Letter to the Editor Judges Author of I Judge You....

Jim Daniel wrote a Letter to the Editor this morning calling out Sharon Eliza Nichols on a grammar point. Daniel criticized Nichols for saying in an interview, "I know I don't have 15,000 friends, so it's not just them who are buying it (her book)."

Oops, says Daniel. "She violated the rule that states the object of the verb 'to be' always takes the nominative case." She should have said, "...so it's not just they who are buying it."

Daniel is technically correct, BUT, as I have stated several times on this blog, a little leeway is allowed when a person is speaking casually and out loud. Most grammarians do not expect us to go through all the analysis every time we open our mouths. We use contractions, end some sentences with prepositions, and use WHO for WHOM out loud when we would be more careful and technically correct on paper.

Because Nichols was speaking out loud during an interview and making a casual rather than a formal statement, I don't have a problem with her choice of words.

I'd like to point out something else from Jim Daniel's pontifical letter to the editor. He suggested that Nichols "should have remembered the advice given us by Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address: 'but let us judge not, that we be not judged.'" I will take things a step further and judge Daniel who did not correctly attribute this advice. Although Lincoln used it in his second inaugural address, the advice actually comes from Jesus Christ who, in the King James translation of the Bible, is quoted in Matthew 7:1 as saying, "Judge not, that ye be not judged."

Do check out Nichols' Facebook page, which is generating a great dialogue about grammar glitches and pet grammar peeves.

Sharon Eliza Nichols Judges You By Your Grammar!

Sharon Eliza Nichols is a law student at the University of Alabama. In 2007, she started a Facebook group called "I judge you when you use poor grammar." According to Wayne Grayson's article for The Tuscaloosa News, Nichols started the group out of boredom and figured a few friends might join in.

To her surprise, the idea has caught on and spread. More than 4,000 people have joined the Facebook site, and they have uploaded more than 10,000 examples of poor grammar--from business signs and T-shirts to hair gel labels. I'm impressed!

This year, Nichols took things a step further. She has published a book (see cover at left above) that includes the pictures her Facebook group has mailed to her. With her "short and snarky captions for each picture," the book has become a hit. The first printing of 15,000 copies has sold out, and St. Martin's is printing 7,500 more. For now, it can still be ordered at http://www.amazon.com/.

When Grayson asked Nichols why she thinks the book has been successful, she told him she thinks "it goes back to just how important language is to life." That is so true, and so is the message that people DO judge you by your grammar. I have been "preaching" that message in my workshops on resume preparation at the Hoover library for two years. When I surveyed HR directors at major Birmingham companies, the #1 complaint they had about resumes was POOR GRAMMAR AND USAGE.

Grammar glitches are also welcomed at this blog, and I will be happy to pass them along to Nichols. Just today, I sent her a photo of the Wal-Mart pharmacy bag that says Colgate is recommended by "denists."