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"May I be honored to have you in my thesis committee?" Is it correct in grammar?

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xz

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May 28, 2008, 5:58:17 PM5/28/08
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Or how would you guys say this sentence?

thanks.

Bob Cunningham

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May 28, 2008, 7:15:55 PM5/28/08
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On Wed, 28 May 2008 14:58:17 -0700 (PDT), xz
<zhang...@gmail.com> said:

[about "May I be honored to have you in my thesis
committee?"] (There are those who frown on making the
subject line an essential part of the text.)

> Or how would you guys say this sentence?

It's okay grammatically, but I would say "on my thesis
committee", not "in".

Others may disagree.

Related examples:

We serve on a jury, not in a jury.
Someone may be on a parole board, not in.
We play football on a team, not in a team.

But on a playground, we would play football
in a group, not on a group.

A soldier is in the Army, not on the Army.
A gangbanger is in a gang, not on a gang.
A drummer is in a band, not on a band.

Lars Eighner

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May 28, 2008, 7:38:00 PM5/28/08
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In our last episode,
<88833303-ad90-4ab3...@d77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com>, the
lovely and talented xz broadcast on alt.usage.english:

> Or how would you guys say this sentence?

> thanks.

Please do me the honor of serving on my thesis committee.

In American culture this would be obsequious, except possibly in writing to
a person you know to be very formal and full of him- or herself.

I'd be happy if you would be on my thesis committee

would be more likely for anyone you are on familiar terms with.

--
Lars Eighner <http://larseighner.com/> use...@larseighner.com
Countdown: 236 days to go.

Matt

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May 28, 2008, 9:24:34 PM5/28/08
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On May 29, 12:15 am, Bob Cunningham <exw6...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> On Wed, 28 May 2008 14:58:17 -0700 (PDT), xz
> <zhang.xi...@gmail.com> said:
>
> [about "May I be honored to have you in my thesis
> committee?"]  (There are those who frown on making the
> subject line an essential part of the text.)
>
> > Or how would you guys say this sentence?
>
> It's okay grammatically, but I would say "on my thesis
> committee", not "in".

"May I be honored to..." doesn't sound right to me. Isn't the
expression "May I have the honor of..."?

aspasia

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May 28, 2008, 9:39:06 PM5/28/08
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On Wed, 28 May 2008 14:58:17 -0700 (PDT), xz <zhang...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Or how would you guys say this sentence?
>
>thanks.

Please use short subject lines and put the body of
your request in...the body of the message.

Aspasia

Dan S.

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May 28, 2008, 10:30:38 PM5/28/08
to
xz expressed precisely :

> Or how would you guys say this sentence?
>
> thanks.

I would be honored to have you on my thesis committee.


Roland Hutchinson

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May 28, 2008, 11:41:45 PM5/28/08
to
Matt wrote:

Only if you asking the person being addressed to dance with you!

If I really wanted to express it in terms relating to honor, I'd go
for, "Will you do me the honor of consenting to serve on my thesis
committee" or (better) "I would be honored if you would agree to serve on
my thesis committee".
--
Roland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food.

NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to
remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it.

tony cooper

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May 29, 2008, 12:06:43 AM5/29/08
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On Thu, 29 May 2008 03:41:45 GMT, Roland Hutchinson
<my.sp...@verizon.net> wrote:

>Matt wrote:
>
>> On May 29, 12:15 am, Bob Cunningham <exw6...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>> On Wed, 28 May 2008 14:58:17 -0700 (PDT), xz
>>> <zhang.xi...@gmail.com> said:
>>>
>>> [about "May I be honored to have you in my thesis
>>> committee?"]  (There are those who frown on making the
>>> subject line an essential part of the text.)
>>>
>>> > Or how would you guys say this sentence?
>>>
>>> It's okay grammatically, but I would say "on my thesis
>>> committee", not "in".
>>
>> "May I be honored to..." doesn't sound right to me. Isn't the
>> expression "May I have the honor of..."?
>
>Only if you asking the person being addressed to dance with you!
>
>If I really wanted to express it in terms relating to honor, I'd go
>for, "Will you do me the honor of consenting to serve on my thesis
>committee" or (better) "I would be honored if you would agree to serve on
>my thesis committee".

