Agreement (Again!)--Today's "Gotcha" Grammar Glitch

Here we go with agreement again:

There is a longstanding rule in English grammar: SUBJECT MUST AGREE WITH VERB. Or, stated another way, IF THE SUBJECT IS SINGULAR, THE VERB SHOULD BE SINGULAR. IF THE SUBJECT IS PLURAL, THE VERB SHOULD BE PLURAL.

The following sentence appeared in an article on November 13 about school pride at the University of Georgia:

Diehard college football fans may soon have the option of meeting the hereafter in school-themed caskets if members of the Board of Regents gives its blessing.

Whew! "Members" is plural. "Board of Regents" is singular. What to do? There are two acceptable options. The sentence could be corrected in one of these two ways:

Diehard college football fans may soon have the option of meeting the hereafter in school-themed caskets if members of the Board of Regents give their blessing.

Diehard college football fans may soon have the option of meeting the hereafter in school-themed caskets if the Board of Regents gives its blessing.

Members can give their blessing, or the Board of Regents can give its blessing.

I hope this example helps you keep agreement straight. Readers will have to make their own decisions on the casket issue. Any graduate who wishes to be buried in a school-themed casket should check with his or her alma mater to see if the practice is legal.

Comma Placement--Today's Grammar Glitch

When writing just the month and year (omitting the day of the month), it is not necessary to place a comma between the month and year.

In a recent issue of The New Yorker, the author of an article about candidate Rudy Giuliani ("The Political Scene: Mayberry Man"--August 20, 2007) forgot this rule and wrote the following sentence:

In April, 2000, Hanover accepted a role in Eve Ensler's feminist play "The Vagina Monologues."

This sentence should read as follows:

In April 2000, Hanover accepted a role in Eve Ensler's feminist play "The Vagina Monologues."

ANOTHER REMINDER: The author of this sentence did get the placement of the period INSIDE the quotation marks absolutely correct. Even though the name of the play is not a complete idea, the period still goes inside the quotation marks. Periods and commas ALWAYS go inside quotation marks.

Beware Lofty "Self" Pronouns

Avoid using "self" pronouns by themselves. It sounds lofty and distant to say:
Please submit your evaluations to myself by Friday morning.
John and myself will consider a replacement for that position.

Climb down from your high horse and use a simple pronoun instead:

Please submit your evaluations to me by Friday morning.
John and I will consider a replacement for that position.

Here is another poor example of a "self" pronoun:

This company is fortunate to have employees such as yourself who continuously strive for excellence.

A better wording would be:

This company is fortunate to have employees like you who continuously strive for excellence.


Save your "self" pronouns for these two usages:

1) Intensive: I myself would never do anything like that.

2) Reflexive: I wish I could give myself a raise.

In the coming week, I hope you will give yourself a pat on the back if you implement this usage correctly!

Agreement--Today's "Gotcha" Grammar Glitch

There is a longstanding rule in English grammar: SUBJECT MUST AGREE WITH VERB. Or, stated another way, IF THE SUBJECT IS SINGULAR, THE VERB SHOULD BE SINGULAR. IF THE SUBJECT IS PLURAL, THE VERB SHOULD BE PLURAL.

Sometimes, if the subject and verb are not close to each other, it's difficult to make the determination.

Such was the problem for a writer in the "Money" section of USA TODAY this morning. He wrote:

"Fresh research by top leadership gurus suggest that if great leaders have something in common, it could be this: a knack for escaping lapses of bad judgment."

In the sentence above, the subject of the main idea is RESEARCH. The verb should therefore be SUGGESTS. The intervening phrase "by top leadership gurus" does not affect the relationship of RESEARCH SUGGESTS.

Therefore, good judgment for this sentence would make it read correctly as follows:

"Fresh research by top leadership gurus suggests that if great leaders have something in common, it could be this: a knack for escaping lapses of bad judgment."

Here's hoping all of you escape bad judgment today when it comes to agreement of subject and verb!

Writing Numbers Correctly in Dates: 1.

Today's comment is all about those "th" and "rd" and "st" endings for numbers. The truth is: WHEN YOU WRITE A DATE, IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO ADD THE ENDING--EVEN IF YOU SPEAK IT WHEN YOU READ THE DATE OUT LOUD.


Please mail your check to me by December 9. (not December 9th)



Our next meeting will be held December 1. (not December 1st)



The office Christmas party is scheduled for December 23. (not December 23rd)


Your letters and memos will look much more professional if you follow this simple rule.

Have a great day and write well!

Welcome to GrammarGlitchCentral!

Beginning tomorrow, this blog spot will highlight grammar glitches I've come across in 18 years of teaching business writing through corporate training workshops. I'm also a published writer who has had to make decisions regularly about what works and what doesn't in good writing.

Each post will contain either a question from a client or a sample sentence with good advice for clearer writing.

Need to know:

• WHERE THE COMMAS GO? OR DON'T GO?
• WHAT TO CAPITALIZE?
• HOW TO USE APOSTROPHES CORRECTLY?
• WHEN SEMICOLONS ARE NECESSARY?
• HOW TO USE ACTIVE VERBS EFFECTIVELY?

Keep checking the GrammarGlitchCentral blog spot. If you don't see what you need to know, please add a comment or e-mail me. I'll post an answer as soon as possible.

Thanks from GGC.