Me and You, Me and Him, Me and….Anyone Else

Posted on November 25, 2008 by languageandgrammar

This is not so much an English grammar rule as it is English grammar etiquette that says something about the speaker. When referring to yourself and anyone else, the polite thing to do is to put yourself last, not first.

 

Example: They took up a collection for me and him. (wrong)

Example: They took up a collection for him and me. (correct)

 

Example: John gave all of his baseball cards to me, Bill, and Bill’s brother. (wrong)

Example: John gave all of his baseball cards to Bill, Bill’s brother, and me. (correct)

 

Example: The professor wants to talk to me and you after class. (wrong)

Example: The professor wants to talk to you and me after class. (correct)

 

There’s been a great deal of talk in recent years about the descent of common courtesy into rudeness and the change of beneficence to self-absorption. Using the “me and anyone else” construction instead of the “anyone else and me” construction is just another sad sign of this cultural reality, and it makes a personal statement about the speaker. It’s up to you to decide how you want to present yourself.

Sherry

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Dropped the Ball

Posted on November 24, 2008 by languageandgrammar

Despite what the Monday Night Football crew apparently thinks, dropping the ball is not the same thing as not catching the ball.

I’m saying this because the crack announcers showed a highlight reel of dropped passes by Cleveland Browns’ wide receiver Braylon Edwards. The only problem is that he didn’t drop the passes shown; he just didn’t catch them. A dropped pass is not a pass that is deflected off a receiver’s fingers and falls safely to the ground—–or having the ball bounce off your head and onto the ground—–or having the ball bounce off your chest and then to the ground. In order to drop the ball, it is required that you first catch the ball—that is, you should have some sort of possession of it first.

You might say that the announcers dropped the ball on that one.

–Paul

Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever

Sherry’s Grammar List

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Linking Verbs Further De-mystified

Posted on November 22, 2008 by languageandgrammar

In Linking Verbs De-mystified, I said that I would talk more about linking verbs later because there’s just too much to do for one post. Well, later has arrived.

Again, we’ll keep it simple for clarity sake.

Remember, linking verbs are verbs of state of being, not of doing. You can refer to Linking Verbs De-mystified for the list of common linking verbs.

1. Just as an FYI, linking verbs are also called copular verbs. (I just thought that would be kind of an interesting thing you might want to know—-a 25-cent word to throw around.)

2. A pronoun that comes immediately after a linking verb should be in the nominative.  

Example: It’s I. (not It’s me. I know, I know, most of us say It’s me, but if you want to be grammatically correct—-or if you’re in school and taking a test on grammar—–then stick with It’s I since it’s the only correct choice.)

HOWEVER, a pronoun that is an object and comes immediately after the infinitive of the linking verb to be should be in the objective.

Example: With her hair pulled back, she appeared to be him. (not she appeared to be he.)

3. When choosing whether to use an adjective or an adverb, linking verbs are followed immediately by adjectives, not adverbs.

Examples of adjectives after linking verbs: He is tall. The concert sounded good. The roses smell sweet. I feel bad about that. She looked weary.

Examples of adverbs after regular verbs: The cactus grew quickly. She played the piano well. She looked at him wearily.

Sherry

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O, What a Flight

Posted on November 20, 2008 by languageandgrammar

As regular readers of the blog may know, I was invited to this year’s Miami Book Fair. It was a wonderful experience–an honor to be invited and a pleasure to present. Air travel in our modern world, however, is always somewhat of an adventure.

Damn Shoe Bomber–Ruined it for Everyone

I have sensitive heels, so I own twice as many heel cups as I own shoes (do the math!). Other than Dr. Scholl, it’s hard to imagine that anyone is any more disappointed than I that you can’t wear gel heel cups onto an airplane. Stupid shoe bomber.

Do You Want Some O’s?

Jokes about crying babies on airplanes are as common as comments about the weather at the bank (have you noticed that tellers always want to know what it’s like outside?), but, of course, there was a child (around two years old) seated in the row right behind me for my two-hour-plus flight from Miami to Philadelphia (insert cheesesteak joke here). It wasn’t the child who was the problem, though; it was the parents.

Every time the child, who was very well behaved, made the slightest noise, the parents tried desperately to pacify him with “O’s.” I don’t know what these o’s were, but these parents were obsessed with them. Maybe they were Oreos. Maybe they were Cheerios. Maybe they were cold spaghetti o‘s. I don’t know, but I won’t be eating anything round any time soon. Do you want some o’s, sweetie? Do you want some o’s little man? How ’bout some o’s, little boy? That’s right. This special alphabetized child was both a little boy and a little man, and he didn’t want any o’s.

