Please come visit my new blog site.

If you are still checking in here for great tips on grammar and usage, please come over and visit my new blog site at http://www.grammarglitchcentral.com/. It's a new format, but the posts are similar. Just click from right here and see what we are now up to.

Just today I posted about a "polygamist" groom and the use of Stone Age spears in Alabama. Now who could resist checking that out?

See you soon.

WE'RE MOVING!

Beginning this week, Grammar Glitch Central will launch a new blog site at www.grammarglitchcentral.com. All of the older posts will be available there, so you can continue to check by topic when you want a reminder about good grammar and usage.

Thanks for your loyal support, and I will look forward to seeing you on the new site.

Introductory Phrases and Clauses Have Their Purpose

The following sentence appeared in a news article during the recent campaign leading up to the primary run-offs in Alabama:



Senior staff just before his news conference was set to begin were quietly informing reporters that (Tim) James had decided to end his challenge.



This sentence is difficult to read because the inserted dependent clause (printed in red) separates the subject STAFF from the verb WERE INFORMING for no good reason. It just does not fit in this position, and the focus ends up in the wrong place.



I would suggest rewording it this way and using a comma to set off the resulting nine-word introductory clause before the main idea:



Just before his news conference was set to begin, senior staff were quietly informing reporters that James had decided to end his challenge.



I hope you agree that this sounds much clearer. This is the kind of improvement that can be made if you make time to proofread what you write.

More "Physical" Responsibility for Financial Matters?

I won't name names here because I have not been able to verify this quote, but apparently a City Council member in one city recently commented that the city needed more "physical responsibility."

This, of course, conjured up the image at left for me. Perhaps the Council member wanted the Council members to carry the weight of the city's financial woes literally on their shoulders much as the Titan Atlas was condemned to support the heavens on his shoulders.

Common sense (and a good reference dictionary) would suggest that the Council member meant to say that the city needed more fiscal responsibility--the word FISCAL referring to the treasury or finances of a branch of government. A quick read of most local newspapers would suggest that city (and county) governments need to take more responsibility for handling fiscal issues.

NOTE: Here again, as I have mentioned many times before, a spelling checker would not catch this error because PHYSICAL and FISCAL are both words.

A word of welcome to any new readers among those who participated in the Business Writing Workshop at Auburn University Montgomery last Thursday. It was a pleasure to work with all of you!

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.

Manage That Gavel FairLY but firmLY!

Those of you who are registered, please remember to vote if your primaries are tomorrow. I hope you are using some of your time today to remember those who have died for our country.

My local newspaper carried an article about the Lieutenant Governor's race in Alabama. One of the candidates was quoted as saying, "I will manage the gavel fair but firmly."

This quotation offers a good opportunity to remind my readers to be careful with parallel structure. If you take one adjective (FIRM) and add an LY to it to create an adverb, then it is necessary to do the same thing with the other adjective. This sentence should be stated as follows:

I will manage the gavel fairly but firmly.

Bob Greene Thinks Typos Deserve Serious Attention

Award-winning journalist Bob Greene (a fellow native Ohioan) wrote a piece recently for CNN in which he speculated that "the lowly typo" might have gained more of the attention it deserves if someone had proved that the recent financial market plummet was caused by typing "billion" instead of "million."



Greene pointed out that, in our computer-screen age, "typos--and their cousins misspellings and grammatical errors--have been given a reprieve. What once prompted people to shake their heads in stern disapproval when it appeared on newspaper or magazine pages--a flat-out mistake, caused by lazy typing and indifferent proofreading--produces not as much of a stir when seen on a glowing screen." http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/05/16/greene.typo/index.html?iref=allsearch



I agree wholeheartedly with Bob Greene, who makes the point in his article that, even in today's digital world, accuracy is just as important as speed. Those of you who have taken my workshops know I'm a stickler for good spelling and good grammar. We should all prefer to be remembered for the message we conveyed, not the poor way we wrote it.



One of my personal favorite typo/usage goofs is the one committed by the student newspaper staff at Brigham Young University. In a photo caption, they identified the leaders of the Mormon church as APOSTATES instead of APOSTLES!


I'm sure that elicited some gasps because an APOSTATE is a person who has abandoned religious faith or principles! (See my blog entry "Spell Checker Disaster in Utah" on April 9, 2009.)


