Pay Attention to Verb forms

This morning's newspaper suggests again that we need to be more careful about the FORMS of the verbs we use. The first glitch appeared in a teaser on the front page. Sadly, it had to do with the first fatal shark attack off the Florida coast in five years:



Lifeguard said he could see several (sharks) swarming the victim as he approach him in the Florida surf.



Because this statement is in the PAST tense (SAID...COULD SEE), the verb in the dependent clause (APPROACH) should also be in the past tense. The lifeguard was speaking about something that had already happened. The sentence should read as follows:



Lifeguard said he could see several (sharks) swarming the victim as he approached him in the Florida surf.





The second verb glitch appeared in a Washington Post wire article about President Obama's speech yesterday at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. It read as follows:



Much of his agenda is snared near-unanimous Republican opposition in Congress.



The helping verb here should be HAS, not IS because the verb "snared" has a object (OPPOSITION). The helping verb IS would only be used in a sentence without an object, like "Much of his agenda is snarled by Republican opposition." The above sentence should read as follows:



Much of his agenda has snared near-unanimous Republican opposition in Congress.



I would guess that the Washington Post reporter knows the correct grammar but perhaps started to rewrite the sentence and then forgot to follow through on all of the changes.



That brings me to today's BONUS POINT: Whenever you rewrite a sentence or a paragraph to make it read more clearly, take the time to proofread and make sure you didn't actually do just the opposite--make the sentence less clear by only partially changing the wording.

Letter to Editor Offers Laundry List of Grammar Goofs

It seems Sharon Nichol's book has stirred up comments in The Birmingham News about common grammar goofs. Barbara J. Belisle of Montevallo wrote this morning to state that she was beginning to think "poor grammar usage is an accepted practice."

Barbara mentioned the following common goofs:

1. YOU'RE and YOUR confusion

2. "If I would have" (should be: If I had) and "I wish I would have" (should be: I wish I had)

3. "between him and I" (should be: between him and me)

4. "people want they children" (should be "people want their children)

Apparently she has written a small book that offers advice on how to correct errors like these. It is called Where's U're?

Pay Attention to Time Line When Choosing Verbs

I am currently reading a wonderful book called "the blue cotton gown" (NOTE: The title IS in all lower case letters!)by Patricia Harman. It is about her experiences as a midwife in Appalachia.



I love the book, but one sentence I came across last evening bothers me because it uses the past perfect tense (HAD as a helping verb) in a confusing way. Here is the sentence:



When I called R. G.'s office to inquire about what was going on, her receptionist had told me R. was in Europe.



If you think of verb tenses in terms of a time line, there would be a crossbar in the middle of that time line for RIGHT NOW. Every verb expresses action in relationship to RIGHT NOW. So, when the author says "When I called...." she is setting up an event that happened in the PAST. Logic tells us that what the receptionist TOLD her should be in the same time frame as CALLED. However, the author uses HAD TOLD, which is incorrect because HAD TOLD would be used for something that happened farther back in the past--before the telephone call. The sentence should read as follows:



When I called R. G.'s office to inquire about what was going on, her receptionist told me R. was in Europe.



Below are some examples of how to use the past perfect tense (HAD + the verb) to express the correct time relationship:

• When I called to inquire about what was going on, the receptionist told me R. had been in Europe for the past three weeks.

• Before I accepted the teaching position, I had been working as a gardener.

• Although Peter now lived in Cleveland, he had grown up in Columbus.

If any of my regular readers would like a copy of my sample time line for choosing verbs correctly, please send along your e-mail address, and I will send a copy.