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I am in favour of compromises and I am glad that Gabriel also is.

Is it okay here to end the sentence with "also is"? Is there a better/more proper way to express this?

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Your sentence is perfectly fine. What makes you think that it's wrong? It would be good if you could explain your reasoning, or this might get closed. – JSBձոգչ Nov 1 '12 at 18:42
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Personally, I would say is also. (or better is, as well.); but that'a a matter of style. – TimLymington Nov 1 '12 at 18:50
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I don't think I heard this construction before, and googling didn't reveal any examples either. But I'm not a native speaker, that's why I decided to ask here. In any case the answer "Yes" from someone who knows English better than me would answer my question. I don't see any reason to close it. – R C Nov 1 '12 at 18:52
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It depends what you mean by OK. – Barrie England Nov 1 '12 at 19:02
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@JSBձոգչ: There are already several upvotes for Tim's comment saying is also is "better". Even if no-one can justify thinking that, the fact that there seems to be a marked preference seems like a perfectly good reason for asking "why is that"? – FumbleFingers Nov 1 '12 at 23:03
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3 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Your sentence is grammatical, but not very idiomatic, at least in US English. My impression is that in ordinary speech:

  • too is used most frequently, almost always at the end of the clause:

Bob's driving, and John's driving too. or Bob's driving. John too.
Bob's driving, and he's buying the food, too.

  • also is used less often and is usually put before the added element:

Bob's driving, and also John. or Bob's driving. Also John.
Bob's driving, and he's also buying the food.

In formal writing, you may put also just about anywhere, and you may put too immediately after the added element. You may put either at the head of the clause:

Bob's driving. John, too, is driving. or John is driving also. or John, also, is driving.
Bob's driving. Too, he's buying the food. or Also, he's buying the food.

All of these displacements are very formal, however, and should be used sparingly: perhaps only when needed to point the structure of long propositions.

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Placing too at the beginning looks very odd to my humble sextet of eyes. Also at the beginning is common, but frownded upon by certain style guides. – Cerberus Nov 2 '12 at 0:12
You can’t use that sense of too at the start of a sentence; it’s postpositive. – tchrist Nov 2 '12 at 0:19
@tchrist True, OED 1 (fasc.Sep.1913) says, “Rarely, now never, used at the beginning of a clause”. But the 1987 Supplement reports “The use at the beginning of a clause has been revived, at first in the U.S” and provides citations from a trade publication, an academic reference work, UK and US newspapers, and popular fiction (Ludlum, The Holcroft Covenant). – StoneyB Nov 2 '12 at 0:47
@StoneyB Still sounds ungrammatical to me. – tchrist Nov 2 '12 at 0:51
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@tchrist Ungrammatical? Uncommon I'll grant you, but why not too alongside also, in addition, what's more, moreover, and other such adverbials? I don't much like it, except as a strong pivot; but it's an accepted formal use. – StoneyB Nov 2 '12 at 0:55
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up vote 3 down vote

Per my comment to the question, Google Books, and mine and TimLymington's "inner grammarians", all seem to agree that it's better to end the sentence with is also, rather than also is.

Personally, I think "I am glad that Gabriel is too." is much better, but I can't really explain why.

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Shouldn't that be my and Tim's? Not snarky, I'm genuinely unsure. – TimLymington Nov 1 '12 at 21:16
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would either of the two downvoters care to give a reason here? – FumbleFingers Nov 1 '12 at 22:00
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+1 for is too and suggesting to switch to is also. I was going to suggest that (for the not-so-easily-explained reason for those two sounding better). (Also, upvoted because I don't see anywhere a valid reason for a downvote.) – Souta Nov 1 '12 at 23:26
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It seems to me that all of us tacitly justify our answers based on our native-English-speakerhood & explicitly justify them by going to appropriate authorities for the context in which the Q arosen. Using language is an art as much as it is an inherently (but maybe not exclusively) human trait. Much of how we say what we say is based on aesthetic judgments: there are no rules for that, only reasons that all boil down to "because I like it like that". Your feeling about "also is" vs. "is also" is the same as mine: "is {also/too}" sounds better & more natural to me too. – Bill Franke Nov 1 '12 at 23:40
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@FumbleFingers What is attractive about this place is that almost everybody feels that way; you go NGrams, I go to OED and GB and UD not for 'authority' but for evidence. What divides us is that we all have read and practised different things; what unites us is that we embrace variety and difference rather than exclude it. – StoneyB Nov 2 '12 at 1:54
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up vote 2 down vote

While my immediate reaction was to reverse your usage (to "is also"), the strength of the sentence does seem to trail away.

You may prefer

I am in favour of compromises and I am glad that Gabriel concurs.

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I'd be much more likely to use agrees than concurs, which to me feels like a word that is becoming obsolete. But maybe that's because I'm American. – Peter Shor Nov 2 '12 at 11:27

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