I heard about the o’s over Florida. I heard about the o’s over the Atlantic Ocean. I heard about the o’s over the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and I heard about the o’s over the Chesapeake Bay. Of course, the parents didn’t ask about the magical o’s in a normal voice–they used that silly high-pitched voice that almost all parents slip into when they talk to a child, and it was mixed with that slightly louder voice that parents often use when they’re trying to attract attention to how cute they and their children are when they interact as if they were, indeed, the first people to ever have had a child or that this child is cuter than any child who has ever been born.

Anyway, when they weren’t asking the boy if he wanted o’s, they were asking each other about the o’s. Do you think he wants some o’s, honey? Give him some o’s.

While we were circling Philadelphia (see below), I wanted to stand up and scream SHUT UP ABOUT THE O’S! THE LITTLE MAN DOESN’T WANT ANY O’S, OK! I DON’T WANT ANY O’S! THE PILOT DOESN’T WANT ANY O’S! NO ONE WANTS ANY FREAKING O’S!

Philadelphia is Still on Daylight-Saving Time

I enjoy learning, so imagine how happy I was to learn that Philadelphia remains on Daylight-saving time while the rest of us turn our clocks back. I know—I was surprised, too, but it has to be true; otherwise, how could they explain that the 9:55 a.m. flight to Miami left at 10:55 a.m. and was still scheduled on the airline marquee to be “on time?”

It Was Nice the First Time

Philadelphia is a city of great historical significance, so I was happy to see it from the air; however, the last 46 times weren’t as interesting as the first time. What would have been a 30-minute early arrival in the City of Brotherly Air Traffic Delays turned into a 25-minute late arrival as we flew ’round and ’round—-hearing all about o’s the entire time.

–Paul

Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever

Sherry’s Grammar List

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Linking Verbs De-mystified

Posted on November 19, 2008 by languageandgrammar

Linking verbs have several things going on, so we’ll keep this one simple.

  1. Linking verbs are intransitive (Transitive and Intransitive Verbs); that is, they do not have direct objects after them.
  2. Linking verbs describe a state of being rather than doing. The most common are be (and all its forms), grow, appear, seem, look, feel, taste, become, smell, remain, and sound (but they can include any verb that describes a state of being rather than doing).
  3. Instead of having a direct object, a linking verb often has after it what is called a subject (or subjective) complement, and the subject complement can be either a predicate noun or a predicate adjective. Linking verbs link the subject to these subject complements. A predicate noun is simply a noun that further describes the subject, and a predicate adjective is simply an adjective that further describes the subject.

Example: He grew tired. He is the subject. Grew is the linking verb (it is describing a state of being, not of doing). Tired is the adjective (which we call the predicate adjective in this case because it comes after a linking verb), and it further describes He. The linking verb grew is linking the subject He to the predicate adjective tired.

Example: John is the owner. John is the subject. Is is the linking verb. Owner is the predicate noun. (It is the noun that comes after the linking verb and further describes the subject.)

Example: The garage became dusty and crowded. Garage is the subject. Became is the linking verb. Dusty and crowded are the predicate adjectives—they describe the garage.

Note: If the sentence were The dusty, crowded garage got demolished, with dusty and crowded coming before the noun, then dusty and crowded would be plain old adjectives, but because they come after a linking verb, they are the very important-sounding predicate adjectives.

I’ll talk a little more about linking verbs in a later post.

Sherry

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Anonymous or Unnamed Source

Posted on November 17, 2008 by languageandgrammar

Not every post on this blog is as simple being correct or incorrect. Sometimes, it’s about clarification to ensure accurate communication, and I think that we could use some clarification about the use of the adjectives anonymous and unnamed when making reference to sources for news stories.

While both anonymous source and unnamed source might technically be correct ways to talk about a reliable source who prefers to not be quoted by name, there are difference connotations for the terms. Anonymous implies that no one knows who the source is–it’s an unknown source. An unnamed source implies that the reporter knows who the source is (and presumably believes that the source is reliable) and chooses to respect the source’s request to not be credited for the story.

That’s why it’s best for those who are doing the reporting to use the term unnamed source rather than anonymous source when they would like the audience to believe the story being reported.

If that’s not reason enough for clarification of the terms, then think about how a person who has been criticized by a nameless source reacts to such criticism. Invariably, he or she responds with a comment along the lines of I don’t give any credence to stories based on anonymous sources, not I don’t give credence to stories based on unnamed sources.

Sarah Palin recently reacted that way in a yahoo news story (Palin denounces anonymous sources as “cowardly“). She did this because anonymous implies a lack of knowledge by everyone of who the source is, and the other simple implies that just we, readers, don’t know that name of the person.

