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A thread for general grammar-related questions

danfangodanfango
edited October 2014 in - Writing Problems
I thought it might be worth having a thread for those of us who want to ask questions relating to grammar, word choices and the like, rather than having a separate thread for each query.


Obviously, I'm only doing this because I have a question. I'm writing an exchange between two characters and I'm wondering which of these is correct:

"So far all you've done is make it worse."
or
"So far all you've done is made it worse."

MS Word tells me the second is right, which I can understand because you would write, "You've made it worse." - or - "Everything you've done has made it worse." But I think if I was speaking the line myself, I'd use the first construction. I'm not sure if that's just the way I talk or if it would actually be correct in this instance.

Can anybody shed any light on this, please?

Comments

  • heatherheather
    edited October 2014
    I also would say the first.
    I can see the argument for the second (though would prefer 'has' to 'is', as in your second example), but it sounds wrong.
    Maybe it matters less as well as it's dialogue - at least two of us speak that way!
  • Phots MollPhots Moll
    I'd use 'make' in speech or writing generally. In dialogue I write how the character would speak. Some people might use 'made' in this context, but I imagine they'd be in the minority. And wrong.

    "If you use 'made' you'll just make it worse."

  • snailmalesnailmale
    Definitely 'make'. Agree with Heather that 'has made' is preferable to 'is made'. That doesn't ring true at all.
  • danfangodanfango
    Thanks, all. You make / you've made a good argument for 'make'.

    Make definitely passes the 'sounds right' test, but I'm intrigued as to whether there's an explanation of why it might be correct. I can't think of one, but at least it's good to know I'm not alone in thinking MS Word has got it wrong (again!).
  • Tiny NellTiny Nell
    I've tried analysing the construction to find a rule, but it's hard to deconstruct!

    'All you've done is (to) make it worse'.

    It's as though it's been taken back to the infinitive.

    I've tried to come up with similar examples, but can only do it if I keep the 'All you've...' bit and it only works in the second example if I keep 'to'.

    'All you've done is manage to overcook it.'

    'All you've achieved is to come last...'
  • Mrs BearMrs Bear
    You have made/all you have done is (to) make: 'make' here follows 'done', not 'have', and 'to' has been dropped.
  • Tristram_ShandyTristram_Shandy
    edited October 2014
    The problem with Word is it doesn't really understand complex grammar. I ignore Word's squiggly lines. Make is definitely correct because it fits the overall tense of the sentence; but Word only picks out one element which implies past tense, hence its confusion with made.
  • snailmalesnailmale
    I am encouraged by this thread. I am often confronted by squiggly lines when I know in my heart that squiggly lines should not be displayed. There have been occasions when I have doubted myself, but I'm now happy in the knowledge that I am (usually)correct, and Microsoft is an arse.
  • Phots MollPhots Moll
    I never get squiggly lines. That function is optional.
  • danfangodanfango
    Ah, of course - it's all about the infinitive :-) I'd forgotten the dropped 'to'.

    Thanks, folks. I try never to do anything just because Word tells me to. But once in a while those wiggly lines catch a genuine mistake, so I'd rather have them than switch them off. Even if they do throw me occasionally, as in this instance.
  • Tiny NellTiny Nell
    edited October 2014
    Yes, I allow the wigglies to parade themselves across my manuscripts, but take great delight in clicking 'Ignore once' or 'Add to dictionary'. They're useful for showing additional unwanted spacing and the extremely rare typo(!), but I never listen to them for grammar. 'Fragment' indeed. Has it never heard of creativity?
  • Mrs BearMrs Bear
    I keep writing don;t for don't (it's my contracture - the finger doesn't reach) but the wigglies don't see it as an error. Which is a pain, as I don;t always spot them. See - there's one there. Unforced error, Your Honour.
  • danfangodanfango
    If you find you're doing that often, Mrs Bear, you could set up an autocorrect to change your don;ts to don'ts. It won't help you on here, of course, but might be worth doing in Word.
  • Mrs BearMrs Bear
    Thanks for that, danfango, but I do it in all sorts of words - I miss the ' and hit the ; instead. It's the contraction of a tendon in my ring finger, which (nervous persons look away now) eventually will be cut, but not until the finger is completely bent over to my palm.
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