Is this sentence grammatically correct?

...I am a player of good standing...

Your bank balance can be in good standing. You are of good standing. And you never write a shortened 'i am'. 'I'm' is for speech.

Thank you.
 
Buchanan0204 said:
I confirm that I am a player in good standing with my national association, and am a member of ____________

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Now I am arguing the point the word "am" cannot be used like that. It either has to be "I'm" or "I am." Regardless of the context or previous sentence.

My other half disagrees and says it is fine due to the wording before hand.

Come on... prove me right lol. There's a lot riding on it ;)
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It's fine it contains ellipisis (the missing I) and has an anaphoric reference which is also on the missing I which is why it is an interesting question but you don't need it as the missing I refers to the I in the first clause. The only thing for debate is whether or not you need a comma before the conjunction "and".
 
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dazzerd said:
It's fine it contains ellipisis (the missing I) and has an anaphoric reference which is also on the missing I which is why it is an interesting question but you don't need it as the missing I refers to the I in the first clause. The only thing for debate is whether or not you need a comma before the conjunction "and".
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That makes sense... :confused:

Isn't ellipsis "..." three dots in a row? According to my English teacher it was.
 
Vonhelmet said:
It's absolutely fine like that. Sorry, everyone.

Although, that bring said, the alternatives that people have suggested - using I am, doing away with the am altogether, etc - are all perfectly valid as well.

It's essentially just a list of things, but with only two items on the list. In a list of qualities or characteristics - I am this, that and the other - you can drop the pronoun because it's obvious who you're talking about. Whether you leave the verb in is pretty much down to preference, but ts certainly not wrong that it is there.
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Exactly right. You dont need to repeat the 'I' because you've already said it, and if you want you can also remove the 'am'. All are correct.
 
Castiel said:
You wouldn't write 'The car is a Ford, and is 5 years old' formally though, in conversational English that would be fine. However formally you would write 'The car is a Ford, and it is 5 years old'

Equally with dropping the 'I' in 'I am', the basic formal structure would require the 'I' before the 'am' or 'I'm' and dropping the 'am', to remove the 'I' and leave the 'am' implies emphasis and I do not think that is within the structure of this particular sentence.

The sentence would be better formulated thus

I can confirm I am a member in good standing with my National Association and also a member of <team name>.

The English language is simply far too complex in my opinion, it is no surprise that no one can get it right all the time.
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Wouldn't 'The car is a Ford and 5 years old' be better?

Or 'The car is a 5 year old Ford'?
 
Buchanan0204 said:
That makes sense... :confused:

Isn't ellipsis "..." three dots in a row? According to my English teacher it was.
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It is yes but it has multiple meanings, in this context it just means the ommission of a word because it's superfluos, in it sense it acts like a silent "K" it's part of the sentence but it doesn't need to be spoke for the sentence to have meaning.

To give you an example of an anaphoric reference:

"John went to the shop because he was hungry"

"He" is anaphoric because it refers to John in the previous clause, "John went to the shop"

In the sentence under discussion:

"I confirm that I am a player in good standing with my national association, and (I) am a member of "

In this sentence the "I" shows ellipsis, i.e. it is not needed but it's still anaphoric because it still functionally exists as part of the sentence (it just doesn't need to be written or spoke)

As others have said it doesn't matter whether you use the I or not both versions are correct.
 
dazzerd said:
It is yes but it has multiple meanings, in this context it just means the ommission of a word because it's superfluos, in it sense it acts like a silent "K" it's part of the sentence but it doesn't need to be spoke for the sentence to have meaning.

To give you an example of an anaphoric reference:

"John went to the shop because he was hungry"

"He" is anaphoric because it refers to John in the previous clause, "John went to the shop"

In the sentence under discussion:

"I confirm that I am a player in good standing with my national association,
and (I) am a member of "

In this sentence the "I" shows ellipsis, i.e. it is not needed but it's still anaphoric because it still functionally exists as part of the sentence (it just doesn't need to be written or spoke)

As others have said it doesn't matter whether you use the I or not both versions are correct.
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I think what he is saying, and what you are missing, is that there is no ellipsis in the original sentence. Hence the confusion of your statement.
 
Castiel said:
I think what he is saying, and what you are missing, is that there is no ellipsis in the original sentence. Hence the confusion of your statement.
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I thought he was saying that ellipsis was when you place "---" to indicate the ommission of a word. Which it is but
it also has the meaning in linguistics as I indicated above.

See this for an explanation:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis_(linguistics)


I'm not sure how clearer I can be but there is (linguistic) ellipsis in the sentence

I confirm that I am a player in good standing with my national association,
and (I) am a member of.....

The "I" is elliptical (if there is such a word).

Another example would be:

"John can eat six pies, but Stan can eat seven"

the ellipsis here is on pies it could be

"John can eat six pies, but Stan can eat seven (pies)"

but "pies" in the second clause shows ellipsis, i.e. it doesn't need to be there for the sentence to retain meaning as it follows implicitly from the topic of the sentence that we are talking about pies.

Likewise it follows from the original sentence that we are talking about the first person singular I. As you also say above you could drop the "am" too.

There is no correct way to structure the sentence, as you say above - both are correct. I was offering an explantion as to why it is still correct if you miss the I out.
 
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dazzerd said:
I thought he was saying that ellipsis was when you place "---" to indicate the ommission of a word. Which it is but
it also has the meaning in linguistics as I indicated above.

See this for an explanation:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis_(linguistics)


I'm not sure how clearer I can be but there is (linguistic) ellipsis in the sentence

I confirm that I am a player in good standing with my national association,
and (I) am a member of....

The "I" is elliptical (if there is such a word).

Another example would be:

"John can eat six pies, but Stan can eat seven"

the ellipsis here is on pies it could be

"John can eat six pies, but Stan can eat seven (pies)"

but "pies" in the second clause shows ellipsis, i.e. it doesn't need to be there for the sentence to retain meaning as it follows implicitly from the topic of the sentence that we are talking about pies.

Likewise it follows from the original sentence that we are talking about the first person singular I. As you also say above you could drop the "am" too.



There is no correct way to structure the sentence, as you say above - both are correct. I was offering an explantion as to why it is still correct if you miss the I out.
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I can see what you mean now, however I am not convinced that in this case leaving the 'am' is correct.
 
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Castiel said:
I can see what you mean now, however I am not convinced that in this case leaving the 'am' is correct.
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Nope I agree it doesn't have to be there.

Damn I hate grammar conversations. Maybe OCUK should start a seperate grammar board; these seem to pop up every other day now:)
 
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