–Paul

Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever

Sherry’s Grammar List

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Miami Book Fair, Here I Come

Posted on November 11, 2008 by languageandgrammar

The Miami Book Fair is the largest and most prestigious book fair in the country, and I’m very excited to be one of the participating authors this year.

The festival, which takes place on the campus of Miami Dade College every year (and draws hundreds of thousands of book lovers), will be held from November 9 through 16, and I’ll be part of a language panel on Saturday, November 15, talking about my book, Literally the Best Language Book Ever. I will share the stage with fellow Perigee authors Ammon Shea (Reading the OED ) and Mim Harrison (Smart Words). After each of us gives a short presentation, we will answer questions from the audience and have a book signing. Our language discussion will take place at 3:30 p.m.

–Paul

Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever

Sherry’s Grammar List

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Is It Him and I or Him and Me?

Posted on November 9, 2008 by languageandgrammar

I’ve already written some general information about pronouns, but I think that it might be more helpful if I tackle them individually.

Here, I’ll talk about the personal pronouns him and I versus him and me.

Let’s get a couple of things straight. First, in choosing which personal pronouns to use, we have two groups: nominative and objective. Nominative personal pronouns are used as subjects, and objective personal pronouns are used as objects. Second, the nominative pronouns are I, he, she, we, and they; the objective pronouns are me, him, her, us, and them. You (singular), you (plural), and it are both nominative and objective and can be used in either case.

Now, when choosing personal pronoun pairs—in this case, him and I or him and me—–the next thing to keep in mind is that both pronouns must be of the same type; that is, either both must be nominative or both must be objective. Therefore, you can never use him and I together as either a compound subject or object because him is objective and I is nominative. It must be either him and me or he and I.

The next step is to find out how you determine whether you need either him and me or he and I in any particular sentence. Well, you can either read what I’ve already written on the subject (Fun with Pronouns), or you can just keep right on reading here.

Find the verb in the sentence. If the verb already has a subject, then you can’t use nominatives, and you’ll find that what you’re looking for are objectives. If the verb does not have a subject, then what you’re looking for are nominatives.

Ex: Him and me/He and I cheated on the test. The verb is cheated. Ask yourself who or what cheated; that’s the subject. Since that’s what we’re trying to determine in this sentence, you’re looking for a subject in this case, and you know that nominatives are subjects, and you also know that he and I are nominative pronouns, so the correct sentence is He and I cheated on the test.

Ex: The teacher was justified in giving detention to he and I/him and me. The verb is was justified. Ask yourself who or what was justified; that’s the subject. In this sentence, it was the teacher who was justified, so we already have the subject, so we can’t use nominatives. We must, then, be in need of objectives here, and if we examine the sentence further, we see that we do, indeed, need an object of the preposition to (the teacher was justified in giving detention to whom or to what?). We know that him and me are objective pronouns, so the correct sentence is The teacher was justified in giving detention to him and me.

For more common grammar errors, refer to Sherry’s Grammar List.

Sherry

Paul’s books:

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On Either Side of This Mistake

Posted on November 7, 2008 by languageandgrammar

Either I’m missing something, or we’ve become very confused about the proper use of the word either.

We still get it right when used in the way I just used it, either/or; it’s either one thing or another; however, either is often being incorrectly used as a substitute for both. Not only is this wrong, but it can be terribly confusing.

One of our readers mentioned in the Pet Peeves page that it’s often used incorrectly on HGTV, and she is correct. For example, there are many instances when a designer puts two night stands in a room, one to the left of the bed and one to the right, and the narrator says a night stand was placed on either side of the bed. Since they’re showing pictures of the incredible bedroom makeover–so good, in fact, that the homeowner is sobbing with joy–it’s easy to understand what the narrator meant, which was a night stand was placed on both sides of the bed. If a table were placed on either side, as was stated, then there would be one night stand in the room, and it wouldn’t matter which side of the bed it was on–it would be either to the left or the right of the bed.

When speaking without the luxury of television cameras, it’s important that we use either when we mean either and both when we mean both; otherwise, there will be legitimate confusion about the number of items being discussed.

–Paul

Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever

Sherry’s Grammar List

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The Number Of versus A Number Of

Posted on November 6, 2008 by languageandgrammar

A number of should be used with a plural verb. Think of it this way: A number of equates to the word they.

  • A number of fans buy tickets at the game. (They buy tickets.) 
  • A number of dogs in our neighborhood actually like the mailman. (They like the mailmam.)

When using the number of, use a singular verb. The number of equates to the word it.

  • The number of snowstorms this year was more than expected. (It was more than expected.)
  • The number of dogs in our neighborhood has grown over the past several years. (It has grown.)

Sherry

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