Avoid using BOTH and AS WELL AS in the same sentence.

Birmingham, Alabama's new mayor William Bell has a full plate of issues. One of those is balancing the budget, and he is making great efforts in that direction.



As I have said a number of times in this blog, I do not expect public figures to get the grammar exactly right when they are speaking out loud. However, the following quote from a comment by Mayor Bell last week illustrates a good point about parallel structure. I would hope that, if he were writing this sentence, he would word it in more parallel form:



"I'm asking for a full review by BOTH our legal department AS WELL AS our public works department."



BOTH and AS WELL AS should not be used together. Mayor Bell should have said one of the following:



I'm asking for a full review by BOTH our legal department AND our public works department.



OR



I'm asking for a full review by our public works department AS WELL AS our legal department. (NOTE: I switched the order to get the emphasis on the correct department.)



That said, I wish Mayor Bell progress AS WELL AS ultimate success in solving the many problems of the city.



PLEASE NOTE: This blog site and my website are in transition this month as I work on a more functional design. That is why the number of posts has been slow. Please continue to check this site, and I will notify you as soon as the new blog and web sites are ready for display.

Two Agreement Goofs in One Article!

A recent article in The Birmingham News deals with a sadly
familiar issue--budget cuts in city government. Also sadly familiar is the
issue of subject/verb agreement which is handled incorrectly in TWO
sentences in this one article. The first sentence reads as follows:

Birmingham's financial challenges
and bare bones 2011 budget has made
it to the national spotlight.

This sentence has TWO subjected (CHALLENGES, BONES) connected by the word AND. Therefore, the verb should be plural. The sentence should read this way:

Birmingham's financial challenges and bare bones 2011 budget have made it to the national spotlight.

In the next paragraph, the reporter writes this sentence:

Mayor William Bell will appear on CNN's "Your Money" this weekend to discuss how a tough economy and low revenue is affecting cities nationwide.

Whoops again! The final clause of this sentence also has TWO subjects (ECONOMY, REVENUE), and they are also connected by AND. Therefore, the verb should be plural, and the sentence should read as follows:

Mayor William Bell will appear on CNN's "Your Money" this weekend to discuss how a tough economy and low revenue are affecting cities nationwide.

BONUS POINT: We should give this reporter credit for getting the usage correct by using the VERB "affecting" in this sentence.

Paying Out....Give Out--Parallel Structure Problem Strikes Again

This morning's The Birmingham News has a teaser sentence on the front page about the tough choices BP is facing with its finances. This long and involved sentence needs better parallel structure so the reader can follow it. It reads this way:

As the claims over the oil spill disaster mount for the energy giant, the company is torn between two tough choices: paying out settlements to those affected by the ongoing crisis, or give out dividends to its shareholders, which include public employee retirement systems and pension beneficiaries.

The two verb phrases highlighted in red should be in the SAME format, both ending in ING. The sentence should read as follows:

As the claims over the oil spill disaster mount for the energy giant, the company is torn between two tough choices: paying out settlements to those affected by the ongoing crisis or giving out dividends to its shareholders, which include public employee retirement systems and pension beneficiaries.

BONUS NOTE: Notice that I also removed the comma before the word OR. There is no logical reason for separating these two phrases with a comma.

Publix Grocery Store Gets the Grammar Right!

The first ever Grammar Glitch "Getting the Grammar Right" award goes to Publix grocery stores for their Express lane sign that reads:


10 ITEMS OR FEWER


A friend pointed this out recently and said the sign used to read 10 ITEMS OR LESS but was changed in order to correct the grammar. I don't know whether that scenario is true or not, but I do know that the current sign is correct.


When you are checking out at the grocery store, you are "supposed to" count the number of items in your basket and choose the appropriate line. Anything you can count (like fewer cans of peas, fewer bags of popcorn, fewer gallons of milk) should be described with FEWER. Save LESS for those lump sum concept items (less sugar, less flour, less money!).


Here are some other examples:

I have FEWER problems with spelling than I used to.

I take LESS time proofreading than I used to.

Justin owns FEWER apartment buildings than John does.

Alice has LESS equity in her house than Sally does.

Got it? Hats off to Publix for "Getting It Right" in their grocery stores.