Jump to content
Urch Forums

Grammar check: The war for independence officially over


zizo2012

Recommended Posts

Which way can we say this sentence:

 

The war for independence officially over, the American Congress in 1784 turned its attention to the business of building a new nation.

 

OR

 

Now that the war for independence is officially over, the American Congress in 1784 turned its attention to the business of building a new nation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
Which way can we say this sentence:

 

The war for independence officially over, the American Congress in 1784 turned its attention to the business of building a new nation.

 

OR

 

Now that the war for independence is officially over, the American Congress in 1784 turned its attention to the business of building a new nation.

The first option ("The war for independence officially over, the American Congress in 1784 turned its attention to the business of building a new nation.") is definitely better. The second sentence ("Now that the war for independence is officially over, the American Congress in 1784 turned its attention to the business of building a new nation.") has several errors:

  • now and 1784 shouldn't be used together, since it's (currently 2012)
  • now that indicates that something is complete. The information that follows in the main clause should be in a verb tense that is not "complete" (i.e., past tense), meaning we could use either a present tense or a future tense. For example: "Now that the war for the next President is officially over, the American people will be able to turn its attention to the business of continuing to recover from the Great Recession of the 2000s.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Erin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...