NOTE: Welcome to those who attended my workshop this week in Montgomery. I hope you find these postings helpful.

Is Your Impatience Running Thin? Huh?

This morning, as I was driving to a water aerobics class, I heard a commentator on NPR Morning Edition make this statement in connection with the frustrating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:

BP knows impatience is running thin.

My brain actually heard what the commentator meant (which was that people have BEEN patient but are becoming less so). Then my Grammar Glitch reasoning kicked in. Wait a minute. It is PATIENCE that is running thin. The commentator actually said the exact opposite of what was meant. What was meant was this:

BP knows patience is running thin.

It is unfortunate when incorrect wording distracts the reader or the listener. I didn't hear much of the rest of the story because I was busy thinking about what was said versus what was meant. That's not the goal of good communication.

NOTE: This is an unusual gaffe for NPR. In fact, when I am teaching workshops on business communication, I often suggest that a way to improve good usage and increase effective vocabulary is to listen to quality broadcasts like NPR's Morning Edition.

Do you have the wind "sewed up" yet? Watch your usage!

The writer of a recent letter to the editor in The Birmingham News created a weird mixed metaphor while attempting to quote the Bible. Here is what he wrote:



The Good Book says, "Sew the wind, and you will reap the whirl wind": that is exactly what we have in today's schools.



Whoops! SEW is what you do with a needle and thread. This writer meant SOW, which is how you scatter seed on soil so it will grow.



The correct quotation from Hosea 8:7 is this: "They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind...."



There is another WHOOPS in the writer's attempted quotation. WHIRLWIND is one word.



BONUS POINT #1: I will give this writer a huge bonus point, however, for getting the punctuation with the quotation marks and the colon correct. The rule is that colons and semicolons ALWAYS go outside the quotation marks.



Here is how he should have written his comment:



The Good Book says, "They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind": that is exactly what we have in today's schools.



This writer, who is a teacher, was defending the principal who shaved off half the eyebrow of a defiant student who was using his eyebrow to display a gang symbol at school.

BONUS POINT #2: A mixed metaphor is a literary image that combines elements of two different images in a confusing way. By using the word SEW (needle and thread image) and combining it with REAP (harvest image), this writer created a mixed metaphor. He meant to create the image of a person sowing seed and then reaping the harvest of what he planted.



NOTE OF WELCOME: Welcome to all of the participants in my Grammar and Usage Brush-up workshop in Montgomery last week. It is because of a question from one of you that I added today's bonus point about quotation mark rules. I will present the three basic rules on quotation mark usage at your second workshop on May 26.



If any other readers would like to have those three basic rules covered in one blog entry, just let me know.

Kent State Memories...And a Grammar Glitch

Today is the 40th anniversary of the shootings at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, as John Filo's Pulitzer Prize winning photo (copy version at left) reminds us. I had just moved from Ohio to Alabama at that time, and like everyone else, I was stunned that such a thing could happen on a college campus in our country. It was a time of disillusionment with war (Vietnam), and tensions were high on many college campuses. Although I never attended Kent State, it was not far from my home, and many of my high school friends did.

Michael Scott wrote an entry for today in the Metro-cleveland.com online version of The Cleveland Plain Dealer titled "Kent State: Coming of Age After May 4, 1970 shootings." It talked about the development of Ohio's third largest university since that fateful, sad day. It now has 38,000 students--nearly double the number in 1970.

In that article, Scott created a really good example of what happens when a writer does not follow through with parallel structure. In this case, the omission of the simple one-letter word "a" managed to turn a fashion school into a science lab. Here is the sentence:

Kent State is home to the state's largest nursing school and a top 10 U. S. fashion school and museum is generally acclaimed as an international leader in liquid crystal research.

Whoops! There are three separate entities here--the nursing school, the fashion school, and the Liquid Crystal Institute. By putting "school and museum" together without another article (a, an, OR the), Scott managed to make it sound as if the fashion school and museum are leaders in liquid crystal research. I'm not sure what "museum" has to do with it, but there is an internationally recognized Liquid Crystal INSTITUTE at Kent State. I think the sentence should read something like this:

Kent State is home to the state's largest nursing school and a top 10 U. S. fashion school as well as an institute that is an international leader in liquid crystal research.

