Re: Grammar problem

Anja,

There is no need to apologize about your efforts to improve your English proficiency. It is already far superior to my grasp of German!

Opinions of native English speakers may differ about the response to the questions you have asked. Personally, I would say it is acceptable to say "I cross Iris A with Iris B". However, that gives no indication of which iris is the pollen source and which is the pollen recipient (pod parent). If you say "I cross Iris A on Iris B", then it implies that Iris A is the pollen source (pollen parent) and Iris B is the pollen recipient (pod parent).

To my ear, using "to" or "by" in this context is not idiomatic English.

  

Jeff Walters
in upstate South Carolina
(USDA Zone 7b)


--- On Sat, 1/3/09, Anja Pansin/Wolfgang Zirkel <zirpan@freenet.de> wrote:

> From: Anja Pansin/Wolfgang Zirkel <zirpan@freenet.de>
> Subject: [iris] Grammar problem
> To: iris-digest@hort.net
> Date: Saturday, January 3, 2009, 8:36 AM
> Hi everyone,
> Sorry, my question may sound ridiculous, but I have
> problems with the English
> grammar. Do I say "I cross iris A with iris B" or
> "I cross iris A to iris B"
> or "I cross iris A by iris B"? I would like to
> improve my bad English.
> Greetings from Germany
> 
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