Grammar question

[Sage]

true, but you need *a* solution which consists of 5 instructions. or at least thats how i understood it to mean.

 

[Vince]

active voice is preferable to passive sentence structure. it is best to use:

We need five instructions.

What?!? Do much academic writing? Active voice is just plain unacceptable and has the outward appearence of being unsophisticated and lack of articulation - besides, I don't lend myself to this neo-linguistical Plain-English BS style many preach is the best thing since sliced bread.

 

[Sage]

I agree completely with Vince.

 

[Simon F]

Using "is" instead of "are" seems to be a common error among Swedes. I know several people that do it, and I myself can think that it sounds OK, even if I know it's wrong.

Gosh, you should hear the mistakes of 'native English' English speakers .... I thought Aussies were bad until I came over to the UK!

One thing that does tend to trap even the best of us is ..
"The set of colours is small". I often, incorrectly, write "are".

 

[Simon F]

active voice is preferable to passive sentence structure. it is best to use:

We need five instructions.

That's what MS Word says and it p*sses me off! I'm not so certain that it's an accepted rule everywhere else.

 

[Deepak]

I have an American email friend...her mails are so badly written that it is difficult to believe that she is an American!!

 

[Mariner]

I think the thing about this board in particular is that most people who post are well-educated and therefore (in theory at least) should have a better grasp of correct grammatical usage. Some message boards, on the other hand are a bit less technically orientated than this one and posters often have a looser command of grammar.

It's nice to see a discussion which isn't about FutureMark shooting themselves in both feet!

 

[Bigus Dickus]

"are" is correct in each instance Humus. There is no ambiguity.

As far as active vs. passive, this is the general rule of thumb I use that has served me well: technical writing = active voice; non-technical writing = mix of active and passive, leaning more towards passive.

 

[Sage]

I still believe that there is a singular need of five instructions and so the object is still singular, thus making "is" correct.

 

[Mariner]

Well, you're wrong.

So there.

Why not ask John Reynolds? I recall hearing that he majored in English, so perhaps he'll be able lay down the law here. 8)

 

[Xmas]

As far as active vs. passive, this is the general rule of thumb I use that has served me well: technical writing = active voice; non-technical writing = mix of active and passive, leaning more towards passive.

I would have expected it just the other way round :?

 

[Bambers]

Depends on what you mean.

If 'five instructions' is a particular object then 'is' is correct and not 'are'

ie. [a set of] five instructions is needed

From what it looks like you're trying to write 'are' is correct though.


If something does look a bit iffy then I find the best thing is to just try and write that particular sentence/paragraph in a different way altogether.

 

[Humus]

Well, in case you need a little more context, snipped out a few lines before and after the sentence in question:

However, it is possible for the compiler to combine the assignment of the constant 1 with the first addition of the contribution of the first loop as it expands it to save one instruction. If the compiler is able to do that, we will have five instructions per peripheral sample available. Five instructions are also exactly what we need. This puts some serious quality demand on the compiler. It needs to be able to produce the exact optimum code from our shader.

 

[Sage]

perhaps "Five instructions are exactly what is needed."

 

[Mariner]

Hmmm. Dunno - if I think about it, what sounds 'right' is:

"Five instructions are exactly what are needed."

However, I'd imagine that if I heard someone say:

"Five instructions are exactly what is needed."

I wouldn't think it was incorrect. How about:

"What is needed? Five instructions."

No problems there.

 

[Ty]

I have a grammar question as well. A friend continually uses, "needs addressed" or "needs done" and swears that as a contraction it's fine. Eg. "This needs done" when he means, "This needs to be done". I think he should have, 'to be' in there. Has ANYONE ever heard of this type of contraction? Hell, it's more like contracting something into nothing.

 

[arjan de lumens]

Take a look at dictionary.com under "need" (specifically the regional note) - the form where "to be" is removed seems to be a feature of certain dialects in the US and the UK. Never heard it myself, though.

 

[speng]

As far as active vs. passive, this is the general rule of thumb I use that has served me well: technical writing = active voice; non-technical writing = mix of active and passive, leaning more towards passive.

Yes, use the active voice. Back in High school, I'd get numerous red marks for using the passive voice. Even today in word I get a lot of squiggly lines to change from passive voice.

That solves the problem right there.

"We need five instructions."

Speng.

 

[Simon F]

perhaps "Five instructions are exactly what is needed."

Definitely not!

Yes, use the active voice. Back in High school, I'd get numerous red marks for using the passive voice. Even today in word I get a lot of squiggly lines to change from passive voice.
Speng.

Are you in the US? I think this must be some arbitrary rule enforced over there.