If each item (nursing school, fashion school, institute) has its own article, the reader does not have trouble understanding what goes with what.

AFFECT? EFFECT? Which is it?

AFFECT and EFFECT are confusing for just about everyone. On Friday evening, April 30, even the headline writer for ABC 33/40 News http://www.abc3340.com in Birmingham got caught on this one. As the news anchor reported on the Gulf of Mexico oil leak and the first animals found drenched in oil, the screen caption read as follows:

AFFECT ON WILDLIFE

Whoops! As I have reminded before on this blog, AFFECT is the VERB form of this pesky concept. EFFECT is the word needed for a noun slot. The screen caption should have read as follows:

EFFECT ON WILDLIFE

Here are a couple more examples to help you remember this concept:

Wildlife will certainly be AFFECTED by the oil spill.
The oil spill will certainly AFFECT wildlife.

The oil spill will certainly have an EFFECT on wildlife.

Hope that helps!

Dear Abby Reader Suggests Closed Captioning to Improve Reading Skills

One of Dear Abby's readers offered a brilliant suggestion this week to parents who want to improve their children's reading skills. I'm sharing this advice here in case any of my home schooling parent readers missed it.

"Proud Parents" explained to Abby that her children often prefer watching television to reading. In trying to address this problem, she and her husband came up with a good compromise. "We mute the television and have the children read the words instead of listening," she wrote. "It works great! Their reading skills have soared, and I have noticed they are now reading more books than they used to."

This clever mother also noted that she enjoys the quiet time when their family "watches" TV.

If anyone cares to comment on this idea, write to http://www.DearAbby.com or PO Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

Subject/verb Agreement Again!

This morning's local newspaper reports that the alcohol producers in this country want the federal government to standardize dietary information on the labels of alcoholic products. http://www.discus.org That may be an excellent idea, but the reporter who wrote the story forgot about grammar agreement when creating this sentence:

The Distilled Spirits Council says that there's no consistent labeling rules for beer, wine and spirits to show consumers the serving size, calories and alcohol content per serving.

PERSISTENT REMINDER FROM GRAMMAR GLITCH: When a sentence begins with the word THERE, the choice of singular or plural verb depends on the SUBJECT, which appears AFTER the verb in this construction. Notice that I've highlighted the word "rules" in red in the above sentence. Because "rules" is plural, the reporter should have chosen THERE ARE instead of THERE IS. This sentence should read as follows:

The Distilled Spirits Council says that there are no consistent labeling rules for beer, wine and spirits to show consumers the serving size, calories and alcohol content per serving.

If the reporter wanted to use THERE IS, the sentence could have been written this way:

The Distilled Spirits Council says there is no consistent labeling (SINGULAR) for beer, wine and spirits to show consumers the serving size, calories and alcohol content per serving.

What About "To Whom It May Concern"?

One of my readers asked yesterday if all of the words in "To Whom It May Concern" should be capitalized. My answer was twofold:



1. If you must use this salutation, all of the words should be capitalized. This is my opinion, and it is also the opinion of the Owl at Purdue, which is a good grammar reference. http://www.owl.english.purdue.edu/ Here is what their website says:



"If you don't know a reader's gender, use a nonsexist salutation, such as 'To Whom It May Concern.'"



2. The other part of my answer was that I NEVER use "To Whom It May Concern," and I do not recommend it in my workshops because it is an antiquated form and because I think the writer should make an effort to call or e-mail to find out the name of the person being addressed.

If this is not possible, the writer should create a title that fits the situation. This title (e.g., Dear Director of Human Resources OR Dear Publications Assistant) should be used in the salutation and also on the envelope. It says the writer took some time to prepare, and it also allows the mail room of a large company to figure out where to deliver the letter.



I like what Rachel Zupek said recently in an article titled "Is 'To whom it may concern' the kiss of death?" This appeared on the careerbuilder.com blog called the Work Buzz. http://www.theworkbuzz.com/career-advice/whom-it-may-concern-kiss-of-death/. Here was her comment:



Most job seekers know that, whenever possible, it's best to address your cover letter to the person who has the power to hire you--or at least the person who can bring you in for an interview.



But, all too often, if a name isn't listed on a job posting, the job seeker resorts to an old-fashioned salutation like, "To Whom It May Concern." What they don't know, is that this approach can sometimes be considered the kiss of death.



