Sweating the Small Stuff
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
Sweating the Small Stuff
At a football game a few years ago, the University of Notre Dame sold soda in cups that said, “Figthing Irish.” Did no one at this distinguished school have the time or pride to proofread a two-word slogan?
Here are a few other items we’ve seen and now wish we hadn’t …
Back to Basics Many professional journalists can’t find the subjects in their own sentences, like this one: “The final installment of those tapes—340 hours—were made public.” Make it “was made public.” The writer, distracted by “tapes” and “hours,” forgot that the subject, “installment,” was singular.
Ho-Hum: More Who-Whom We’ve frequently discussed the difference between who (subject) and whom (object). Pronoun confusion has plagued our language for centuries. Some now claim that English would be fine without whom. But whom holds some mysterious attraction for people who shouldn’t be using it, because they keep getting it wrong, as in “… a man whom he thought was ready” (make it “who he thought was ready”).
Compare that with “Brown, who investigators had trouble reaching for interviews” and “Schulman, who he met on a blind date.” Here the writers were handed whom on a silver platter, but instead chose “who.”
How the Cookie Deconstructs Flawed sentences like those result from either carelessness or grammatical cluelessness. Just as prevalent, and deadly, is poor word choice caused by fuzzy thinking. Here’s a writer who sabotaged his own metaphor when he wrote, “… before the whole house of cards crumbles.”
Dead leaves and old walls crumble. A house of cards collapses.
This was a classic article by our late writer-editor Tom Stern from October 2013.
Pop Quiz
Try to spot the errors or lapses in these sentences, written by professionals.
1. “The case is the latest in a series that have fueled public protests.”
2. “He was convicted in absentia to 20 years in prison.”
3. “… and Steenkamp, whom he believed was still in the bedroom.”
4. “… a deadline to Syria to turnover its weapons.”
5. “The first time either of them have heard the recording.”
Pop Quiz Answers
Not all of these sentences have one right answer. See if your remedies agree with ours.
1. The case is the latest in a series of events that have fueled public protests.
2. He was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison.
3. … and Steenkamp, who he believed was still in the bedroom. (i.e., who was still in the bedroom, he believed)
4. … a deadline to Syria to turn over its weapons.
5. The first time either of them has heard the recording.
If the article or the existing discussions do not address a thought or question you have on the subject, please use the "Comment" box at the bottom of this page.
I have a query regarding the following sentence:
‘The creation and manipulation of cold molecules has become …’
Is it ‘has become’ or ‘have become’ that is to be used in the above sentence?
As per our Rule 4 of Subject and Verb Agreement, “As a general rule, use a plural verb with two or more subjects when they are connected by and.” Therefore, it appears that your sentence should be “The creation and manipulation of cold molecules have become …”
An exception to this rule is a sentence such as “The bed and breakfast was charming.” In this case bed and breakfast is a compound noun.
You are a better judge than we regarding standard terms used in your research. If creation and manipulation are considered two separate operations, then the plural verb have is correct.
I was looking for ways to help my friends understand the who vs whom usage, and I respectfully disagree with the latter half of your who vs whom section (https://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/whoVwhom.asp).
First of all, ‘a woman whom I think is a genius’ isn’t a complete sentence, which must be confusing for readers. Here’s a new sentence: ‘The book was written by a woman, whom I think is a genius.’ In this new sentence, ‘whom’ actually is the object of the second half of the sentence and ‘I’ is the subject. That is the correct usage (unless you follow the school of thought that says everyday usage on the street trumps dusty old grammar knowledge). To use ‘who’ here : ‘The book was written by a woman, who is a genius.’ Now, ‘who’ is the subject of the second half of the sentence.
Another example: ‘A woman, whom I think is a genius, wrote a book called Mary Jane.’ That’s correct. ‘A woman, who is a genius, wrote a book called Mary Jane.’ Also correct.
I know I must sound like a pedantic, ‘pseudo-sophisticated’ person, but I hope this helps. You are the top hit for a google search of ‘who vs whom,’ which thrusts great responsibility upon your site.
We see that by placing yourself in the responsible role of the teacher with your friends that you now find yourself in a difficult position. We stand behind every word of the who-vs.-whom section of the book. If you really believe that “A woman, whom I think is a genius, wrote a book called Mary Jane” is a correct sentence, which it emphatically is not, then you need to start over and study subjects, objects, and verbs until you see why “whom” is incorrect in your example. Otherwise, you are misleading your friends.
Thank you very much for your response. I think I see where I went wrong. I was stuck in the rut of thinking that every time there is a pronoun directly after who/whom, one uses whom. I see now that in my example, ‘who’ is the subject for ‘is’ and ‘I’ is the subject for ‘think.’ I hope that’s correct.
I was used to examples like this: ‘This is the woman whom I wrote the book with.’ That’s correct, right? If not, then I’m really struggling with this.
Again, I really appreciate the response because it made me reevaluate my instincts. All the best!
Yes, your example is correct. Good for you for taking the time to reevaluate your approach. Those are not simple sentences!
Please help me regarding the correction on this passage:
Compare that with “Brown, who investigators had trouble reaching for interviews” and “Schulman, who he met on a blind date.” Here the writers were handed whom on a silver platter, but instead chose “who.”
I’m clarifying that you are saying that “Brown, whom investigators had trouble reaching for interviews,” would have been the correct way to phrase this, but isn’t this a who/which clause that just further explains the subject [Brown]? In the same way, “he” is the subject of the Schulman clause?
Even though the clauses provide further information about Brown and Schulman, they still need to be grammatically correct. Our post Whom Abuse Is Rampant says, “Use whom wherever you would use the objective pronouns me, him, her, us, or them.” You would say “Investigators had trouble reaching him for interviews,” and “He met her on a blind date.” Therefore, the object pronoun whom is correct.
Not a comment on this article but a request – a plea, in fact. Please address some of the worst examples of writing commonly found in ebooks available on Amazon. There are people who seem to be attempting to make a living from their writing, but have no demonstrable idea that sometimes “me” is actually correct. Examples abound of “listen to Joe and I …” I am completely exhausted after writing innumerable reviews suggesting that “wannabe” authors should first be able to pass at least eighth grade grammar! Another bit that grates on me is insistence on “inside of” this, that, or her. I suppose it is possible that this one, at least, is a personal preference that may even be incorrect, but somehow I doubt it. I would, however, be willing to discuss the possibility.
A risk inherent in reading self-published works is that there may not have been a proofreader or editor involved in the final product. Self-published authors have to hire such professionals themselves. If these writers have not completed eighth-grade grammar, we invite them to read through our blog posts, where we hope they will enjoy reading such articles as I vs. Me, I vs. Me (Review), More Of, and many more!
If you order the book, does it contain the English Rules?
Thank you for asking, Mrs. Artt. Yes, the book contains American English rules, examples, and quizzes for grammar, punctuation, capitalization, writing numbers, and many confusing words and homonyms.
In the above sentence, “The case is the latest in a series of events that have fueled public protests,” why have you put the plural verb “have,” why not “has”? I believe “has” will be suitable to use since “the case” is a singular subject. Kindly correct me if I am mistaken.
It is the events (plural) that have fueled public protests.
I love all of these questions and answers. They are so helpful!