I hesitated to comment, but "honor" seems smarmy at best in this sort
of thing. "Pleased" is so much better.


--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

Matt

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May 29, 2008, 9:02:23 AM5/29/08
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On May 29, 4:41 am, Roland Hutchinson <my.spamt...@verizon.net> wrote:
> Matt wrote:
> > On May 29, 12:15 am, Bob Cunningham <exw6...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> >> On Wed, 28 May 2008 14:58:17 -0700 (PDT), xz
> >> <zhang.xi...@gmail.com> said:
>
> >> [about "May I be honored to have you in my thesis
> >> committee?"]  (There are those who frown on making the
> >> subject line an essential part of the text.)
>
> >> > Or how would you guys say this sentence?
>
> >> It's okay grammatically, but I would say "on my thesis
> >> committee", not "in".
>
> > "May I be honored to..." doesn't sound right to me. Isn't the
> > expression "May I have the honor of..."?
>
> Only if you asking the person being addressed to dance with you!

Well, in a (very) formal invitation you could say something like "May
I have the honour of your company on whenever-it-is", and in similar
style you could in theory say "May I have the honour of your
participation on my thesis committee". But this would be too high-
flown and pompous for everyday use, of course.

Chuck Riggs

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May 29, 2008, 11:15:41 AM5/29/08
to
On Wed, 28 May 2008 14:58:17 -0700 (PDT), xz <zhang...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Or how would you guys say this sentence?
>
>thanks.

It should be "on my thesis committee", not "in".
--

Regards,

Chuck Riggs
Near Dublin, Ireland

xz

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May 29, 2008, 11:19:13 AM5/29/08
to


Thank you for your reply.

Indeed, this in/on issue is a nightmare for non-native English speaker
like me.

Especially for the cases where there is no physical spatial
relationship, but only logical relation, I am often confused about
which one to use......

Wood Avens

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May 29, 2008, 1:09:39 PM5/29/08
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On Thu, 29 May 2008 08:19:13 -0700 (PDT), xz <zhang...@gmail.com>
wrote:

And I'm afraid that you have the additional problem that usage varies
between US and UK English.

--

Katy Jennison

spamtrap: remove the first two letters after the @

Dan S.

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May 30, 2008, 9:22:26 AM5/30/08
to
Wood Avens used his keyboard to write :

He could say "as part of" instead of in/on.


aspasia

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May 30, 2008, 11:05:53 AM5/30/08
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On Fri, 30 May 2008 09:22:26 -0400, Dan S.
<danUNDERscoreGO...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

[...]

>Indeed, this in/on issue is a nightmare for non-native English speaker
>>> like me.

Didn't note if you were from Asia, but did note that you left off
(omitted) the indefinite article "a" before "non-native". This
is characteristic of Asian (and Russian,, inter alia) non-native
speakers of English.

OR: You might have meant "speakerS" and accidentally omitted the "S".
In that case, you would not have needed an article.

Aspasia

xz

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May 30, 2008, 11:33:09 AM5/30/08
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On May 30, 10:05 am, aspasia wrote:
> On Fri, 30 May 2008 09:22:26 -0400, Dan S.
>
> <danUNDERscoreGOEShereSLAUGH...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> >Indeed, this in/on issue is a nightmare for non-native English speaker
> >>> like me.
>
> Didn't note if you were from Asia, but did note that you left off
> (omitted) the indefinite article "a" before "non-native".  This
> is characteristic of Asian (and Russian,, inter alia) non-native
> speakers of English.
>
> OR:  You might have meant "speakerS" and accidentally omitted the "S".
> In that case, you would not have needed an article.

Yuh, I meant "speakerS". You got it.
Thank your for pointing this out.

>
> Aspasia

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