by Donna | Mar 19, 2013
Is Five Guys only ONE Reader’s Pick? If many readers picked it, it should say Readers’ Pick…..wish I had, had my purple editing pen with me!
P.S. Don’t second guess on possessives all the time:
1. Write the word you want to make possessive first without even thinking about the possessive part {Readers}
2. Then ask yourself, “Does it end in an s?” {Don’t overthink this step and start asking yourself if it’s plural, etc….just focus on the final letter in the word.}.
3. If it ends in an s, simply put an apostrophe on the outside of the s. If it does NOT end in an s, put an ‘s.
Examples:
1. One reader picked it–the pick belongs to the one reader: reader’s pick
2. Many readers picked it–the pick belongs to many readers: readers’ pick
3. One dog owns the yard–the yard belongs to one dog: dog’s yard
4. Two dogs own the yard–the yard belongs to two dogs: dogs’ yard
by Donna | Jul 8, 2011
So why do you need to know the difference between subjective and objective pronouns if you are not likely to say Me going to town or Give that to I?
The problem with the subjective and objective pronoun does not occur when only one pronoun is present (though I do occasionally hear someone say something like, “Them aren’t ripe yet…”
The problem comes when you have two pronouns at or near the beginning of your sentence (subjective pronouns, hopefully!) or two pronouns at or near the end of your sentence (objective pronouns, hopefully!):
Subjective:
1. She and I are coming over.
2. He and she are late.
Objective:
1. Give that gift to him and her.
2. We will present them and her with a gift later.
“Single Pronoun Test”: The key to using the correct pronouns in this case is to say each pronoun by itself in the sentence (without the second one) to see if it sounds correct:
1. Correct: She and I are coming over.
a. She is coming over.
b. I am coming over.
2. Incorrect: Her and I are coming over.
a. Her is coming over (wrong!).
b. I am coming over.
3. Correct: Give that gift to him and her.
a. Give that gift to him.
b. Give that gift to her.
4. Incorrect: Give that give to him and she.
a. Give that gift to him.
b. Give that gift to she (wrong!).
The problem also occurs with a pronoun and noun combination:
1. Correct: Jon and I are coming over.
a. Jon is coming over.
b. I am coming over.
2. Incorrect: Jon and me are coming over.
a. Jon is coming over.
b. Me is coming over (wrong!).
3. Correct: Give that gift to Jake and her.
a. Give that gift to Jake.
b. Give that gift to her.
4. Incorrect: Give that gift to Jake and she.
a. Give that gift to Jake.
b. Give that gift to she (wrong!).
Again, unless you are 100% sure of your subjective and objective pronouns (and even then you might have tricky situations in which the “Single Pronoun Test” would help), you can run into problems with pronoun use.
Use the “Single Pronoun Test” when you are unsure—and you will almost always “hear” the correct way to write it/speak it.
by Donna | Mar 7, 2011
What “language mishaps” have driven you crazy lately? Mine is how everybody puts up signs that say “Sorry for the inconvenience” without checking how inconvenience is spelled! Agghh…..surely it isn’t that much of an “inconvenience” to look it up! 🙂
Others? Signs that have the following errors are recent ones:
1. It’s when the person means its
2. “There going fast” instead of They’re (say it uncontracted—they are…and you will know if you have the correct one!)
3. No mark between phrases to show that a phrase ended and another one started—
Great Sale on
Tires Get Your
Oil Changed Today
Even this is better:
Great Sale on
Tires—Get Your
Oil Changed Today
Enough complaining for tonight! Have a happily-correct grammar week!
