Grammar question

muttmeister

Well-Known Member
Usually I am pretty good at grammar; I even used to teach it. But there is an advertisement on TV that is driving me crazy. They say, "Our company will create well-paying jobs." Now, I know that a job can pay well; in that case well is an adverb that modifies the verb pay. And I know you can have a good job. In that case, good is an adjective tha modifies the noun job. But creating well-paying jobs sounds wrong. To me, well-paying is a hyphenated adjective that modifies the noun jobs. However, well is in adverb and good is an adjective so shouldn't it be good-paying jobs? Or am I missing something?
 

mstang67chic

Going Green
I'll admit, you kind of lost me with the "technical jargon"...LOL.... but after turning this around a bit, I thought of something. I don't know if it is correct or not but it is all I have at the moment. :tongue: Personally I think the hyphen is what's throwing you. If you were to rearrange the sentence a bit, would you say a job pays good or pays well? You could say that the pay is good, but if you are talking about the job specifically, shouldn't it be that it pays well?
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Since you ladies seem to know what you're talking about.............Would you like to write my next philosophy paper?? It's for Mr. Anal. :rofl:

Actually, I always thought "well-paying" was slang. But I'm no enlish teacher. Used to be I spoke perfect English. School corrupted me. I know when things sound right, but I know next to none of the rules behind it.

I would have said "good paying jobs". Shrugs. Like I said, I had 12 yrs of school corrupt me. lol
 

muttmeister

Well-Known Member
Even if you leave out the hyphen, the "well" or "good" doesn't modify "job"; it modifies "paying" in which case I think it should still be an adjective. I could diagram the sentence but don't know how to show it here. I still think they're wrong.
"The company" is the subject
"will create: is the verb
"jobs" is the direct object
"good-paying" or "well-paying" modifies jobs, not paying so it has to agree with the object.
 

slsh

member since 1999
Well, I don't know... I type "well-nourished", "well-developed" or "normal-appearing" a gazillion times a day. "well-paying" would seem to fit in gramatically but I'm not sure of the technicalities of it. They're using a verb as an adjective with an adverb maybe?
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
I would say this
Which makes sense:
"Does it pay wel"l or "Does it pay good"

I think the correct version is pay well, so then well-paying should be correct.

My grammar is fairly good. It used to be much, much better. I don't remember all the technicalities of grammar anymore. I may be wrong.
 

trinityroyal

Well-Known Member
Muttmeister, your instinct that this sounds wrong is right on the money.

In a construction such as well-nourished, well is an adverb that modifies the gerund nourished.

In the case of well-paying, they are trying to bend a present participle to fit where a gerund should go. It's not the use of well, but the use of paying that's iffy.

It should either be, "Our company will create well-paid jobs", which sounds awkward, but is grammatically sound. Or, better still, change the construction altogether to say something like, "Our company will create jobs that pay well" which avoids the whole gerund-mess in the first place.

(Yes, I am a grammar geek. I perseverated on diagramming sentences all through primary school. Even asked the teacher for extra grammar assignments...slinking off to the corner now with my Elements of Grammar book)
 

everywoman

Well-Known Member
Trinity---
Is that a Strunk and White I see in your hand in that corner? It is a good read! Or would that be a well-reading book????LOL
 

Sheila

Moderator
Oh, geez, I haven't diagrammed sentences in 100 yrs. lol

I sometimes go with-what sounds right whether it's correct or not. (Then sometimes I don't know the difference.)

One of my pet peeves is for people to use "an historical event." Somebody must have changed the rules after I finished school. If memory serves, the correct way is to use "an" before a word with a vowel. But, it's been way, way too long ago....
 

muttmeister

Well-Known Member
Trinity-
Thanks; that makes sense.
I bought my mother a t-shirt that says, "I'm the grammarian about whom your mother warned you." Guess I should send one to you. LOL
 

Steely

Active Member
One of my pet peeves is for people to use "an historical event." Somebody must have changed the rules after I finished school. If memory serves, the correct way is to use "an" before a word with a vowel. But, it's been way, way too long ago....

Shelia - I used to think the same thing. We had an advertisement at work and they used "an XYZ event" as the slogan. I swore up and down it was wrong - but upon consulting grammargirl.com (great site) I was ashamed to realize I was very wrong. You use "an" to denote an entity, event, etc.

"Good" sounds right to me as well Mutt. Although I am not sure I can quote any rules.

Trinity I was a dork like that too. I LOVED diagramming sentences in school. The longer the better.

And yep, Strunk and White is sitting above my head as I type.
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
Participle is one thing that should go in the back of your brain and never brought out again. I'm quite certain it was a male difficult child that made that thing up.

I vote for pay well.

Abbey
 

trinityroyal

Well-Known Member
Trinity---
Is that a Strunk and White I see in your hand in that corner? It is a good read! Or would that be a well-reading book????LOL

There is indeed a Strunk and White. Also a Brewers, a Usage and Abusage, a Shorter Oxford, a Concise Oxford, A Mrs. Byrnes...
(I collect dictionaries and grammar books. Maybe I need a support group?)
 
Top