Grammar

Question

1.They say, 'come sunshine or high water, the post will get delivered'
is the first clause grammatically correct, if so what is it? a phrasal adverb?
and what does it describe?
if i were to change the 2nd clause to active voice:
come sunshine or high water,delivery of the post is guaranteed.
does it make any diff.dunno if its a stupid q.
2. i want to say: 'a small man-his friends call him tiny-he still has a courage.'
If you can rework it, I'll still be thankful, but what i really want to learn is the correct use of '-' ie dashes, and how to relate the part before and after them. ie 'a small man he still has a lot of courage' seems to be a comma splice on a phrase and an independent clause. 'a small man' can't really find a place in a sentence.Im confused
3. One more

: 'after spending 15 years in the show business as 'chris', he went back to his traditional name, krist.'
or
'....traditional name: krist.'
or
'....traditional name, 'krist'.'
I dislike the colon, so am hoping the last one is correct.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

1.They say, 'come sunshine or high water, the post will get delivered'

More accurately, this is the common saying.

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"

For more detalis of this, look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Service_creed

The expression ' Come A or B, C' is used to mean that C will happen even if obstacles like A or B happen. Think of it as a shortened form of 'Even if A or B happen, C will happen'.

That's why the word 'sunshine' is not suitable in your example. 'Sunshine' is not an obstacle.

The common expression with 'high water' is 'Come **** or high water'.

is the first clause grammatically correct, if so what is it? a phrasal adverb?

and what does it describe?

if i were to change the 2nd clause to active voice:

come sunshine or high water,delivery of the post is guaranteed. This is still really a passive structure.

does it make any diff.dunno if its a stupid q. No, it makes no difference.

Come **** or high water, the mail will be delivered.

Come **** or high water, the mailman will deliver the mail.

2. i want to say: 'a small man-his friends call him tiny-he still has a courage.'

If you can rework it, I'll still be thankful, but what i really want to learn is the correct use of '-' ie dashes, and how to relate the part before and after them. ie 'a small man he still has a lot of courage' seems to be a comma splice on a phrase and an independent clause. 'a small man' can't really find a place in a sentence.Im confused

Leave spaces before and after each dash. They are used to indicate an interjection. You could also use parentheses. Such dashes are not uncommon, but my advice is to avoid them in careful and formal writing. To my mind, they suggest that you have not taken the time to organize in your mind what you want to write before you start to write it.

I should add that some people on the Forum may wish to disagree with me on this to some extent.

Your version is not quite right. Consider these versions.

'He is a small man - his friends call him tiny - but he still has courage.'

'A small man, he still has courage.'

'A small man whose friends call him tiny, he still has courage.'

The structire of 'A small man, he . . .' is using apposition. It doesn't work well when you add a parenthetical comment to a place where you are already using apposition.

3. One more

: 'after spending 15 years in~~the~~ show business as 'chris', he went back to his traditional name, krist.'

or

'..traditional name: krist.'

or

'..traditional name, 'krist'.'

I dislike the colon, so am hoping the last one is correct. You don't need a colon here.

What you do need is capitals. Without them, what you wrote is incorrect.

Best wishes, Clive

Pensivescribe · Answer

thanks clive,
One query about the 'Krist' question:
is 'Krist' being used as an appositive? In specific is 'Krist' a proper noun being used to describe '...traditional name'?
thanks again

Clive · Answer

Hi,

One query about the 'Krist' question:

is 'Krist' being used as an appositive? Yes.

In specific is 'Krist' a proper noun being used to describe '...traditional name'? I wouldn't exactly say 'describe'. Perhaps 'provide more information about . . . '

Clive

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