Re: Dorky grammar question

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <dmbrown -at- brown-inc -dot- com>
> It's simply not possible to say without knowing the entire context.

Yes, it is.  The phrase itself describes the manner in which the rules
are used.  While we don't know whether the phrase specified in the
original post is appropriate for the application the original poster has
in mind, we do (or should) know what the phrase means.

> It may be the case that "rules" is the object of the preposition, in which
> case "defines" must agree with "set" ("set...that defines the widget").

This is the only case in which "set of rules" is a valid description.

> There's just as great a chance that "rules that define the widget" is the
> object of the preposition, in which case "define" must agree with "rule."

And in this case "set of" needs to be deleted

Gene Kim-Eng



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