question

[gedavis]

Are North, South, East and West, when used as directions always capitalized?

 

[mykwyner]

No. They are only capitalized when they are used as locations.

Drive west on Sunset to the sea, then turn north until you reach the mountains.

I'd rather live in the South than the North.

 

[Mohammed Abu Risha]

No. They are only capitalized when they are used as locations.

Drive west on Sunset to the sea, then turn north until you reach the mountains.

I'd rather live in the South than the North.

Agree.

By the way:

I'd rather live in the South than in the North. (Paralell strcuture)

 

[mykwyner]

Agree.

By the way:

I'd rather live in the South than in the North. (Paralell strcuture)

Disagree.

Parallel structure is about consistency of forms of expression, not about the unnecessary repetition of prepositions. If I had said that I would rather live in the North than the South or in the East, that would have been faulty parallelism. Parallel Form My original sentence is just like saying, "I would rather eat pie than cake." There is no benefit to saying, "I would rather eat pie than eat cake."

 

[Mohammed Abu Risha]

I'd rather live in the South than in the North

The paralle strcuture rule here is as follows:

Verb Phrase: would rather live

The word "than" requires the element that comes before be in paralle strcuture to the one that comes after.

In the above example, the element that comes after the verb phrase and before "than" is a prepositional phrase. It follows therefore that a prepositional phrase must also come after "than".

For more details on parallel strcuture, please check the following book:

Building Skills for the TOEFL
By: Carol King and nancy Stanley

Section on parallel structure is on pages: 255-265.

 

[mykwyner]

Sorry, Mohammed. You've misunderstood the rules for parallel structure. If you say, "I prefer to walk rather than driving," that is faulty parallelism. It should be changed to: "I prefer walking rather than driving." There is no rule in English that requires the repetition of unnecessary prepositions. However, as an English learner, if you wish to repeat those prepositions in order to be sure that you are not making a mistake, there is no rule against it.

 

[Mohammed Abu Risha]

NO Disagree with you again

Ok, let us wait for a specialised referee to judge on the matter.

If you say, "I prefer to walk rather than driving," that is faulty parallelism. It should be changed to: "I prefer walking rather than driving."

;-) The TOEFL says: "prefer to" not "prefer than"

Collins Cobuild, again:

prefer

If you prefer one person or thing to another, you like the first one better.
I prefer Barber to his deputy.

I prefer it to more expensive machines.

Note that you do not use any preposition except `to' in sentences like these.
(c) HarperCollins Publishers.

 

[mykwyner]

Here is the bottom line: I am an authority on the English language. I have the university degrees and the years of teaching experience to prove it. You can believe me or not

 

[Tdol]

In the above example, the element that comes after the verb phrase and before "than" is a prepositional phrase. It follows therefore that a prepositional phrase must also come after "than".

I agree with Mykwyner on this as I don't see any need for the repetition of the preposition; it's fine to do it, but equally fine not to.

 

[queux]

prefer than/over

Is it better to say "prefer than" or "prefer over"?

For example:
I prefer baseball than bowling.
or
I prefer baseball over bowling.

Thank you.

 

[mykwyner]

In general, English speakers prefer one thing to another, or one thing over another. Native English speakers don't say, "I prefer X than Y.