Question of Grammar

[BigH]

I am a mid-Westerner in background so my grammar may not be up to speed but I have a question on grammar. A lot of our reports are written in English by native French speakers or Tajiks or . . . but not American or Canadian.

A Poll sort of. Which is correct:

1. The Contractor has not yet issued his Method Statement.

2. The Contractor has not issued yet his Method Statement.

 

[r13]

I am not native speaker, but I vote for 1.

Have yet to is defined as an activity, task, event or circumstance which has not occurred or which has not been done.

 

[Ron]

I'm from the southern US, so take this with a grain of salt. We're not noted for our grammatical prowess!

The first example flows better for native english speakers. If I remember my 9th grade grammar, I believe the "has not yet" is a prepositional phrase that modifies the verb "issued". Given that premise, example 1 is more correct since the phrase is split in example 2, affecting the flow of the sentence.

 

[PEinc]

Question: Has the Method Statement been issued? Answer: Not yet. I vote for No. 1. Do you really even need the "yet" if the Method Statement has not been issued?

http://www.PeirceEngineering.com

 

[BigH]

Since I am the acting Chief Resident Engineer - I review almost everything that goes out - I and a Brit on our team are the only native English speakers although he and I are separated byh the Big Pond. The others are French, Turkish, Iranian, Tajik and all are fluent in English . . . My edits are always involving adding "the" or "a/an" to the text; matching verbs (sing or plural) with the subjects. Changing the use of nouns as a verb to sentences that match . . . do most of these make a differnce on the understanding - no, for the most part - but in my view, I want things to go out looking and reading professional even though for the Employer everything has to be translated into Russian. And, then the Contractor being Italian . . . . Mmmm

I like No. 1 too - it flows better for sure.

 

[BigH]

and Yes, PEinc. The contractor has started construction without final drawings, technical specs and method statements - so when we write, we remind that he has yet to turn in a MS.

 

[GeoPaveTraffic]

Between the two, I also vote for number 1.

If I were writing it I would probably say: As of the time of this letter, the contractor has not issued his Method Statement.

To me this reads cleaner and takes away any possible ambiguity.

Mike Lambert

 

[Ron]

Mike...good point!