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Pam Nelson: The Grammar Guide

 

Archive for April 2007

Number of comments in parentheses

22: It’s the principal

One of our deputy managing editors, Steve Riley, stopped by my desk the other day to point out something that he had seen in our news section recently. An Associated Press story about the sale of the Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times, contained this sentence: Payments of both interest and principle are tax-deductible and would create more leverage for a buyer. Of course, that was the wrong spelling of “principal,” meaning the major portion of a loan. [More:] Steve wondered how many papers used the wrong spelling. I did a quick search today on Google News[.....]

19: A couple of agreement issues

Spoiler alert: If you haven’t taken Monday’s quiz yet, you might want to skip this post. I am writing about a couple of issues raised in the quiz on subject-verb agreement. [More:] A colleague asked me about “the number” and “a number.” In the quiz, I wrote this sentence: The number of mistakes in this report is unacceptable. The short answer is that “the number” is always singular, but “a number” is plural. Bryan A. Garner offers a longer explanation in “Garner’s Modern American Usage.” He notes the principle of synesis, which means that the sense or meaning, rather[.....]

15: Quiz: Let’s be agreeable

Today’s quiz is about subject-verb agreement. I hope the five sentences will give you a little challenge. Please feel free to comment after you finish the quiz.Click here or on the question mark icon to begin. 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 reserves the right to remove this post.

12: Jerry-built and jury-rigged

I ran into this construction this week: jerry-rigged. The writer meant a structure that had been improvised, but he had mixed up two terms: jerry-built and jury-rigged. I changed the phrase to jury-rigged. Jerry-built applies to something that is poorly constructed or is made of cheap materials. So who is “Jerry” and how did he become associated with poor construction? The usage experts are not sure where the phrase comes from. This source suggests several possibilities. Jury-rigged comes from nautical use. World Wide Words explains both terms. The thing to remember is that these terms are not interchangeable. As[.....]

9: Today’s quiz: Pronouns

Today’s quiz involves choosing the correct form of the pronoun in five sentences. The key is the antecedent (the word that the pronoun refers to). Click here to begin or click on the question mark icon. 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 reserves the right to remove this post.

8: A tip today, a quiz Tuesday

If you have trouble spotting typos and grammatical errors in your own work, try reading from the bottom up at least once. I have found this helpful when I am proofreading. I read the last paragraph first and work my way backward through the piece. This method is not foolproof, but you might spot more typos if you read the words out of context. Proofreading needs full concentration, as does copy editing, but you might do better to focus on the trees instead of the forest. I will have another quiz ready to post Tuesday morning. This article was[.....]

1: Quiz!

Today’s quiz has five sentences that illustrate common pronoun problems. Give it a try! 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 reserves the right to remove this post.