Let\u2019s zero in once more on cringe-inducers culled from recent dailies and periodicals \u2026<\/p>\n
\u2022 Newspaper headline: \u201cNew look for a old test.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the principles of English you would think we all learned in third grade is that the article a<\/em> goes before consonants (a pen<\/em>, a hat<\/em>), and the article an<\/em> goes before vowels and vowel sounds (an owl<\/em>, an honor<\/em>). But these days, items like that headline are rampant. Here\u2019s a reporter writing of \u201ca unusual twist in Senate process.\u201d Here\u2019s another, mentioning \u201can very unfortunately named document.\u201d We\u2019ve even heard the president of the United States say \u201ca international effort.\u201d<\/p>\n We can no longer dismiss such things as a slip of the tongue or a typo.<\/p>\n \u2022 Another rule we learned in grade school was, \u201cNeither<\/em>\u00a0\u2026\u00a0nor,<\/em> either\u00a0<\/em>\u2026\u00a0or, <\/em>but never neither\u00a0<\/em>\u2026\u00a0or.<\/em>\u201d We thought everybody knew that one. But neither\u00a0<\/em>\u2026\u00a0or<\/em> is gaining momentum among people who ought to know better, like the columnist who wrote: \u201cIn short, the technology, sports and political worlds seem to be saying that markets should neither be free or fair.\u201d<\/p>\n Let\u2019s change \u201cor\u201d to \u201cnor,\u201d and while we\u2019re at it, put \u201cbe\u201d before \u201cneither\u201d to make the sentence parallel: \u201c \u2026 saying that markets should be neither free nor fair.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 A magazine reported that a twelve-year-old girl sold 18,107 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, calling it \u201can all-time record.\u201d Delete \u201call-time.\u201d All records are all-time records. Writers should also avoid new record<\/em>\u2014when a record is set, new<\/em> is redundant.<\/p>\n \u2022 An article about a successful author offered this snarky advice: \u201cDon\u2019t publish anything \u2019til you\u2019re fifty.\u201d The writer of this profile should have written \u201ctill<\/em> you\u2019re fifty.\u201d You won\u2019t find a reference book anywhere that recommends \u2019til<\/em>. In Words on Words<\/em>, John B. Bremner declares brusquely, \u201cEither till<\/em> or until<\/em>, but not \u2019til<\/em>.\u201d Some defend \u2019til<\/em> as a contraction of until<\/em>. However, till<\/em> predates until<\/em> by several centuries.<\/p>\n \u2022 Check out this sentence about an aggressive company: \u201cThe Comcast-run colossus may be able to dictate terms to individual cable channels and Hollywood studios who supply TV shows and movies.\u201d Make it \u201cthat<\/em> supply TV shows and movies.\u201d Use who <\/em>only when referring to humans. Businesses may be run by humans, but grammatically they are things. Avoid usages like a company who<\/em>. Use that<\/em> or which<\/em> instead.<\/p>\n At least as far as grammar is concerned, there is no debate: corporations are not<\/em> people.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pop Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n The following are sentences recently heard over the airwaves. See if you can spot the errors.<\/p>\n 1. \u201cIt was committed by two identical twin sisters.\u201d<\/p>\n 2. \u201cWhat lengths did you go through in order to get this done?\u201d<\/p>\n 3. \u201cThis is bad news for we Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n 4. \u201cThere are also good places out there too.\u201d<\/p>\n 5. \u201cIt was different from the bill that they had wrote.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pop Quiz Answers<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. \u201cIt was committed by identical twin sisters.\u201d (two twins<\/em> is redundant)<\/p>\n 2. \u201cWhat lengths did you go to<\/strong> in order to get this done?\u201d<\/p>\n 3. \u201cThis is bad news for us<\/strong> Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n 4. \u201cThere are also good places out there.\u201d (\u201calso \u2026 too\u201d is redundant)<\/p>\n 5. \u201cIt was different from the bill that they had written<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let\u2019s zero in once more on cringe-inducers culled from recent dailies and periodicals \u2026 \u2022 Newspaper headline: \u201cNew look for a old test.\u201d One of the principles of English you would think we all learned in third grade is that the article a goes before consonants (a pen, a hat), and the article an goes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,8,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-effective-writing","category-pronouns","category-who-vs-which-vs-that"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}