southern England
|
|
| #29 (permalink) Sun May 25, 2008 15:08 pm Grammatically correct? (It is the only reason I stay on here.) |
|
|
| Yankee wrote: |
| Molly wrote: |
| We might begin to get the idea that "the reason why the" appears more frequently in the less-formal to informal registers. |
"Begin"?
Do you mean your numbers seem to confirm Jamie's native-speaker input from almost a week ago?
. |
Did you misss Jamie's turnaround?
| Quote: |
| Nessie, I think you're beating a dead horse in this case. I doubt that any of us really know which is more common in formal English. |
|
|
Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
|
|
| #30 (permalink) Sun May 25, 2008 15:23 pm Grammatically correct? (It is the only reason I stay on here.) |
|
|
| Quote: |
| (It's quite difficult to assess the relative frequency by searching on the terms, since "reason" in the non-"why" version may occur in a different construction – e.g. "the reason he gave was as follows" – where "the reason why" isn't possible.) |
If one searches for the most common examples of "the reaon why * *" in the BNC, one sees that "the reason why it's not" and "the reason why so many" are tops, with 11 examples per 1 million words each. If one then searches those combinations without the "why", one gets:
the reason it's
SPOKEN - 0.9
FICTION - 0.0
NEWSPAPER - 0.0
ACADEMIC - 0.0
MISC - 0.1
the reason why it's
SPOKEN - 0.1
FICTION - 0.0
NEWSPAPER - 0.0
ACADEMIC - 0.0
MISC - 0.0
.................
the reason so many
SPOKEN - 0.0
FICTION - 0.0
NEWSPAPER - 0.0
ACADEMIC - 0.0
MISC - 0.1
Does that tell us anything regarding frequency in certain registers?
the reason why so many
SPOKEN - 0.0
FICTION - 0.1
NEWSPAPER - 0.1
ACADEMIC - 0.1
MISC - 0.2
Another combination (with 9 examples per 1m words):
the reason it is
SPOKEN - 0.1
FICTION - 0.1
NEWSPAPER - 0.0
ACADEMIC - 0.0
MISC - 0.2
the reason why it is
SPOKEN - 2.0
FICTION - 0.0
NEWSPAPER - 0.0
ACADEMIC - 0.1
MISC - 0.1 |
|
Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
|
|
|
| Topic translation: As to the duty of pursuing equality, there is no such consent | What do we call the noise that crickets make? |
... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know.. 