[Grammar] From...To...

[singdai]

A question about the [from...to...] pattern:

1. The east coast area stretching from Boston down to Baltimore is prone to storms.
2. The east coast area from Boston down to Baltimore is prone to storms.
3. The east coast area stretching down to Baltimore is prone to storms.
4. The east coast area down to Baltimore is prone to storms.

Is sentence 2, obtained from sentence 1 by deleting "stretching", okay?
Is sentence 4, obtained from sentence 3 by deleting "stretching", okay?

 

[cereal_chick]

Your English is commendable – well done. I shall, however, nitpick by saying that while I do not know of any one rule as to the spacing of ellipses, it is better style to be consistent with regards to spacing. As to your question, all four of your sentences are correct and natural.

[Not a teacher]

 

[emsr2d2]

An ellipsis should be made up of a space, then three dots, then a space then the next word.

 

[singdai]

So, some of the sentences are wrong?

 

[emsr2d2]

1 and 2 are fine and mean the same. 3 and 4 are grammatically correct but you have lost the fact that the area you are talking about starts at Boston.

 

[SoothingDave]

I would say "The East Coast, from Boston down to Baltimore, is prone to storms."

(The southern end of the East Coast megalopolis is usually thought of as Washington, not Baltimore.)

 

[singdai]

So, this is good English?

In 1860, with the Convention of Beijing, Russia annexed the Primorye down to Vladivostok, an area that had not been in contention in the 17th century.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian%E2%80%93Manchu_border_conflicts#Treaties

 

[emsr2d2]

So, are some of the sentences [strike]are[/strike] wrong?

So, is this [strike]is[/strike] good English?

Singdai, please remember that we use subject-verb inversion when constructing a question. See my corrections above.

 

[singdai]

But, back to my original question. Are the sentences okay or not?

 

[Rover_KE]

Answered in posts #2 and 5.