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Pam Nelson: The Grammar Guide

 

Archive for October 2006

Number of comments in parentheses

26: Something to remember

In this grammar-challenged, typo-filled world, those of us who try to hold the line can become discouraged. We wonder if striving to follow and enforce the rules makes any difference at all. But then we run across something that gives us heart.The obituary in today’s N&O of Carolyn Grace Pritchett Rekau describes a lovely woman who was a master at puzzles and games. But my favorite line is, “Her spelling and grammar were immaculate, as was her cooking.”What wonderful things to remember about someone. This article was originally posted by the Raleigh News & Observer, a subsidiary of The[.....]

23: Deep-seated notions

A reader’s question led me to examine the term deep-seated, referring to an idea or a belief that is firmly rooted in someone’s mind. Some writers think that the term is deep-seeded. Indeed, I found a few instances of that use in the archives of The N&O and the Chapel Hill News. In answering the reader’s question, I turned to Bryan A. Garner. In “Garner’s Modern American Usage,” he writes, “The true metaphor derives from horseback riding (deep in the seat), not from planting seeds deeply.” That’s a image that could help writers keep the idea in their heads[.....]

22: Say it ain’t so, Jack

James Kilpatrick, in his column published in The N&O on Monday, surrenders on “everyone.” He gives up the fight against using the plural pronoun “they” when the antecedent is the all-inclusive “everyone.” After five examples from decent sources, he writes: “Face it, fellow fogeys, our gonfalon is a gone gonfalon! The old order has indeed yielded, and now everyone has their own cup of tea.” Oy, Jack, did you have to wave the white flag? I am not ready to give up. As long as we use a singular verb for “everyone,” we should use also a singular pronoun.[.....]

19: They who?

This sentence from an Associated Press story on Page 1A Wednesday illustrates a pronoun antecedent problem. The government still could pursue those claims in civil court, but they would have to compete with any other litigants also pursuing Lay’s estate. The government, a singular noun, is referred to as they in the second clause of that sentence. The pronoun should be it. (Government is the antecedent, the noun to which the pronoun refers.) But why does they sound OK to writers, editors and readers? It seems that we think of the government as multiple people, just as we think[.....]

18: When a sea change happens

Today’s story Conflict hits home in N.C. politics contains a quote with an interesting idiom: sea change. Here is the quote: “In the last month there has been a sea change in North Carolina,” said Jack Hawke, the Civitas president and a former state GOP chairman, in a luncheon in Raleigh on Wednesday. “In the last month it has turned even further in the Democrats’ direction.” A sea change is a “profound transformation.” According to Michael Quinion in World Wide Words and The Mavens’ Word of the Day, the phrase comes from Shakespeare — appropriately, from “The Tempest.” Shakespeare[.....]

17: Disinterested parties

Many writers and editors distinguish between disinterested and uninterested. To be disinterested means to be impartial, the Associated Press Stylebook says, or to be unbiased, the dictionary says. In this sentence from a news story Tuesday: Asked whether, as the prosecutor, he was disinterested in what the accused players had to say, Nifong responded curtly. it appears to me the better choice would have been “uninterested,” as in having a lack of interest. Professor Paul Brians lists this as one of the Common Errors in English. [Bernstein and Bremner also write about the difference between the two words.] But[.....]

15: Tricky issues of agreement

Subject-verb agreement has some tricky rules. Here is one: The indefinite pronouns each, every, either, neither, one, another and much are always singular and take singular verbs. * Each worker has been given the resources he needs to complete the task.* Neither boy wants to play on the team this year.* Every boy and girl has a chance to grow up to be president. This article was originally posted by the Raleigh News & Observer, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Co.; is posted here to provide continuity; and is copyright © 2011 The News & Observer Publishing Company, which[.....]

14: Riding off on a tangent

Stumbling over one word in today’s paper sent me off on a strange short trip on the Internet. The word was “ferrier” in today’s State Fair coverage. I thought the word for a person who specializes in shoeing horses was “farrier.” (The item was about a horseshoer whose dog had disappeared at the fair.) I Googled the words “farrier” and “ferrier” and got a hit on Why your horse should go barefoot. Apparently, the question of whether horses need shoes incites balking, bucking and kicking among some humans. I also hit on this Wikipedia article about farriers. “Farrier” is[.....]

13: Heads up

Headlines need to be accurate, attract attention and give readers a preview of the story. Good headlines also draw on our shared culture to establish a connection for the reader. Here is a good example from today’s (Oct. 14) paper of a headline that makes a connection: Lab’s big production: breeding Nemo This works on several levels. First the headline makes allusions to a movie, a “big production,” and to a particular movie, the phenomenally successful 2003 animated film “Finding Nemo.” The headline writer cleverly echoes the title of the movie by using the same structure, “breeding Nemo.” This[.....]

8: Profanity vs. vulgarity

A letter writer took the newspaper to task recently for publishing a comic strip that used a coarse term for a bodily function. The writer called it “profanity.” I have always made a distinction in my mind between profane language and vulgar slang. Profanity, the dictionaries say, primarily deals with being irreverent toward a deity — what Christians often learn as taking the Lord’s name in vain. Vulgar slang, on the other hand, has more to do with body functions that we usually don’t refer to in polite company. The letter writer’s point, though, was that off-color words don’t[.....]