Impersonal salutations like "Dir (sic) Sir/Madam" or "To Whom It May Concern" show an employer two things: The first is that you lack the initiative to locate the appropriate contact; the second is that you show a disregard for any research needed to be done on your part. In short, employers will think you're lazy and your cover letter will end up in the trash.



I agree completely with this opinion, and I often say so in business writing workshops. I do have a few comments about the punctuation in this comment, and I will address those in my next blog entry.

Miss Manners Knows Agreement as Well as Manners

Judith Martin's Miss Manners column, which appears in newspapers across the country, offers excellent advice on etiquette with a gentle twist of sarcasm from time to time. Her grammar is as impeccable as her manners. You can find her online at http://www.missmanners.com/.



In an answer to a "Gentle Reader" in today's column, Miss Manners created an interesting sentence while explaining how a high school girl can politely refuse an invitation to a school dance. Here is the sentence:



But everyone, even vulnerable young gentlemen in high school, has to learn to deal with whatever hurt is felt if an invitation is declined or a romantic impulse unrequited.



Miss Manners knows that the word EVERYONE is singular, and so, in spite of the inserted phrase (even vulnerable young gentlemen (PLURAL) in high school), she chose the singular verb HAS, which is absolutely correct.



I might gently suggest to Miss Manners that vulnerable readers, who have a tendency to confuse singular and plural agreement situations, would understand this sentence more quickly if she changed the inserted phrase to singular, too. I am NOT suggesting that the sentence is incorrect--just that it might be made clearer for readers with less grammar experience. Here is how I would word it for those readers:



But everyone, even a vulnerable young gentleman in high school, has to learn to deal with whatever hurt is felt if an invitation is declined or a romantic impulse unrequited.



Have a great week, everyone!

Dodgers Broadcaster Watching Grammar After Fall

Here's a little fun with grammar for a Monday morning: Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully fell recently at his home and was knocked unconscious. When reporters asked how this would affect his spring training workload, Scully answered as follows:

"I'm supposed to cut back on dangling participles, and I'm not allowed to split any infinitives for at least another week."


I hope Scully has no other complications from his fall, and I hope all of you have a great week. By the way, cutting back on dangling participles and split infinitives is good advice for your grammar health in ANY week!

Here are a couple of reminders:

DANGLING PARTICIPLE:

While eating lunch yesterday, my cell phone died. (Really? Does your cell phone eat lunch every day?) This sentence should read as follows:


While I was eating lunch yesterday, my cell phone died.


SPLIT INFINITIVE:

I like to occasionally walk to work.

This sentence reads much more smoothly if OCCASIONALLY does not come between TO and WALK. (TO WALK is an infinitive; that is, TO + VERB.)
It should read this way:


I like to walk to work occasionally.

Agreement Issues

As I continue to proofread that ad brochure I received, I see several agreement issue sentences in Brad Watson's column. Here is one example:



Primary eligibility for borrowing are that you must be 62 years of age or older, own the property, and occupy the property as principal residence.



In this instance, the error might be simply a typo/word omission error, but ELIGIBILITY is singular and takes the singular verb IS. The simplest way to fix this one is to add the word REQUIREMENTS, as follows:



Primary eligibility requirements for borrowing are that you must be at least 62 years of age, own the property, and occupy the property as principal residence.



BONUS POINT: I also simplified the wording to "at least 62 years of age..."



Here is another example from the same article:



State and federal funding has received enormous hits....



This appears to be correct because FUNDING is singular, but state funding is one thing and federal funding is another (as any Southerner would be quick to point out). The sentence should read this way:



Both state funding and federal funding have received enormous hits....



Here is one more agreement problem from the same article, this one involving two related sentences:



Many think that reverse mortgages are a debt builder, but that's not the case when used effectively. It can actually settle debts and can keep seniors in their own home where they want and deserve to be.



The word MORTGAGES is plural, so THEY are debt builders (plural). The second sentence refers to MORTGAGES, so the pronoun should be THEY, not IT. The sentence should read this way:



Many think that reverse mortgages build debt, but that's not the case when they are used effectively. They can actually settle debts and keep seniors in their own homes where they want and deserve to be.



Notice the other changes I made to make this sentence flow more smoothly.